Teenagers and Reading
By Reading is Fundamental Published: July 28, 2009 Perhaps the teenager in your family was once an avid reader, but now hardly ever opens a book, or perhaps your child never liked reading in the first place. You know that reading is important, and you obviously want to make sure that your teenager grows into adulthood with all the skills he or she needs to succeed. What can you do? In this article, RIF suggests how parents can help their teenagers decide for themselves that reading is important to their lives. With that in mind, half of this article speaks directly to young people. We encourage you to share it with the teens in your family. Try to Avoid… Before we list ways to encourage teen reading that do work, here are a few tactics that don’t work: Pressuring, nagging, or bribing. Encourage your kids, but don’t hound them. Criticizing what your teens read. Explain what troubles you about certain types of reading materials after reading them yourself. Forbid as little as possible. And whenever you can, accept differences of opinion as just that. Lavishing too much praise. If you catch your youngster reading, show interest, but don’t make a…
