creating a reader friendly home
Creating a Reader-friendly Home
For people who read for pleasure, the place that they read in does not really matter. But what about kids who cringe even at the thought of picking up a book? How do you get them to discover and enjoy the joys of reading? By creating a reader-friendly home that is simply irresistible. Find out how you can do just that in this article.
- If not a whole room, you can definitely designate a small area that becomes a reading zone in your house.
- This reading area should be well-lit, naturally and artificially.
- Add color to the area so that it becomes appealing. The color should not be jarring, but bright enough to attract someone into the zone. If you are doing this specially for kids, keep the colors bright, but don't overpower with color. Let books, posters, rugs, and lamps add to the color, rather than painting a wall in a loud color or having a bright-colored bookshelf.
- Maintain comfortable seating; a desk, a chair, a bean bag, a rug with floor cushions, or a recliner - anything that will make your child comfortable enough to read without badly affecting her/his posture is a good choice.
- Keep seating for at least two people. The joy of reading together is greater than that of reading alone.
- Classify books by genre and your child's interest. For instance, keep comics separate from graphic novels, which should be separate from other novels. Keep mysteries, light reading and non-fiction separate too.
- Keep books within the reach of your kids so that they don't always need you to pick out a book they want to read.
- So that kids can find their favorite books on their own, keep the books in a manner that allows them to spot the spine of the book on the shelf labeled with the genre.
- Keep this zone free of other distractions such as a TV, a phone or a computer. At the most, keep a CD player to enjoy audio books.
- As a safety measure, ensure that the furniture kept in these areas does not have any sharp edges that may be dangerous for the little ones.
- The right to not read: If your kids don't want to read in spite of all your efforts, don't force them to. I myself started reading only at 15 and have been an avid reader since.
- The right to skip pages: Lots of books have a lot of yada yada in them that can be safely skipped. Give them this option before they begin to find a book boring and give it up.
- The right to not finish: Accept that kids are not going to enjoy every book they read. If it is beyond comprehension or way too difficult/boring for them, ask them to give it up. This will also help them discover what kind of books they really like.
- The right to reread: Ask me how many times I have read the Harry Potter series! Rereading brings to light a lot of things that the first read doesn't. Encourage it. There is a lot of time to catch up on other books.
- The right to read anything: With kids, it may be a little difficult to allow them to read 'anything', but giving them diverse options is definitely a choice. Some books are written for the sake of pure entertainment without a point; and these books should be enjoyed. You don't have to learn something from everything! (Believe me you still will.)
- The right to escapism: A fantasy world allows kids to create their own parallel universe. It opens up their mind and allows them to think creatively. In fact, you could be a part of this universe and help them expand it.
- The right to read anywhere: This is in keeping with what has been discussed above. Though the focus is on creating a reader-friendly home, a child can easily enjoy a book in any environment as long as it is not very distracting.
- The right to browse: Sometimes it's okay to pick up a book and start reading it from a particular section, even if it doesn't make sense.
- The right to read out loud: This is so necessary for kids; reading out loud is great for them, and is an enjoyable activity if you as a parent read out to them while taking the right tone, pitch and voice of the character. Also, some kids learn better when they listen rather than read.
- The right to not defend your tastes: You are going to be monitoring what they read, so there is nothing to worry about on that front. But if your child enjoys graphic novels more than regular novels, there is no harm in that. You don't have to reprimand her/him for it or try to convince him to read another genre. The transition will occur slowly; and even if it doesn't, at least she/he is reading something!