Conscious Family Journal: Teaching Our Sons to Love Reading

Are you raising boys who love to read? Congratulations! For the rest of us, here are some conscious parenting tips to get our boys reading more.

Fifth grade was a tough year for us. We’d been warned about it – how we would be transitioning from “learning to read” to “reading to learn” – but that didn’t make it any easier. My older son’s reading skills were simply not ready. We nearly drowned in homework and test prep and our relationship became increasingly strained.

Sixth grade has been a little different... we are still drowning in homework and test prep, but now we have the added bonus of “hormone poisoning.” Reading a book simply cannot compete with texting the cute girl from the school bus.

Yahoo.

As a child, I was an avid reader. I tell my children about how I eventually read every single children’s book in our house. And there were a lot of them.

They can’t even imagine such a thing and don’t begin to understand why I would want to read that badly, anyway.

I try to explain how reading can open up the entire world for them. How they can learn about the people and places of the planet they live on; how they can expand their vocabulary in a way that allows them to be more expressive and sound more intelligent; how, with good reading skills, they can learn how to do absolutely anything.

They ask if they can be done now. Their friends are outside waiting to play “capture the flag.”

As an adult, I have continued to nurture my love of reading. I read everything from self-help to science; from history to historical fiction to trashy novels, with a lot of parenting books thrown in for good measure. On a typical day, I might have four or five books going at once.

Today, I am reading The Trouble with Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Sons, Their Problems at School, and What Parents and Educators Must Do, by Peg Tyre. Talk about thought-provoking.

I didn’t need the book to tell me that boys in general – and my sons in particular – do not do well with the overly structured, intensely controlling environment that most schools offer today.

Chapter 11, “Boys and Literacy: Why Johnny Can’t (or Won’t) Read,” really caught my attention. In it, Tyre explains that statistics show boys lagging behind their female counterparts in reading skills and writing... and that the gap gets bigger the longer they are in school.

The ones who fall more than two grade levels behind in reading don’t typically catch up. The really frightening part? Tyre says that state education authorities have been known to use middle school reading scores as predictors of future graduation rates.

This is bad enough news for parents raising sons who will need to compete for jobs in the Information Age.

Tyre goes on to report that our sons who fail to graduate from high school “are less likely to have a steady job, less likely to get married, and more likely to get divorced if they do marry. They are more likely to have contact with prison and the welfare system and to live in poverty. Not surprisingly, those negative experiences undermine a person’s health and longevity.”

Deep breath.

Thankfully, Peg Tyre also offers inspiration – and a few tips that conscious parents can use to help our sons develop a Love of Reading. Here are my favorites:

1. Reading is NOT “just for girls.” Make sure your son sees lots of adult males reading happily. Does their father or other male role model read books for pleasure? Do they take a turn in reading bedtime stories?

Work with your school on this one. Tyre notes that the vast majority of elementary school teachers are female. Who can you recruit from your local community to build the understanding that reading is a manly endeavor? Our local arena football team visits my son’s school each spring, to spend a morning reading books to every class.

2. Try Phonics. Some boys pick up reading pretty easily. For those who don’t, it might just be the approach that you (or your school) are taking. It turns out that many boys learn better using phonics.

A fellow parent recommended Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, by Siegfried Engelmann, Phyllis Haddox, and Elaine Bruner. This is the book that I wish I’d had when my older son was just getting started. I used it with my younger son when he was in Kindergarten and it worked.

3. Offer Boy-Friendly Reading Options. Anne of Green Gables might be a classic – and a dearly loved childhood favorite of yours – but it might not be the best choice if you are trying to engage a ten-year-old boy.

Remember, your goal here is to help your son develop a lifelong love affair (and competency!) with reading. Don’t worry if the material he prefers is hand-drawn, wildly irreverent or gross. If he is reading without being ordered to do so, you’ve got the right book!

Our Favorite Books that Get Boys Reading

Please note: While I love Caldecott and Newbury Award winners – and we read them aloud at home – what I have listed below are the books that my sons seek out on their own and read independently. (Recommended grade levels are based on my experience with my children and their friends. Your results may vary!)

The Percy Jackson series, by Rick Riordan. This all started with the Lightning Thief, where twelve-year-old Percy from New York City discovers he is the son of Poseidon and sets out on a wild cross-country adventure. You will love that your son is learning the basics of Greek mythology in the process. There are now four books in the series; number five, The Last Olympian, is eagerly anticipated in May 2009. (grades 5-8)

The 39 Clues series, by Rick Riordan, Gordon Korman, Peter Lerangis and Jude Watson (so far.) Projected to be a ten-book series, (plotted by Riordan, but written by multiple authors), this one starts with The Maze of Bones. Mixing in some world history – and associated collectors’ cards – two orphans try to collect the 39 clues to their family’s fortune. The fourth book in the series, The 39 Clues: Beyond the Grave, is due in June. (grades 4-8)

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, by Jeff Kinney. These are truly funny novels in cartoon format, about a middle schooler forced by his mom to keep a journal. There are currently three of these available, along with a cool Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book, where your child can do some hilarious guided journaling of his own. (grades 3-6)

The Captain Underpants series, by Dav Pilkey. Essentially comic books, the Captain Underpants books are nevertheless clever, laugh-out-loud funny, and very appealing to young males of the species. They incorporate super heroes, science fiction and evil teachers and if you let yourself, you will laugh too. Start at the beginning, or jump straight to Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People. Enjoy! (grades 1-4)

Do you have recommendations to share? What books do your sons enjoy reading on their own?