How To Encourage Summer Reading in Doha

reading indoors outside! 

It's that time of the year again that we spend a lot of time indoors that reading indoors could be so boring. As much as we want to read outdoors and enjoy the breeze, the extreme heat outside may prevent us from doing so. This will not stop us. We commit ourselves to everyday reading. And we have this in writing! We joined the summer reading challenge 2012. And it's going to be fun!

We will definitely prevent "summer slide" where reading abilities lapse during summer. NO!


Here are the tips from Jen Robinson on how to encourage summer reading:

Parents can help make this magic happen. Here are a few simple tips:

1. Make sure your kids have plenty of books. Take your kids to the library or the bookstore (new or used) to pick out some interesting new books. Go to the library every week, if you can. Go to yard sales, and sort through the books there. Organize a book swap in your neighborhood or scout troop. Do whatever you need to do to keep a fresh supply of books around.
2. Always pack up books whenever you go somewhere, for your kids and for yourself (including audiobooks). Make sure your kids see you reading, whether it's on the beach, while waiting for the softball game to start, or at home. Bonus points if you spend some of your time reading kids' books. Then you can also talk about the books with your kids, and recommend other books that they might like. Listen to audiobooks in the car, especially on long trips. Pick books that are fun and/or exciting. You'll find that these add to your family's common frame of reference. And they makes the drives go by a lot more quickly.
3. Encourage social reading. If your child wants to read a book because other kids are reading it (and you don't have personal reasons why you think your child isn't ready for the book), by all means get a copy. This reinforces the idea that reading is cool, and gives your child a chance to talk about the book with others. Consider buying two copies of the same book, for your child and his or her best friend, so that they can both read it. Maybe start a book club. Take the kids to see a movie based on a book, and also read the book. Do whatever you can to make reading cool and social.
4. Try not to get hung up on whether or not your child "could" be reading more advanced books. Do you read Proust on your summer vacation, or do you read James Patterson? Kids turn to books for a respite from cares sometimes, just as adults do. They don't want everything they read to educational. There's no harm in suggesting the occasional book that's more of a stretch, but don't push too hard. If kids find reading enjoyable, they'll keep reading, and they will eventually push themselves. For that to happen, they just need to spend time reading.
5. Try to keep some time available for reading. This is perhaps the hardest thing, as schedules fill up with sports, cookouts, trips and movies. These are all fun, too. But if you ask me, there's no substitute for the occasional afternoon spent perched up in a tree exploring far-off worlds through books.
And that's it. A prescription for getting kids reading this summer. Get great books, take them places with you, make reading social, keep reading from being a chore or a contest, and leave a bit of time for reading on the schedule. There are no guarantees, of course. But if you do all of these things, you're setting the stage for a reading-filled summer.

Definitely awesome tips to follow! We also have our own tips but still work in progress.

Keep reading!