Tips to Get your Child to Love to Read

I am a firm believer of starting your children off early when it comes to reading. I am the type of parent where I want them to destroy books, because that means that they are going through the pages and looking at the pictures, creating their own stories. We have over 700 books in our library, another 700 on our kindles, and even more in our library to sell. We love books in our house and we encourage our children to pick one up. We have them on all levels of the house, in the car, in their backpacks, in the diaper bag. We take them with us on our kindle/Ipad/Phone. We are never without access to some type of books. I have created a list of tips to help get your child to love to read.

Start them early: Allow them to feel it, start with the board books, or even the soft books.
Do not correct them: Do not correct them when reading. If they are reading the book upside down, just allow it. Remember that they have a grander imagination then we do as adult.
Read with them: Sit down and read with them. Start off small with very short books.
Follow their lead: If they only allow you to read the first couple of words of the page, then be it. Don’t stop them and correct them. You want to engage them at their level, not y0urs.
Choose books they are interested in: This one was the hardest for me. I wanted to read all of my childhood favorites and not their favorite. Once I gave in and read what they wanted to, they sat longer and enjoyed it more.
Choose characters that they know: Their are books for almost every character that your child could love. Mine happen to love ScoobyDoo. So I make sure to have as many ScoobyDoo books I can find, that way I encourage more reading from him.
Ask them to read to you: I always find it interesting what they “read” to me. They really can understand a story from the pictures.
Repeat: Read the same book over and over and over again. They love that! It also builds their love to read that story.
Be animated: The more animated you are in reading the more they will get into the story.
Add Props: If you have the opportunity to add props, whether bought or made. It makes it more interactive.
Take them to the Library: Library is great for activities and readings, while there you can pick up a few books.
Have fun!