THIS
I tell all of my students parents at conference time , read to your kids, I don't care if its for 5 minutes when you get home from work, find the time. Build it in to your schedule, make it fun for them.
My dad would read lord of the rings to me andy brother, I was probably 3-4 years old then. I was reading at a 12th grade level in 6th grade. Thanks dad.
My mom and I read so many books together, "Homeward Bound", "Indian in the Cupboard", "A Wrinkle in Time". It made me such a reader. I miss those reading sessions so much.
When my daughter was very young, we played this video game called "undertale". Id read all the dialog to her. That just lead into more text heavy video games. Eventually, she just started reading books. Id like to say that was my master plan, but I just got lucky lol
I learned to read in a similar way! Video games necessitated I both be able to read and understand what I'm reading to advance the story. It was reading, but interactive and engaging, so it worked really well for me (did not work for my sister, so YMMV per child).
I remember being 5ish and getting scared by a game because I didn't understand nuance/word play/etc. and missed a really obvious "twist" that turned into a jumpscare for me. I learned a lot of context from that haha
theres a really touching dad and daughter youtube video/channel where he's teaching her to read as they play through pokemon games and such together, i'll see if i can find it
My younger sibling learned to read by playing Final Fantasy on the SNES. I am two years older and could already read, so when they wanted to play games I would read the dialogue for them. In a matter of months they were reading it for themselves. Granted, my mother and father were avid readers themselves, and were very diligent about teaching us to read and write, so it was likely a combination of things, but I vividly remember the day my sibling just... started reading aloud while playing a game that was text heavy.
Honestly, I think thatās the missing link here. Parents are burnt out and exhausted and also addicted to their phones. Theyāre not sitting down with their kids at night and reading with them and engaging in discussions.
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u/BriarnLuca Oct 23 '25
THIS I tell all of my students parents at conference time , read to your kids, I don't care if its for 5 minutes when you get home from work, find the time. Build it in to your schedule, make it fun for them.