Son HATES to read

KaCee · #1 (**permalink**) 09-12-2002, 04:40 AM

I read the thread on the ds age 8 who loves to read and the book selections accompanying it. The ideas were great, but discouraging for me. Even though I read constantly, his sister reads constantly, and I have read to my son since birth (right now am reading the Harry Potter series each evening which he loves) my ds age 8 still HATES to read. He is a good reader and a good student, but I can't find anything that sparks his interest. His school has the accelerated reader program which is great for kids who enjoy reading but does not seem to do much for him. There is a party each semester for kids who earn so many reading points -- he qualified for one then told me that was enough!

What have some of you done to encourage your children to read more? Do I bribe him? And if I tell him "go read 15 min." he acts like it is a punishment which does not seem like it would encouraging him in the future. He told me yesterday that he already doesn't want to go to college because it will be too much reading! (His dad is currently taking courses and he sees him reading each night!)

janet · #2 (**permalink**) 09-12-2002, 05:13 AM

KaCee, Maybe you can read a page then have your son read a page. This way you can help him with difficult words. I have had my son read everyday for 1/2 hour, book of his choice, during the school year and 1 hr a day during the summer. I put it to him as if this is your job, something you do everyday, just like making your bed, brushing your teeth, combing your hair, etc.

Now as the children advance in grades there is more reading assignments and I still have him read every day, we call his personal reading, his leisure reading. I have him list the books he has read and ask him a few questions about the book.

Don't give up, even if your son will only read comic books on his own he still is reading.

janet

danstigerangel · #3 (**permalink**) 09-12-2002, 05:25 PM

KaCee

My twelve year old ds also hated to read. My dd and myself read all the time. Anything from magazines to Romance novels. Anyway....I found that he loves to read about things that interest him. He loves dirtbiking, skateboarding, and bicycling. He now has a magazine subscription, and wants to buy magazines, etc, at the store. I think if it catches their interest, they'll read it. The only thing is, getting them threw the school stuff!!!

Lauri

kimmyo · #4 (**permalink**) 09-12-2002, 05:54 PM

KaCee....OMG my 12 year old DS HATES to read! He is struggling with his AR grade because he won't read. I have not been able to spark his interest in anything! Magazines,comics...nothing !

kitkathen · #5 (**permalink**) 09-14-2002, 10:31 AM

Have you thought of trying daily treasure hunts where he has to read the instructions to find the treat, quarter, surprise or whatever. You could have the basic instructions saved and just change the locations.

Euripides · #6 (**permalink**) 09-14-2002, 02:13 PM

Wow what a difficult one. A couple of thoughts, which I hope might help -
First up, can you find a reason he doesn't like reading - like that they have to read boring stuff all the time at school (I HATED most of the content of the reading all through school - but I love to read all kinds of things, classics, junk romance, you name it!) - physical discomfort (needs glasses?) or takes time from TV or computer or play?

So long as he's reading enough to keep up at school, I wouldn't stress about it too much. While I place a high value on literacy, maybe the big deal thats always made about it makes him feel a bit pressured (especially if he has a family of bookworms) and maybe its just not 'his thing'.

Another thought is that if he is a very active child, perhaps he dislikes the sitting-still-not-fidgeting bit. This might be helped by sandwiching reading time between a vigorous game of backyard football, and giving him something to fidget with - silly putty? while he reads.

Lastly, you can keep reading good stuff to him and expose him to great writers through film and video. What are his interests?

best wishes
Helen

Abear · #7 (**permalink**) 09-14-2002, 02:50 PM

I agree with Euripides. You need to somehow find out why he despises reading so much before you can try to "fix" it.

If you have not done so in a while, why don't you make the first step an eye exam/check-up? If his eye exam comes out fine, then you need to find out a way to find out why he detests reading so much!

GOOD LUCK!!!!

hisga · #8 (**permalink**) 09-14-2002, 06:46 PM

First get that boy to an eye Dr., one who specializes in kids. There's nothing like an eyestrain headache to ruin reading for someone. Then get books about things he's interested in. My nephew hated to read and I gave him books on building things which he already was interested in.

uismother · #9 (**permalink**) 09-14-2002, 06:46 PM

I couldn't have kept my four daughters away from books if I'd tried. My son, the youngest, on the other hand hated to read even though he tested out at the high school level in 4th grade. Well, nothing seemed to work until. . . He wanted the Harry Potter Movie and couldn't have it until he read the book first so we could compare the two. Harry Potter video game? Read book 2. It worked and suddenly he was reading something because there was a prize at the end. Keep in mind that he had to spend his own money on the movie and video game, so he had to read what I requested in order to be allowed to spend his own allowance and lawn mowing money. Sounds harsh, but it worked. Now he's an avid reader of many different subjects and types of books. He recently asked for the 1st Lord of the Rings book so he'd be able to buy the movie. Check this out: for Christmas he's requesting all the Lord of the Rings books as a gift and not asking for the 2nd or 3rd movie. His vocabulary (which was always very good) has improved and yesterday he was elected class president and elected to represent his class in the student council. He's enjoying school more and making a greater effort all around. He's happy; I'm happy. I realize that this won't work for everyone and would never have worked on some of my girls, but to each his own.

Lifestar · #10 (**permalink**) 09-14-2002, 07:08 PM

My older daughter hates to read also...

She was diagnosed with a vision problem called accomodative disorder. Her eyes have trouble shifting focus from near to far. She has 20/20 vision..this won't be seen on a eye exam at your pediatritian, or school check up.

I took her to a vision specialist. An optomotrist who does kid's exams (2 hours worth).

She finally was able to explain that to my daughter, reading sort of felt like trying to constantly shift focus from looking out of a window, across the street, and then shifting back to look at a speck of dirt on the glass, then back out to the scene across the street, back to the glass again, back and forth, every time she needed to track a new line across the page from right to left!

No wonder the kid hates to read! It's ehausting! So a pair of reading galsses for school (blackboard to textbooks) and some vision exercises makes it easier for her, but she will never learn to love to read. She does great in school on tests, but it will never be a pleasure for her. I can't help change that, but she does enjoy books on tape in the car, and being read to, and watching videos.

Maye some people just don't enjoy reading either.. My whole family loved to fish. I hated it. It annoyed my dad to no end. I just wanted to sit on the beach and read a book. Go figure.