How to Combat Reading Lags

According to reading specialist Paul Kropp (Canadian author of How to Make Your Child a Reader for Life), children tend to experience reading lags as they begin elementary school, again around grade four and, finally, when they enter high school. Although the reasons for these lags are not absolute, severable variables are at play.

When children undergo significant transitions, e.g., parent-child separation upon school entrance or moving to a new school, daily routines like reading at bedtime may become disrupted. In the case of boys, peer influences may supersede activities like reading. Around ages eight to ten, boys begin to view reading as “uncool” and prefer to engage in physical and tactile activities, like sports and video games. In early adolescence, when boys and girls are going through puberty, their interests turn to one another and away from books.

Parents often ask me what they can do to combat these reading lags. Rest assured, children who live in literate households where the printed word is valued will pass through these reading lulls and return to their love of books with very little prompting from their parents. If your child falls into this category, I would recommend patience, some gentle prodding, like recommending books, and continuing to practice the literate approach you have already cultivated. Trust me, they will come around in mid- to late-adolescence. Forcing the issue too much may backfire, as teenagers are more likely to do the polar opposite of what their parents suggest. As a father of four and a teacher of many over the years, I can also advise you against reverse psychology. Our children are far too smart to be taken in by our legerdemain.

The following concrete suggestions should help you combat the dreaded reading lag.

The first step is to create a home atmosphere where books, magazines and newspapers are the norm, not the exception. Even though all newspapers are available online, subscribe to a daily paper. The newspaper is often the only print our children see us reading for pleasure during the day. Eventually, they will become curious enough to read the paper themselves. Doing the daily puzzles and reading the cartoons, especially with your children, are also fun ways to interact with the paper. The Gazette offers a weekly page for young students that includes word games and puzzles. In addition, subscribe to magazines for yourself and your children. Just as you may be fascinated by current events and read The Economist, your child may be passionate about sports and read Sports Illustrated. (There is even a Sports Illustrated for Kids.)

Engaging in literate activities outside the home is also extremely important. The cheapest and easiest way to do this is to take advantage of your local library. Going to the library with your child on a regular basis is a great way to cultivate the love of reading, not to mention a very pleasant parent-child experience. Libraries also offer cultural activities, reading clubs and competitions that may stimulate your child. Although they may be more expensive, occasional trips to a bookstore are imperative. Letting your children purchase their own books indicates that you value books and respect their interests. As teenagers often do not want to be seen with their parents, you may want to just make sure their library card is current and give them gift certificates to Chapters on an annual basis, for example.

Although this may seem odd to you, continuing to read with and to your children throughout adolescence is a positive way to combat the reading lag. Share the books you are reading, but do not foist them on your unwilling children. When you are commuting or going on family road trips, listen to audio books. Talk about books, current events and popular culture at the family dinner table. Show your children that you are interested in their passions. Above all, be an active reader yourself and leave plenty of reading material lying around the house.

Knowing and cultivating your children’s interests will reap life-long benefits. Supplementing their passions through reading, whether it be books about the sports they play or their favorite singer or actor, is an excellent way to show them you care about what they care about and to get to know your children on a deeper level. If you sense a reading lag, do not despair or overreact, simply follow the guidelines I have outlined above. However, whatever you do, do not tell them I said so. Remember, they are intelligent beings who sense overt attempts to improve them. Nonchalant subterfuge is often the best approach.

The Importance of the "Gateway" Book

In The Book that Changed my Life, seventy-one writers reflect on the texts that had the biggest influence on them when they were children, adolescents or young adults. Some, like novelist Elizabeth Berg, whose life was changed by reading Catcher in the Rye, cite a single volume: “I couldn’t sit still after I read that book. It was the literary aphrodisiac to end all literary aphrodisiacs.” Others, like Yale University’s Harold Bloom, cannot nominate just one book. The closest he can get is the complete works of Shakespeare. Regardless, all fledgling writers have literary epiphanies that compel them to create their own works, whether they are poems, essays, plays, novels, articles or blogs.

Even if one does not become a professional writer, the pleasures of reading engender the enduring benefits of learning about the human condition, experiencing the lives of others, both real and fictional, and gaining knowledge about the myriad mysteries of life, our world and the universe. Whether one is reading in print or online, the experience gives one the comfort that no one is alone and the awareness that knowledge is limitless. As the poet Billy Collins observes, “We read in order to travel, or be borne, to that other place [beyond our own reality] and thus interrupt the curse of having only one life to lead.”

Even though I lived in a literate household with plenty of printed material lying around for the taking, I would not have classified myself as a serious reader prior to my mid-teens. I like to share with my students that my life-altering book was Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions. When I read this novel in 1974, at the impressionable age of fifteen, I had the sudden insight that reading can be a pleasurable activity, not a chore or something I had to do only for school. Vonnegut’s satirical and somewhat taboo sense of humour appealed to me in a way that no other writer’s sensibility had up to that point. From that book on, I was hooked. Thirty-six years later, words still transport my imagination to places and states of mind I may never experience otherwise.

On some level, perhaps instinctively, I have come to realize that reading is highly personal and based entirely on one’s interests and personality. This is why I always counsel parents to find books that will appeal to their children’s passions. The fire of reading can be lit by a single text, so do your best as a parent to search out titles that will provide the spark. If you are having trouble locating this “gateway” book, contact, your child’s teachers and school librarians, your local library or bookstore. I maintain that every child can become an avid reader, but only if he or she associates reading with pleasure, not drudgery. If a person gets hooked on books, the habit of reading will become second nature and intellectual growth will be a matter of course. And, to paraphrase Dr. Seuss, who knows the places they will go…

"What's a Tie, Daddy?"

