How To Get Your Child To Read Published Content

As a teacher, it pains me to read a report, essay, or short answer written by a student, which lacks the basic use of grammar and sentence structures. It also pains me to realise that this happens all too frequently today. Our children are unable to construct simple sentences and I think I know the reason why.

While completing my degree in Reading and Education, (teaching children to read), we learnt that the best way to get persons to read was to provide them with content that they liked. The truth is that everyone, once he or she is capable, reads at some point during the day. We read text messages, emails, +Facebook and twitter posts, and the dirty jokes that are scribbled on the walls of public bathrooms. That's right, we read everyday. So we have highlighted the fact that it's not so much a lack of reading, that leads to the inability to construct proper sentences, but a question of what exactly is being read. This, my friend, is where the problem lies.

As Oprah Winfrey noted, reading is about pleasure, and we need to understand that. We all read what we do because we want to, unless it's mandated by school or work. Children generally don't want to read text books, it does not interest them. This problem is easy to solve. We need to determine the interests of the child and provide them with content in that field or genre. Imagine giving a boy a book about trucks, or baseball players with pictures. Now imagine giving that boy a book about romance stories or about dresses. The average boy will likely go for the book about cars and trucks, or football players, or even Robin Hood.

If we can understand the interests of the child, and provide him or her with the content that they desire, whether it be in a traditional book, on a tablet pc, or on a computer, you will find it difficult to separate that child from the source of that content, from the source of such pleasure. As a boy, there were books that I read over and over again, including Robin Hood and Sherlock Holmes. It wasn't until adulthood that I realised my attraction towards adventure and mystery. There were other books that I wouldn't look at twice because they did not appeal to me in the same way.

This is how we need to get our children to read published content. We need to give them official content that covers topics that they're interested in. Once this is achieved, the level and standard of writing in our schools, and even probably on our social media sites will improve. Let's give it a try. Let's see if we can make a difference in the lives of our children today, and the lives of their children tomorrow. Just ask your child what type of story they would like to read or you can read it to them if they aren't quite capable yet.