Will this persuade my daughter to see things my way?

 

This in turn bothers me. Open a paper on a day ending in 'y' and there will be some new piece of research showing the benefits of being read to as a young child and then continuing to read from that point.

 

We are told that reading regularly for pleasure will improve language and communication skills, expand vocabularies, improve memory retention and concentration, aid in the ability to see and make connections and understand abstract concepts. Reading, they claim, leads to greater empathy, improved maths skills and better exam scores.

 

I’m a confirmed book addict, so even if these research results were utter nonsense, I’d still want my child to read and to know the sheer joy that reading can bring.  That she might not learn to love the heady pleasure of slipping between the covers of a dusty book jacket, sinking away from the physical world, and discovering a new place peopled with strange and interesting characters – that is a heart breaking thought.

 

I thought I’d done everything right – bedtime stories every night, shelves heaving with books, library visits, books on tape – and yet the child still stubbornly refuses to take pleasure in reading. The Wimpy Kid series provided a brief gleam of hope, the set eagerly gobbled down. I thought, ah, yes, a breakthrough. Hallelujah!  But as soon as the series was over so was all enthusiasm.

 

So what to do? The professionals advise giving the reader choice over what they read – who wouldn’t prefer to choose a book that piques their interest and that they connect to? So this weekend we are re-joining the library, our lapsed membership attributed to an unholy alliance of a missing library book,  the library lady’s granite hewn frown lines, and my cowardice.

 

I’m also instituting a short period of reading time each evening. I know they say that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. But if you make the horse stand by the water long enough, surely he’ll take a sup eventually?