The other day my nine-year-old son asked, "What's a tie, Daddy?" A tie? What's a tie? He was referring not to a fashion item, but to an even final score score in sports. Initially flummoxed, I recovered by saying, "A tie is when the final score in a game remains even, like 2-2." My son, an otherwise observant and astute little man, did not possess the concept of tie in his capacious brain because in North American major league sports a tie score is rare. Overtime has replaced what was once the final outcome after regulation time. If two teams battle to a tie in hockey, basketball, football and, of course, baseball, they must resolve the deadlock with an overtime period, inning and/or shootout. This is not quite true, as NFL regular season games can remain tied after overtime. However, as these tie matches are few and far between, my son may never have witnessed one. Why is it that ties are no longer acceptable? Even in soccer, the world's most popular sport, matches can remain tied during the regular season. I can understand the necessity of tie-breaks in the playoffs, but what compels us to determine a winner of a regular season game? My inference is that North American society cannot abide the irresolution of a stalemate because of our increasingly Darwinian nature. There must be winners and losers; "tie-ers" are verboten (the word doesn't even exist). The terrorists must be defeated. We cannot accept that two teams played equally well. One team must be better; one team must be worse. One army must win; one army must lose. Like Newtonian physics, for every winner in society, there must be "an equal and opposite" loser. Ties were part of a kinder, gentler age, when sportsmanship and the quality of the match counted more than the outcome. The old adage "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" is no longer common parlance. A tie score is wishy-washy, namby-pamby; it is not acceptable in our winner-takes-all, Malthusian world. This is a shame, as tie scores say to humanity: "Ultimately, we can respect one another's will to play as well as possible without necessarily determining a winner and a loser." The simple concept of bringing back the tie in North American major league sports has far-reaching implications for restoring civility. But who's going to buy this? It's too late. Overtime is here to stay; ties are passé. "Whatever you do, son, do not walk away from a tie score."

Pone the Odium @ the 2010 Vancouver Olympics

You may be aware, dear reader, of Canada's "Own the Podium" campaign (http://www.ownthepodium2010.com/) that has been gathering momentum and controversy since its inception. The funding generated by this unprecedented effort to support Canada's athletes has earned both praise and derision. The US Olympians joked about how they were going to "rent the podium" in Vancouver. At the time of writing (early on February 27, 2010: the penultimate day of the Games), Canada lies in third place of the medal count with the most golds--ten. Our population is about one-tenth that of the US and less than half that of Germany, the two leaders in the total medal count. However, Norway, with a population of under five million, is fourth, not far behind. Frankly, even though I have been patriotically watching many of the Olympic events, I am conflicted about the excessive commercialism and jingoism. If I see one more trite product billing itself as the official such-and-such of the 2010 Olympics, I may not be responsible for my actions. However, I did buy at The Bay a beautiful Canada winter hat with earflaps. The Olympic spirit, rooted in amateur athleticism for the joy of sports, has been tarnished over the years by performance-enhancing drugs, spoiled, wealthy professional athletes and commercial excess. Nonetheless, one catches glimpses of what is inspiring about the Games: Alexandre Bilodeau's gold medal run in moguls skiing, with his disabled brother cheering him on; Joannie Frechette's bronze medal performance in women's figure skating only days after her mother's sudden death; Jon Montgomery's skeleton gold and subsequent partying in the Olympic village when he was drinking straight from a pitcher of beer; the "Snow Leopard" from Ghana, the first winter Olympian from his country, who finished 52nd in the slalom. Every two years, the world comes together to follow the Olympics, at least those who have access to cable and/or the Internet. We raise the flag, sing the anthem and tingle the old nerves when we support our country's athletes. And when one of our own wins a medal, we rejoice. With the billions of dollars, all the hype and politics that go into every Games, is it worth it? I am not sure we can accurately assess the Olympics' value to humanity. However, over the past two weeks, I have been moved by the tenacity of the human spirit. Okay, so it's not the gravity of the Haitian earthquake; but if you strip away the excessive commercialism and rampant nationalism, you can see the essence of what makes athletics uplifting. Odium aside and some downside, lest we deride, there is a podium upside--owned, rented, leased or merely over vied.

The Apex and Nadir of Modernism

If we agree that one of the prime tenets of Modernism is rooted in individual freedom of expression and freedom of choice, I would posit that we have actually reached simultaneously the apex and nadir of our approximately 500-year journey. On the up side, in the so-called free world, we do have the freedom to pursue our individualism in pretty much any way we please, as long as we do not contravene the laws of the land. On the down side, in the so-called free world, we have the freedom to pursue our individualism in pretty much any way we please, as long as we do not contravene the laws of the land. Has Modernism reached its reductio ad absurdum? In other words, are we now so fettered by our "freedom" that we no longer have the capacity to know we are free? With an iPod bud in every ear, an LCD image in every eye, the pervasive redolence of plastic, a touch of silicon for good measure and a soupcon of individual pleasure, do we not have all the ingredients to pursue our desires in any way we see fit? We stand on Everest, our flag of individualism planted firmly by one hand and our cell phone in the other, broadcasting to the world that we have reached the summit of our heroic lives; we wallow in Silicon Valley, our Facebook page controlled by one hand and our cell phone in the other, texting (or even worse, Twittering) to the world the most banal bumf of our trivial lives. Of course, Jean-Jacques Rousseau's dictum comes to mind: "Man is born free, but [or and, depending on the translation] everywhere he is in chains." What is our current social contract and does it come with an extended warranty? or no money down until January 2011? Frankly, I think the fine print has to be more closely scrutinized because our current far-sightedness (ironic, isn't it?) does not enable us to see the essential truths of decent human conduct in a caring world of compassion. Cast aside the frills and we are all the same species, governed by the same general rules, headed for the same fate and no better or worse than the other six billion of us inhabiting our planet or the billions who have trod here before. Memento mori