My kid can't read!

I see people, posts, articles all the time about the progress of students as readers.  Of course if a student can't read or read well the blame is always placed firmly at the feet of educators and schools.  But let's take a step back from the hate train for once and instead of looking outside the home, let's look inside our own walls for a second.  What has changed from when we were kids in school to kids in school today?  And what messages about reading are we as parents sharing with our own kids?

If I have heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times, "I wasn't a good reader either so I'm not surprised my kid isn't."  Here's what I know.  I know that if you have told me in parent teacher conferences, you have told your child this at some point as well.  While you have said it with the good intention of making your child feel better about themselves, what you've really given your child is two things:  1.  You made reading something that is a trait a person is "born with" (which is is 100% NOT).   2.  You made it okay for the kid to say, "I'm not good at it, I won't be good at it, I don't have to try."     Please, for the love of Pete, do not say this to your child.  Reading is a skill just like any other skill out there.  If your child can learn to tie their shoes, dribble a basketball, or play Fortnite, they can learn to read.  Do some students need to work harder at this skill than other?  For sure.  But reading is work.  Reading takes time to master.  Reading is a skill to learn like any other.  Don't give your child that out.  Tell them that anyone can learn to read and say it with conviction.  Tell them that you struggled with reading too, but then add, "so I will practice reading with you because it is super important to get better at reading".  And most importantly, model reading to your child!

Which brings up my next point - what did our homes look like growing up?  How did your parents model reading with you as a child?  Did they get the newspaper and read it?  Did they read a book or magazine?  I feel like our parents did a much better job of modeling reading in their homes than many of us do.  They had too.  The news and information weren't readily available via the world wide web so our parents turned to print resources.  Magazines.  How many of you grew up with magazines in your house (maybe parked next to or on the toilet)?  Newspapers were delivered to our doors, etc...  The written word was more prominent and obvious when we were growing up.  Not all of our parents modeled reading a good book, but virtually all of our parents modeled reading SOMETHING.

Back in the dark ages, there were fewer toys for kids so books were a popular choice.  Books on everything and anything.  Pop up books still thrilled kids, we weren't used to interactive technology yet, we were more easily impressed.  I had a ton of books as a child. I remember being fascinated by my Wizard of Oz book with the pop ups, the slide outs, the flip the shape, etc... As I got older other types of books inspired me and thrilled me.   I still have many of those childhood books today as they were my most prized possessions.  The most exciting day in the school year was the day the book fair opened and after that was over I would ride the mini high of each and every book order that came through my back pack.  I'm not going to lie.  As a teacher I still live for the book order each month and enjoy ordering from Scholastic almost as much as I did as a kid.  But the sad thing is that, even in my few years as a teacher, I have watched the number of books ordered on book orders fall off to nearly zero.  It's sad to me as a teacher, but more importantly as a mother, that fewer and fewer kids are being surrounded with and encouraged to lose themselves in the world of literature.   I get it, you order books for your kids that they never read.  Believe me, I've ordered a few books for myself that I still haven't gotten to.  But books don't break down, they don't run out of batteries, and they are there when the power goes out.   If buying books for your child isn't an option, check out the library.  Free books!  You just have to return them AND make sure the dog doesn't eat them.  (This on the day that a student literally brought me back a book his dog ate.)

I'm not saying all schools are doing a knock out job of teaching reading. I'm not even claiming I do a knock out job of teaching reading.  But I will say that, like in many cases, when we point the finger at someone else, there are three fingers pointing directly back at us.  Even as a reading teacher myself, I haven't always succeeded in promoting reading at home.  There are a loads of strategies I could have used to encourage my kids to read more, that I wish I would have used.  I'm lucky that one out of the four loves to read and I have high hopes for a second.  Hopefully it is never too late to learn to love reading because I cannot imagine where I would be today if it weren't for my love of literature.