[dundercoder]

We don’t let our kids on to TikTok, but all their friends are on and it surprises me how much they take whatever advice is shown them as gospel. Lucky for me my kids will tell me “Hey, Johnny said the best way to get ripped is X” so I get the chance to teach proper research techniques (for the level they are at). Two of my four kids are avid readers, mostly fiction but some not, the other two I am really struggling to get them engaged.

After being forced to read books in high school over the summer (school mandated summer reading) I got turned off on reading for years until I picked up Harry Potter. That changed my perspective and I read gobs of books now. I actually prefer to read information mostly than to watch a video about it.

[thevagrant]

Solution for my kids was buy or borrow whatever books they show interest in.

If they like reading comics, then get a stack of comics.

I allowed them to stay up later (if they want) but the condition is that time only can be used for reading. They really enjoyed that and it helped.

In time they traded the comics to fiction novels and their reading ability kept improving. They now get books from the library on their own and read quite a lot for their age. No parental pressure needed, they are addicted.

[sotix]

High school also killed my love for reading. I really regret that I didn't start reading again outside of assigned works until I graduated college. Now I read a pretty significant amount, and it's a joy to me! Something about how school analyzed literature and required you to read what they dictated didn't align with me.

I just finished the Odyssey, a required book in high school, after I previously finished the Iliad, which wasn't required in high school. Reading those two together after reading Stephen Fry's Mythos and Heroes books was a wonderful experience that I felt could have been replicated in high school rather than the whirlwind of bouncing around to unrelated books like the Catcher in the Rye.

[mkbkn]

How do one train their kids to read?

One idea I read somewhere (online) is to financially incentivize them once they get an understanding of cash/money. No clue if it would work or how effective it would be.

My kid is on the way and my spouse has zero interest in reading.

[dundercoder]

We read to them from the time they were born. Simple stories and picture books at first. I think exposure is key, but I’ve also found that kids learn way more with what they observe than what they are told to do. So they see mom and dad reading is going to have a much larger effect than just telling them to read. We take them to the local library and let them pick whatever books they want to try. One of ours took a long time to ever find anything, then discovered he loved dragons, so for a year he devoured any dragon book. Even graphic novels, which I had thought “Isn’t my 12 year old to old for these?” Primed the pump and she’ll go through 2-3 chapter books per week.

We also made age appropriate audiobooks available to them and all 4 adore listening. Congrats on your baby! I’ve never been more exhausted in my life but I’m loving it.

[yencabulator]

Personal anecdote: Before I could read, my mom would sit down and read Donald Duck comics with me. It started out as looking at pictures for a few minutes, soon was her reading a whole comic book aloud in one sitting, and when I eventually learned to read myself, the teacher's feedback was that I read out loud to the class in a way that brought the story to life, where others were just reciting the words.

To think of replacing that shared time with a financial incentive comes across as really cold. (Sorry.) Also, way too late!

[BobaFloutist]

Kids are mimics. Read to them, and let them see you reading.