Modeling Reading to Encourage Young Readers

I definitely consider myself a reader and I attribute some of that to the fact that I grew up watching both of my parents read for fun. While there are definitely other factors that play a role, modeling this same behavior for my own daughter is a huge priority for me. As she has grown as a reader there are a few things that I do to both support her and improve my own reading identity. These include things like:

• Going to the library together – I help her pick out books and she gets to watch me pick out books too
• Reading favorite stories out loud – We’re currently reading the Little House series together and it’s been so fun to introduce these stories to her and revisit them myself.
• Reading instead of scrolling – I try to take books with me everywhere so that there is always something to do besides scroll on my phone.
• Pick up a book when she’s reading – She reads every day after school for a certain amount of time, so I try to take a break and make this my reading time too.
• Buying new books together – There’s just something about buying a book (instead of borrowing one). My girl is always excited to read something that she’s just bought, so every couple of months we visit the book store to pick out something new.
• Visiting little free libraries – It’s like a treasure hunt, you never know what you’ll find!
• Providing fun reading supplies – Making sure that she has plenty of bookmarks, a book light, etc. helps make reading easier. Removing excuses and barriers definitely makes a difference.