Exercise the mind with summer reading

As the 18th-century English essayist Sir Richard Steele once stated, “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body,” This being said, encouraging your kids to read should be at the top your summer time ‘to do’ list.

Many public high schools will require summer reading for students, but if yours doesn’t you can create your own. The first place you should go is your local public library. Almost every public library has a summer reading program for any reading or age level. The librarians will be able to help you find books that are age appropriate and in areas that your child is interested in.

Find out if your school has a summer reading list available. Most schools will have a summer reading list or even a list of books that will be covered in the following year’s English class. You could kill two birds with one stone and help your kids get better English grades next fall.

Check out your local newspaper to see if there are any businesses in your area that are sponsoring summer reading programs. A lot of Radio and Television stations sponsor reading programs that offer prizes and incentives for you’re young reader.

The most important thing to remember when starting a Summer Reading program for kids of any age is to make it fun and interesting. Since each kid is different you will have to find out what they want or like to read and then tailor a reading program that will work for them.

Design a program that offers an incentive to for reading a certain amount of books in a month, or pages in a week. For an advanced reader, reading two books a week would be easy, especially in the summer. A teenager who struggles with reading it may take over a week to read just one book that is where the pages per week would work better. You want your teen to be able to see that they are making progress each week.

The incentive should be appropriate for the amount of reading they are doing and at the same time something your teenager is interested in earning. Getting to go to the movies or out to their favorite restaurant for reaching their monthly goal is very reasonable. In the same respect giving them a new car or a trip to Europe is a little over the top.

Stay involved in their reading choices. If they are the type of kid who really doesn’t like to read it will be more of a challenge, but believe me there is material out there that will interest them. Try comic books, yes you heard me, comic books. They may seem like they would be too juvenile for teenager, or even like they wouldn’t be considered reading, but my philosophy is that reading is reading.

Sit down with your teen and discuss what they are interested in and what type of books they want to read. Once you have a game plan hit the library and see what you can find. It is a good idea to stay involved in their book choices. Not all material in the Young Reader’s section is appropriate for all kids. The library cannot sensor the books so you need to.

If you and your child both have similar interest you might consider reading the same book so you can talk about the book rather than have them tell you about it or write a report. Even if you don’t have the same interest it would probably mean a lot to your son or daughter if you took the time to read a book they were interested in.

Some teenagers are unmotivated when it comes to reading, so you might want to try setting aside a certain time everyday for them to read or even require their reading to be done before they watch TV or play video games (just like any other chore).

Always keep close track of their progress and offer praise and encouragement when they reach the goals you have set for them.