"How can I cultivate a family culture of reading in my home?"
Many of us long for a family culture of reading, learning, and growing together. Having a shared love of stories can not only encourage the lifelong reading we desire, but it can create unity within our homes as well. Reading aloud to our children is a beautiful way to enjoy this literary journey together.
Here are a few thoughts on how to establish the habit of reading aloud:
Build a sustainable habit.
Create a rhythm that works for your family's schedule in this season of life. This may look like establishing a new habit within your schedule, or anchoring it to an already-established part of your routine.
Create a rhythm that works for your family's schedule in this season of life. This may look like establishing a new habit within your schedule, or anchoring it to an already-established part of your routine.
For example:
-Reading stories after breakfast
-Enjoying nursery rhymes during morning snack
-Listening to an audiobook during lunch
-Gathering together after lunch for picture books
-Having an afternoon poetry and tea time
-Taking everyone outside after naptime for an outdoor reading session
-Heading to the couch after dinner for stories
-Enjoying a bedtime story together
More tips to establish this habit:
-Display picture books with the cover facing out. The cover may grab your child's attention and they're more likely to pick it up. While we can't store all of our books this way, we can choose a few each week to display. (Hint: I love doing this with library books!)
-Have a “busy basket” with items such as play-dough, stickers, drawing materials, coloring books, puzzles, fidget toys- any activities they can do while listening to you read. Bring this out only during read-aloud or audiobook time- many children can actually listen better with busy hands!
-Keep it short, simple, and sweet. As you're growing in this habit, don't be afraid to keep it short. In fact, it may be helpful to wrap it up before they lose interest or start to spiral (we've all been there!).
-Mix it up: Picture books and chapter books are perfect for reading aloud! But don't forget about poetry, Bible stories, myths, legends, fairy tales, folk tales, and nursery rhymes.
Above all, keep this time enjoyable and encouraging. We want our children to have a positive association with books and with family reading time.
Another favorite tip: Let them see you read.
We often desire for our children to be lifelong learners and lifelong readers, but are we modeling this ourselves? If we truly value this, and want our children to see it as valuable, this is an excellent opportunity to live it out ourselves.
Mom- your mind needs nourishment too!
When we set aside time to read, to learn, and to grow on our own, we show our children that this is worth our time.
Most importantly, let them see you reading Scripture and setting aside time to read, study, and meditate on the Word of God, to spend time in prayer, and to spend time loving and serving the local church and your community.
Show them a life well-lived for the Lord.
