Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Reading for reading's sake

My son is a reader. He loves to visit our secondhand bookshop to get new books, he reads on his own all the time and he tells me that his current chapter books are too easy. (Am I bragging a little here? Yes.)

He comes from a reading family. Both his father and I love to read. I read so much that I've actually lost track of some of the books that I've read - picking up a book, only to realize that at the end of the first page I had read it before. (I guess it is good that I can remember the stories, if not always the titles.) The only time I ever kept track of the books that I read was when I did my 100 book challenge. I didn't have any problem keeping a record then, because I wanted to keep track of what I had read. Had someone told me I had to keep track of my books, I may have become resentful.

Which is exactly what happens when children have to complete a reading log. The studies on this have been small, but very telling: If you force a child to keep a reading log, it turns reading into a chore and can turn even lovers of reading into anti-readers. As my son approaches first grade, I am going to keep my eye out for this one. I already have an active reader who reads more than 20 minutes a day and is interested in a variety of books. If there is any way we can get through school without killing my little bookworm's love of literature, I am all for it.

Have you encountered the mandatory reading log at your child's school? Has it helped or hurt your child's love of reading? Tell me in the comments.

2 comments:

  1. My oldest is 6 year old, she can read already, however whether she's a bookworm, I think it's too early to judge. I am a bookworm (also a book blogger) and I believe children should be allowed to read whatever they feel like reading (as long as they're appropriate for their age).

    You know, most of the parents here in my country limit their children's reading material. For example, they're not allowed to read too much fun books (a.k.a fiction novels, comic books, etc), instead they believe children should only focus on the school text books. You know what the result is?

    Yes, the children that associate books with scary exams.

    What a way to turn a child into a non-reader!

    I don't know about reading logs, we don't have it here. From the looks of it, it might be a good way to introduce a child to new books, but when overdone it would be a chore. A very boring chore.

    Lovely post!

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    1. Thanks, Citra! I agree - children should be allowed to choose their own (age appropriate) reading materials!

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