As a child, I loved reading. As a parent, here’s how I’m teaching my kids to love it too

As a kid, my favourite place in the world was my neighbourhood library. 

From there, I travelled the globe and other universes. I went back in time to the Crusades and far into the future on spaceships bound for other stars. I befriended ethereal creatures, fought vampires and escaped zombies – all through the pages of my books.

A parent and child reading together at a public library, surrounded by shelves of books, sharing a quiet and joyful moment.

I read everything and anything in front of me, from brochures and menus to even the nutritional information on food packaging. Nothing was too boring for my hungry eyes. 

My reading habit shaped my personality growing up and continues to influence the way I parent. My husband and I want our kids to not only read, but to enjoy it the way we did as children – and still do as adults.

The 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study by the Ministry of Education found that Singapore students are the top readers in the world, but they are also deriving less enjoyment from reading over the years.

In the last decade, Singapore students who reported “enjoying reading a lot” fell from 60 per cent in 2011 to just 51 per cent in 2021.

In a world where endless streams of content are instantaneously available for our consumption 24/7, taking the time to read a book seems almost counter-intuitive. 

There are no moving pictures or sounds to hold our attention. No “likes”, comments or shares for “interaction”. No exciting edits or effects.

Just words that you have to read, make sense of and picture in your head. 

Nevertheless, we’ve worked hard to make reading the default medium of entertainment in our household, over and beyond smartphones, TVs and games.

Twelve years into our parenting journey, it’s time to check in and ask ourselves: Has it really been working? 

EVERY CHILD READS DIFFERENTLY

To me, a key sign of success is my kids’ excitement for the library. 

Each month, we lug home 20 to 40 books at a time, our bags straining and groaning under the weight of our hauls.

Bookstore outings are even bigger treats, because they know that they get to keep the books we buy.

These are often read at breakneck speed: My boys (among the oldest of my five kids) can finish a 300-page novel in two to three hours, while my oldest daughter, aged seven, breezes through 50 to 80 pages in 30 minutes. 

However, it wasn’t always like this. 

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/today/voices/love-reading-books-library-parent-child-family-5058871