How to Instill a Love of Reading in your Children

Learn how to instill a love of reading in your children. By following these steps your children will develop a love of reading and learning.

Watching my four year old sit on the couch with books all around him, flipping through each of the pages is one of those things that I will never get tired of watching. Hearing him ask me, “Mommy, can you tell me a story?” or “Mommy, let’s read another” these are some of the best moments of parenting. I love that my children love books and that they love to read together.

Reading was one of my favorite past times growing up and still is to this day. As an introvert, I consider books some of my closest friends. I knew when I had children that I wanted to instill in them a love for reading. I believe learning comes from reading. If you too have a desire to instill in your children a love for reading, I want to share some simple reading habits that you can implement. If you instill these habits in the early years they will stay with them throughout their lives.

1. Read to them daily

I know this tip seems like common sense but this is the one that I believe has the greatest impact. It’s the consistency of reading daily that creates a passion within our little ones. If you are a parent you probably already know that consistency is hard.

Here are a few reading habits that we have implemented. These habits have made our daily reading time more consistent and easier to achieve.

Make books accessible

Each of my children have a couple of small shelves in their rooms that hold books. As much as I love books, as a minimalist, we try to contain even our books to just a few. I do however make sure that they are at their level and they are able to reach them easily. Yes, this means I spend more time than I would like putting them back on the shelf but the pros outweigh the cons. My little ones having the ability to easily access their reading material at any time encourages them to read daily.

We also have a basket in our living room that we fondly call our “book basket.” This is a basket that we fill with new library books once a week. Having a basket of books in our main living area encourages us as parents to read to our children daily. Our goal is to read a book from our basket in the morning after breakfast, before nap time and one before bed. Here are a couple of ways you can make new books readily accessible to your kids.

Visit your local library

If you don’t already utilize your local library I strongly suggest you start. The library is an amazing resource to cultivate a love of reading in your children. From story time programs, to summer reading and the endless amounts of books you can check out, the library is AMAZING!

We have incorporated going to the library into our weekly routine. Every week I take my kids to the library and we check out our books for the week. It is an activity that they truly look forward to. They consider the library a FUN place!

A way that I make the process a little more simple is that I place books on hold the week before. Our library has an app that I am able to look books up on and then place them on hold for pickup at our next visit. With this process it is simple to get new and exciting books to read each week without me having to spend long amounts of time scanning the shelves of the library with kids in tow.

So you might be thinking, okay I can make books accessible but how do I find quality books? Well I’m glad you asked. I have two tips that are both totally free and as a parent you can be confident that your child is reading quality, living books.

Sign your Child up for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

If you have never heard of Dolly’s Imagination Library, you have been missing out. It’s a program that I literally signed my children up for the day after they were born. According to their website Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is;

a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, no matter their family’s income. Every month your child will receive a new book until they are five years old.

How amazing is that? They are now a global organization and currently mail 2,000,000 books out monthly! It is completely free to sign up. If you want your children to love reading and have access to great books, sign them up here.

Utilize reading lists

There are so many wonderful individuals on the internet who have created reading lists. These are lists of books that are age appropriate reading material for your child. Often the lists will follow holidays or months of the year.

As a mother I want to make sure my children are reading quality reading material that aligns with our family’s beliefs. In the beginning of our reading journey I felt slightly overwhelmed at having to search through the millions of books out there to find the ones that I was at peace with reading to my children.

I am thankful that I have found some great materials that I can share with you. As a mother I don’t try to reinvent the wheel…I greatly appreciate the work of others. I will list these resources below. Some are books that you as a parent can read that contain book lists and others are actual book lists available for download for free on their website.

• Honey for a Child’s Heart
• The Read Aloud Family
• Read Aloud Revival – Monthly Reading Lists
• Access the Homemaker Made Simple Living Book List Below

Make Reading Fun

This is the next reading tip that I suggest in order to instill a love of reading in your little ones. No one likes reading books they aren’t interested in or books that are always attached to some kind of assignment or schoolwork. My children are far from perfect and don’t always obediently sit down in anticipation of the next book I choose to read.

On the days where we all might be struggling a little bit, we mix it up. We might take our books outside to read, we might read a digital book or listen to an audio book or we might do an activity or craft that goes along with what we are reading.

Oftentimes my son will be playing with blocks on the floor or running his trucks and cars on the ledge of the couch while I’m reading. At first I wanted to reprimand and ask him to pay attention but then I realized he was paying attention in his own way. He will come back to look at the pictures if he is interested but he is usually intently listening to the words as he plays and asks questions as we go along. For him it is fun to play while mommy reads and I am totally okay with that.

Another way to make reading fun is to tell your kids stories. I know this doesn’t actually involve you holding a physical book but the principle is still the same. You are teaching your children the joy of stories and listening and learning.

This is something that me and my husband have been trying to challenge ourselves to do more of with our kids. We’ve come to realize that our story telling abilities are often lacking in detail and imagination. I think this is something we lose as we get older unless we practice it so we are trying to strengthen our storytelling muscle. Telling stories to our kids is just as beneficial to us as it is to them.

2. Read Yourself

Okay parents. This ones for you. We can’t expect our little ones to have a deep love for reading if they never observe this same type of love for reading in us. If reading isn’t your go to hobby, here are a few tips to help instill the love of reading in yourself as an adult.

Read Books that You Enjoy

A friend of mine always says, “life is too short to read a book you don’t enjoy” and I couldn’t agree more. Now, there are times in our lives where we all have to read something we aren’t necessarily interested in but when it comes to reading for pleasure and as a hobby, read the books you love.

This is something I struggled with in the past. I have a very type A personality and when I start something I want to finish it. Over the years I have tempered myself when it comes to reading…if I start a book and it’s just not my thing, I put it down and grab another. There is no shame.

Start Small

If you are trying to read more as an adult, don’t overwhelm yourself. Don’t try to read a book a week. You are sure to burn yourself out. Maybe start with a smaller goal of reading five books throughout the year. If you read more, great! If you make it a goal to read a few pages a day you will be shocked at how quickly you can finish a book. And when you choose books that you enjoy, you will find yourself wanting to read more and more.

Have Designated Reading Time

A great way to encourage reading time is to do it as a family. Periodically our family will have thirty minutes in the evening where we all read together. Our little ones may play quietly on the floor but my husband and myself will each read our own books that we are personally reading at the time. It’s important that our children see us reading. They will see that we enjoy it and are learning and this will encourage them to read themselves.

I hope these tips have provided you with some simple ideas of ways that you can instill a love of reading in your little ones. I would love to hear from you and the ways that you cultivate a love of reading in your own home. Also, send your book recommendations my way!

“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.”
— Maya Angelou