Read Daily. Yes, Every Single Day.

Reading every day is something our family started doing when my son was six months old. It is something we do after bath time every single night.

There are very few occasions when we do not read. One exception to the rule is Movie Night. We are creating a tradition and are still doing something together. Other exceptions could be going to watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July, trick-or-treating for Halloween, going to a party at a friend’s house and he just comes home exhausted, or watching the Olympics (a once every 4-year experience).

I would suggest to read every night; never use “no reading” as a punishment. Never use it as a penalty. Our child enjoys reading. He loves it. We learned this early on. It is connection time with mom and dad. You never want to say to your child, if you don’t do this there are no books tonight. It’s a learning tool. It is something that they want and need.

It’s bonding time. They learn to read faster. They become comfortable with books. All of these things can be nothing but a positive experience for a child in their development long-term.

Leaders are readers. Lead by example as a parent to read to your child. Your child will pass that on generationally and become leaders themselves by having a thirst for stories, knowledge, and education.

After age five make sure your child reads at least 20 minutes a day. According to research, a child who reads only one minute a day outside of school will learn 8,000 words by the end of sixth grade where a student who reads 20 minutes outside of school will learn 18,000! That is huge! If reading isn’t one of your child’s top priorities, you may need to set up an incentive program.

I’ve created an incentive program over the summer. Going into the first grade they sent home a list of 100 words that he would have to read by the end of 1st grade. I gave him one star for every day he read. At the beginning of the summer he read 25 of those words, we went through the list until he mastered it. Then we would move to the next set of 25. Once all 100 were mastered he read through them all each day.

It was our goal each day to do the work and get a star. Those stars translated into $1.00 each at the end of the summer. Those 15-20 minutes a day that cost me a dollar were the best money and minutes of the day I spent all summer. He went into the first grade knowing all the words they expected him to know by the end of the year. He went from reader level D to a level A over the course of the year. This far exceeded any expectations.

His confidence is through the roof when it comes to reading and it created an atmosphere for him to desire reading all year long. It was the best $60 I have ever spent.