There is a lot of pressure on kids to be good readers. With every grade the expectation bar or the DRA (District Reading Assessment) level goes higher and higher. Knowing other kid’s DRA level, few parents become tensed that how their child will cope up with the grade level? There is a lot you can do at home starting from an early age to work on it. And help your child get into the stress-free reading routine.

Pressuring your kid doesn’t help and it will cause more harm than good. Kids definitely need a very strong foundation. And the good thing is it doesn’t have to be a complicated process or enrolling them to reading classes. You might be setting up the stage every day. Let’s see how?

• Making grocery list: Surprised? When my daughter started to write, I used to ask my daughter to make a grocery list while I would finish up my last minute chores before heading out. Her typical list used to have Milk, Egg, Bread, Butter, Juice, Gummy Bears..:). Later, in the grocery store, she used to carry her list and would read out the items. So, what exactly I was doing here? Keeping her busy? Off course yes but at the same time, she was learning pre-reading skills. This works great for early readers.

• Treasure bag: I came across this game in a book. Pack random objects in your bag. Let your child pick an item and build a story, next pick another object and continue the story.  You will see that kids building their stories from the books they have already read.  And they will realize that how reading can help them in different ways later. It teaches the kids the basics of storytelling – that there is a beginning, middle and ending to every story. This is suitable for little older kids. The younger ones can see how a story can be formed in an interesting way. This is perfect for road trips.

• Use “fancy”/ “catchy” words once in a while: We usually try to keep our conversation style simple when talking to kids. But it will not be a bad idea to introduce few fancy, juicy, catchy words into your conversation with its meaning (that can be in simple manner). When they have a strong vocabulary, it is more likely for them to try out new books.

• Read books every night: How can anyone forget to mention the importance of reading when we are talking of developing good reading habits?

• Proper selection of reading material: In the previous post, we talked about the kind of books suitable for different age group. Choosing quality books is very important to maintain the interest of your child in reading.

• Get into the story: When you read with expressions, your child also start developing interest and will see reading as a fun thing. They might pick up the book and start reading it with expressions just the way you read it together.

Above all of these, keep on reading. Don’t miss any opportunity to spend some time with your child to read together. I have few friends who have reduced reading with their kids once they start to read on their own. As long as your kid is okay with you being the reading buddy, don’t miss a chance.