Looking for a way to set a child up for success without adding 901 things to your already full schedule? Look no further. Read to him for 10 minutes each day.
Not one more thing!
I know I’ve shared this before, but sometimes we feel so overwhelmed with our full schedules and lack of sleep that we can’t even handle the idea of adding one more thing. I totally understand.
When schedules are tight and new habits are being formed, a great way to make your habit stick is to attach it to another habit that is already firmly in place (Gretchen Rubin talks about this strategy in her book Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits–to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life ). This could be a meal, a bedtime routine, a carpool routine, whatever. Bring a book into that routine. For example, if you have a solid carpool routine, maybe you want to bring a couple picture books or a chapter book with you in the car. When you pick up your kids, you could pull into a parking lot and park for 10 minutes and read together. This could be a great de-compression time after a long day of school. Maybe you want to knock it out at breakfast? While your kids are sitting at the table eating breakfast, could you sit alongside them and read for 10 minutes? Maybe you want to incorporate it into your bedtime routine? Maybe bathtime? When my kids were younger and took regular naps, I read many books to them while they were lying in their beds for naptime. Right now I am doing “learning time” with my preschool-aged son and we incorporate reading into that. Of course my 2-year-old is there with us, too, so she sits on the rug and listens to the stories, too. Next year she will be my only child still at home during the days, so we will *hopefully* do much more one-on-one reading time. I am also trying something new with my older, school-aged kids. I want to read with each child one-on-one each week. I am trying to sit with the child whose day it is and read aloud in the book that he is reading the rest of the week on his own. We read aloud to everyone each night as part of out bedtime routine, but I feel like I really need to improve on one-on-one time with my kids. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Don’t sweat it. These ten minutes don’t have to be a brand-new “story time” routine. You don’t have to stress about making this perfect. Exposing your child to the words and nuances of her native language is more important than whether or not you are sitting in that idyllic rocking chair in a neat and tidy room and your child is completely focused on the book and only the book. Do the best you can and your efforts will be well worth it. The important thing is to remember to do it. Jim Trelease says, “Reading aloud to all students—ESL or native born—beginning as early in their lives as possible and continuing through the grades will expose them to a rich, organized, and interesting language model as an alternative to the tongue-tied language of their peers.”
Grammar Lessons
Want to teach good grammar, even if you ain’t got it? Read aloud! It is often said that “grammar is more caught than taught.” And just like a nasty flu pandemic, children are exposed to grammar. By hearing the language spoken correctly, they will imitate what they hear and incorporate it in their speech and writing. When I was in 6 grade, I remember diagramming sentences and identifying parts of speech and other “fun” grammar-related activities in Language Arts. Instead of listening to the teacher and her explanation for why we used certain forms of words together in sentences, I would repeat the sentence in various ways in my head until I came up with the one that sounded right. Didn’t you? Chances are, our kids will do the same thing. Give them the opportunity to hear correct usage, varied sentence structures and unique descriptions that will enrich their own abilities to communicate.
Keep Advertising
Jim Trelease says we should be modeling the marketing strategy of McDonald’s: even though everyone in the world has already heard of McDonald’s, the chain keeps increasing its advertising budget. Their marketing is still going strong. Friends, this should be our tactic with reading, too. When we read aloud to a child or to a group of children, we’re marketing. We want to continue advertising to our kids the value and the pleasure of reading. We can’t assume that our child already knows about reading so we don’t have to keep encouraging it. Instead we keep reading aloud to remind them and keep them coming back for more—just like good ol’ Micky D’s! This doesn’t always have to be the same person. If you are a grandparent, see if you can Facetime or Skype for a 10-minute reading session with your grandchildren. This blesses everyone involved!
Keep Trying
If you miss a day or a week, don’t give up! If your child is seven and you just don’t know if he will sit through ten minutes of reading with you, please try! You can do so much to equip your child for a successful future with just ten minutes of reading aloud per day. You don’t have to try to carve out ten minutes of “free time,” just work it into something you are already doing. If you already have a great reading routine, with your kids or grandkids, what do you do?
