Book-Loving Boys
Reading With Daddy - 9mths
I recently read Trevor Cairney’s blogpost on The Challenge of Boys and Reading, and especially loved this: “Boys need to understand the value of story and storytelling from an early age… Until boys value story, they will struggle to cope with reading.”
I couldn’t agree more. That is the one piece of advice I give to other mums time and time again. If you want your boys to be great readers, you have to read them great stories. Lots of great stories. Mem Fox suggests that children need to hear one thousand great stories read aloud before they are taught to read! That pretty much means reading your son a great book every day for about three years. Definitely achievable, but you need to start young. Trevor shares some great ideas for engaging 3-5 year old boys, but I’d like to suggest that you start much, much earlier than that.
Here are my tips for raising book-loving young boys:
Age 0-1:
- It’s never too early to introduce your son to books! Initially, look for cloth books with no more than a sentence on each page.
- Establish a bedtime story routine while your son is still a baby. Either hold baby on your lap while you read a very short story, or place baby down on his back in the cot and hold the book in the air above him. If possible, have Mum and Dad take turns reading to baby. Research shows the positive impact Dads have on their sons’ reading.
- Allow him to explore “play” books (with chewy corners, rattles etc) and board books in his own way.
Age 1-2:
- Continue with the bedtime routine, encouraging your son to sit still for the duration of the story. Cuddling him on your lap makes it easier. It’s important that boys learn to sit still and concentrate for a few minutes (the longer you put this off the harder it will be).
- Select sturdy board books with limited text and repetitive phrases.
- Boys often like to be physically involved with books. Help him to turn pages. Stories with touch and feel elements are often well received.
- Begin allowing your son to choose which book he would like to hear. Show him two and ask whether he would like “Title X” or “Title Y”. He may point, or show excitement about one cover, or use a key word.
Age 2-3:
- Extend the time you expect your son to be able to sit and listen to a story. 10 minutes is the ultimate goal.
- Select board books with great storylines, and read each one like it’s a great story! Be animated, be expressive! Use your voice the very best way you can. You have to love it for him to love it. I can’t emphasise this enough.
- Allow your son to begin selecting one or two library books. (Read my post on Loving Your Library Time here.)
- Teach your son how to gently turn “real” pages.
Great tips thanks Cath. My 4yo son loves books and reading as I was reading to him from day dot. My 18mo has not had such one-on-one book time so I will definitely set aside story time for him each day too.
PS I organised library cards for us all after your “Loving your library time” post. Charlie has really enjoyed choosing and borrowing his books himself.
Not an issue I have in my home (probably coz I did all that already) but some FABULOUS info there.
Thank you.
We currently like eating books here, and sometimes listening in to miss 3′s books.
Great post. My daughter has always loved books – but we have struggled with my 18month old son. We kept persisting – even if we only read a few pages before he struggled to get down. But it has paid off – he loves his books now – bringing his favourites to be read throughout the day! He even sits on his little couch and has a look himself now. He especially loves the ones where you have to open little tabs to find something. I am so glad that we kept up – it would have been easy just to say that he isn’t interested like his big sis was…
I love hearing about other people reading to their kids.
I have read to all 3 of my kids from about 9 months. The oldest and youngest are boys and they love it just as much as my daughter.
My (eldest) 5 year old actually picks a lot of his sister’s books for bedtime reading. He hates pink and won’t participate in “girly” play but he quite often picks her “Very Very Pearly” book or other fairy books.
I’m sure this will become uncool too but I’m encouraging it for as long as possible.
I buy them all kinds of books to share. They are only her books because she got them as gifts.
Hi Cath,
It’s great to meet you. I found you through Narelle’s and Janet’s blogs and then noticed you’re already a follower of mine. That’s great.
I have a 5yo boy who I’m teaching to read so thanks for this interesting post. His brother was an automatic bookworm and his sister learned fairly easily, but he seems to be more of an action oriented person. But we probably have read 1000 stories, so it makes me feel we’re on the right track.
Blessings,
Paula
Great post Catherine! I have three boys and we love books too!
What a great post!
I read to my son from the day he was born (he’s now almost 3), and by the end of each day he’s generally had at least 10 books read to him – most of them on his request. He can sit and concentrate on books for as long as anyone is willing to read them to him.
But I’ve found that I often get caught up in my day and don’t put aside the one-on-one time to read with my 11 month old daughter. The difference between the two is huge! When I do sit down to read to her she wiggles and squirms and loses interest fast! And she doesn’t “play” with books on her own the way my son often did. Difference in personality might have a little to do with it too, but your post has reminded me that I’m really going to have to make more of a concerted effort to read to her every day. Thank-you!
xx
I have 2 boys and they both love books! Just as well with a mum and a dad who love reading and writing themselves!!
Love your blog Cath
[...] Blog Post Book-Loving Boys has some great tips on reading to your [...]
I’m finding that boys are engaging well on the computer reading eBooks. We buy them from http://www.ripplereader.com – I am researching the connection with ADD kiddos right now, too. Seems to be something helpful there. What do you think?
.-= Melissa Taylor´s last blog ..S is for Story =-.