5 Tips to Read with your Kid Every Day

In today’s busy world, there are just not enough hours to balance work, raising a child, and doing activities with them like reading. In fact, 82% of South African adults who live with children say they would read more with their child if they had more time.

But reading can be a convenient and easy activity to fit into your daily routine, here’s how:

1. Read short-form writing

Ditch the long chapters of a novel, and opt for shorter reading materials. Things like comics, jokes, and poems are quick to read and will add variety to the texts your child encounters.

If there’s a topic that interests your kid, give them a book filled with fun facts about it. Reading a few facts gives you the chance to read something together every day.

2. Read during other activities

Reading can make mundane tasks engaging for both you and your child. While you’re cooking dinner, ask your kid to read a couple of pages aloud. If you’re following a recipe, let them read it to you.

Next time you’re stuck in traffic, have your child read the road signs. You could even play music while they follow along with the lyrics. The trick is to incorporate reading into the things you’re already doing.

3. Make books easily accessible

As humans, we tend to forget about the things we don’t see. Remind your child and yourself to practise reading by putting books in places that are easy to access.

Keeping a book in every room allows many opportunities for your child to see it, pick it up and start reading. For some added excitement, place a book in different spots for your child to find.

4. Start a reading challenge

Stay motivated by tracking the progress of the daily reading you do together. You can do this by starting a reading challenge with a visual incentive.

Once the reading for the day is complete, your child can put a sticker on a chart or a marble in an empty jar. This makes reading exciting. For more ideas on making reading fun, check out this previous blog post.

5. Read with your kid every day

No one is a born reader. Like any skill, you need to practise reading frequently. This does not mean you need to spend a long time reading, in fact reading with your child for 5-10 minutes is enough.

Make it part of your daily ritual by doing it first thing in the morning or in the evening before bed. It doesn’t matter how many pages you read in a day, what matters is that you read a page every day.

Making an effort to read with your kid every day does not have to be a big investment of your time. By following these five simple tips you will be able to make reading with your child a part of your day, every day.

Do you have any tips on reading with your kid? Comment them below!