Why We Should Read to Our Older Children

My eight-year-old son loves to read. He also loves to play Minecraft and just about every other game available on the iPad. I bought the gadget for myself, but by now the kids have taken over and it’s pretty much their toy now. When I do try to use the iPad, the screen is smudged with all sorts of gook — a sure sign that my preschool-aged daughters had been there!

When my son was little, we started reading books to him every day. He loved story time. But while his classmates in Kindergarten, first grade, and then even second grade started reading on their own, our son was perfectly content to leave the reading to us. In fact, it was a daily struggle just to get him to read a page of a story.

So in December of last year I made a deal with him. If he could read one thousand words, I would give him an Oreo cookie. Turns out a cookie was all it took to get him going, albeit begrudgingly at first. The next day, he had to hit 1,100 words, and he did it. By the time we got to 2,400 words in one sitting, he took off. He now devours books.

We’ve just wrapped up a great summer of reading. He’s now finished the whole A to Z Mystery series, the Treasure Hunter series, and a myriad of other books.

However, I’ve noticed a few things since he has started reading independently.

First, if the iPad is around, my son won’t read. We’ve started to restrict iPad use and we don’t have cable television to limit the amount of screen time my kids are exposed to. In fact, we put the iPads away altogether for the month of August, and in this time my son has been devouring books.

Second, now that he reads by himself, my wife and I have stopped reading to him. We have two younger kids that need to be read to, and it’s tough finding time to read to each of them every day. Now that my son reads on his own, it’s been nice to have an extra half hour every day.

Unfortunately, it looks like we are actually doing our son a disservice by not reading to him, even though he’s reading on his own. I just read an interesting report from the New York Times that says that we should read to our children through age eleven and not stop once they gain independent reading skills.

Here are the highlights. As my family has experienced, the rise of tablets like the iPad has reduced book reading. Further, most parents stop reading to kids after they turn six. However, the study says that kids who love to read had parents who kept reading to them through elementary school. The study’s key finding: co-reading inspires a shared love of books.

While this news came as a surprise, I’m glad to know that it’s a good idea to keep reading with my son. While it’s been nice to have that extra free time that co-reading occupied, I do miss the bonding time it gave us. The study actually cited how kids view co-reading as special bonding time with their parents. And reading with my son means that I’ll have a half hour less to get lost on my own screens, which is icing on the cake.

This piece was originally posted at VersaMe.com. VersaMe created the Starling the world’s first wearable engagement tracker that helps encourage and reinforce positive parenting behaviors.