In today’s technology soaked world, parents often feel as if its mission impossible getting a child to pick up a book; especially if the child is a boy. It’s generally accepted that it’s much more difficult getting young boys into reading than girls because old and modern distractions such as television, computer games, friends and the great outdoors seem to have a much greater hold over those born with a Y chromosome.

It’s often said that the greatest thing you can give to a child is the gift of reading, and there’s a lot of truth in that statement. The benefits of reading from an early age are immense. If you can get a boy into reading it will improve his logical thinking, concentration, discipline, communication skills, grasp of language and, importantly, imbue him with the knowledge that reading can be lots of fun. Numerous studies have found that boys who begin reading at an early age perform far better throughout their academic lives than those who don’t. So what can you actually do to encourage boys to read?

Start Early

It’s never too early for parents to start reading to their son. Many pro-active parents even begin reading to their child while it’s still in the womb. There are several advantages to reading regularly to a child from an early age. One of the biggest advantages is a child will become comfortable around books and develop an interest in them. Books with large, colourful pictures are fantastic for capturing the attention of boys and drawing them into books before they have even mastered the art of reading.

Another big advantage of reading to a child when they’re a baby or toddler is it incorporates reading as an activity into their daily routine. If a parent spends 5 or 10 minutes every night reading to their son before they go to sleep, the child will come to associate this as a relaxing pastime that helps them fall asleep. It then becomes much more likely that they will continue reading throughout their life.

Make Reading Active

One of the biggest turn offs for boys about reading is the notion that it’s boring. If a boy gets this idea into his head it can be very difficult to persuade him otherwise. A great way of not allowing this to happen is to make reading an active pastime. This can be done simply by asking a child a few basic questions about the plot and characters in the book they’re reading or drawing pictures from the book with them.

When they get a little older, increasing their participation with the texts they’re engaged with by taking on the role of certain characters and acting out parts of the book can really help. Making books come alive with activities such as acting is a time honoured method of capturing the imagination of children and is highly recommended, as are selected recommended books for boys.

Provide Male Role Models

You only need to look at the adulation young boys hold for their favourite sports and movie stars to appreciate how important role models are in their lives. This is why it’s crucial for boys to have at least one male role model who enjoys reading in their life.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a father, brother, uncle or grandad, once he gets the chance to see someone they respect reading regularly while they’re growing up, the probability of them becoming good readers increases substantially.

 Read Everything

These days we’re surrounded by walls of text, from advertising boards to shop signs to car stickers, presenting innumerable reading opportunities. Encouraging children to read everything they can while growing up is a superb way of nurturing a love for words and literature.

To make things a little more interesting and to keep boys entertained, parents can always design some reading games, which are great for passing a few hours on long car journeys. These can be very simple, such as trying to spot a word beginning with a certain letter or making a sentence from all of the words encountered while out and about together.

Praise and Encouragement

To get boys reading it’s essential that they receive appropriate praise and encouragement. Boys respond terrifically to praise if it’s specific and they understand what they’re receiving the praise for. Opportunities to praise should never be missed; whether the child learns a new word or finishes a difficult book.

It’s equally important not to berate a child if they make a mistake. Making mistakes is all part of growing up and when it comes to reading, it’s vital that they understand mistakes are part of the learning curve and do not mean he’s a failure.

Library Image


Join a Library

It might seem like the most obvious suggestion on this list for those who want to get boys reading, but it’s amazing how many parents forget to sign their children up to the local library. For a nominal fee, boys can get access to a wealth of books, magazines and comics in many different genres. And giving a child access to the material he wants to read, rather than forcing him to read something he has no interest in, is a tried and trusted method of getting boys to read.

Image Credits:

Márcio Binow da Silva @ Flickr

YLef @Flickr