Raising Readers

I'm such a huge reader myself that I always took it for granted that my children would be, too. My daughter loved books from the outset, wanted them read to her even when she was very small, and never varied from that. She took to reading on her own when she started school and has read almost every night before going to sleep since then (she's in 7th grade now). I dread the nights when I hear her say, "I have nothing to read!" because I know there will be no sleep until I hunt up something that strikes her fancy and she reads at least a little bit of it.

My son seemed cut out differently. He wasn't as interested in having me read to him; it was a sporadic thing. When it came time to start school, though, he had taken the notion that he really wanted to be able to read. He wanted to read Harry Potter by himself. I told him that that was a wonderful goal, but he might have to work his way up to it. That was okay with him, and the desire got him through the first year of school, which he unfortunately found boring in many other ways.

This year he's six and his reading has really taken off. He wanted to participate with his sister in the Summer Reading Program at our local library; each child had to keep a reading log and read eight books over the summer to qualify for a prize. He decided he wanted to read the "Little Critter" books by Mercer Mayer. I was pleased with that choice because he didn't look for the easiest things he could read; they had some words that challenged him and that was okay with him. Sometimes I would suggest a different (easier) book and he would scold me: "Mom, that's not going to help me advance my reading skills!" (Yes, that's a quote.)

Now he's reading in bed almost every night. He's reading "Scooby-Doo" mysteries at the moment, and keeps up a running commentary for me, calling out from his room, "Mom, I just read 'spectacular.'" "Hey, I just read 'industrial.'" "I just read 'complicated.'"

So it looks like he's turning out to be a reader, too. I don't know if I did anything to help that along, or if we're just born readers--or not. Surely being read to as a child and living in a house practically wallpapered with books and having adults reading all around you should help--but I wonder if it's more nature or nurture. One of those things that we can't, as parents, know. We just have to do the best we can and hope it works. Just like every other aspect of parenting, I suppose.