Research has shown that reading during the holidays helps minimize the so-called "summer slide", the usual drop-off that non-summer readers experience at the beginning of their next school year. The good news for parents is that there is a formula to keep their kids reading during the holidays, and beyond. What is the solution? Well, the parents themselves.
In this time of screens and many other distractions, it's not easy for parents to make reading a priority in their family life. Paradoxically, summertime is the most favorable time to apply the following helpful strategies, recommended by librarians and other reading experts.
First of all, expand the definition of reading and allow your kids to pick their preferred reading format. Audiobooks and e-readers, for example, can be stimulating gateways to reading. Graphic novels are also a format that may be taken into consideration.
Parents should make reading a priority for everyone in the family. In this domain, their involvement and example play an essential role. They should make reading an activity for the whole family and make it a social activity, such as planning a read-aloud time together as often as possible. Last but not least, parents should make reading a game, as entertaining and desirable as possible.
Picture: The Reading Lesson, by Ekvall Knut (Wikimedia Commons)
