Reading in the summer? I know, I know. Not ideal for most kids who after wrapping up End Of Grade exams (EOGs) plus a year of schoolwork and want to do nothing but relax, play outside, or play video games. However, to sustain the progress they have made all year in school, we as parents have to encourage and promote summer reading in our home.
Schools are no longer doing this. When I went to school, there were summer reading lists that you had to complete by the end of summer before school starts. Not anymore. Kids are now left to their own devices to maintain what they have learned to capitalize on next year’s learning. This is a responsibility that ends up falling on the parents. As a parent, I push my children to read. One of my boys hates reading but regardless of his distaste for books, I bring him books from the library that I know he will like based on what he has liked in the past or has watched on television.
Although our books have a morale to the story, the books you pick for your child don’t need to. They just need to lean into your child’s interests. Whether they like humor, mystery fiction, science, or fantasy books, it doesn’t matter. What matters is to get your child reading and engaging their imagination. Kids need to be consuming something other than social media or video games. Electronics offer kids a dopamine hit that provides a short term reward whereas books give long term value. The kind of writer I am is because of the reader I was as a child. I was a voracious reader and the library was my favorite place in the world. Thanks to my mom who encouraged reading, she is the reason I am an author today. To be an author, you must first be a reader.
I am not going to bore you with all the benefits of reading, you can read more about that here. I am telling you from personal experience. Summer reading is the reason I was in High Honors English throughout high school. Reading is why I love to write and write well. Reading as a child helped make it easier for me to transition back to this hobby as an adult. The smartest people I know are readers. So, I went back to reading several years ago as an adult and have not looked back.
If you want your kid to be an avid reader, capitalize on their free time during the summer to do so. You can even start them off easily with an audio book. Audiobooks are a great introduction into reading and still require the steady focus and attention of reading a book in print. So no, it is not cheating to have your kids engage with audiobooks. Listening to audiobooks will still provide them with all the benefits that reading has. We have an audiobook for young readers that is a perfect wind-down book for children who struggle with falling asleep. I started off reading audiobooks as a prelude before jumping into books on print which made this transition easier.
If you need help with creating a summer reading list, start with your local library. A lot of them have incentives built into their summer reading programs that incite young readers to stay disciplined about their reading. Prizes will definitely motivate your little readers to consume more books while building their endurance for reading. Visit your local library and see what they have to offer in terms of a summer reading program so that you don’t have to do the heavy lifting of picking the books and offering the incentives yourself.
Reading comprehension is the foundation of all learning. If your children can’t comprehend what they read, they will struggle in all their subjects. To set them up for success, get them reading during the summer to optimize their academic performance for that upcoming school year. If you don’t know what books to start off with, our children’s books are a safe bet because they have a morale to each story and teach about emotional wellness and entrepreneurship. Visit our online bookstore to learn more!
