Be a Reader Yourself

© Beverley Paine, 2004

As a writer I read all day. I read until my eyes are tired and I need to rest them. When I was a child I read other people's stories. Now I write them. I write fiction and non-fiction. I love playing with language. It excites me. I married a man who isn't a writer. He doesn't read as much as me because he isn't excited by words and language the way I am. He loves to build and sell things. However, he spends his day reading too. He reads instructions, catalogues, store policies, magazine articles, news items and advertisements. He reads to learn about his job, to work efficiently, and for pleasure. Our children have grown up in a home immersed in every day reading.

It's really quite simple. If you want your child to love reading, if you want them to be a reader, you must be a reader too. When you read you send a message to your child that reading is valuable and useful, no matter what reason you have for reading. If you didn't read a thing at home your child would grow up knowing that reading isn't important in life. It may not be important in you life, or perhaps even his, but think of the opportunities he would surely miss, all the closed doors that would block his progress through life...

If you are like my husband and fall asleep three pages into a novel, or keep reading the same line over and over again when reading a heavy reference book, you will need to make sure you have plenty of reading material around the house that you like. This may be volumes of short stories - great for reading at cuppa time; or comic books. I love books by Leunig and Gary Larson. They can be enjoyed by everyone in the family and make a visit to the toilet a hoot! Getting children hooked on books from an early age doesn't have to mean reading aloud endless fairy tales and fables... think outside the square and share things that you enjoy.