Parents Are Sharing ‘Hacks’ To Secretly Make Your Kids Love Books

Most kids learn to read by 6 or 7 years of age. But at just 8, Professor Robert McNees’ daughter already can’t live without it. She even uses literature as a way to revolt against the system. Or at least she thinks so.

You see, the girl likes to pick up a book past her bedtime. Under the covers, with a flashlight. And it’s easy to understand why: both pushing boundaries and a good story can be really exciting. However, both are part of Mr. McNees’ master plan, too.

To Twitter users’ delight, the father unveiled it on the 13th of August.

More info: Twitter

Image credits: mcnees

Pamela Paul, the editor of The New York Times Book Review, and Maria Russo, the children’s books editor of The New York Times Book Review, said that in order to raise a reader, a parent must be a reader.

According to the co-authors of How to Raise a Reader, even newborns benefit from hearing stories, and moms and dads should take advantage of that by reading to them out loud, every day, any book. “You can read anything to a newborn: a cookbook, a dystopian novel, a parenting manual. The content doesn’t matter. What does matter is the sound of your voice, the cadence of the text, and the words themselves,” Paul and Russo wrote.

“Research has shown that the number of words an infant is exposed to has a direct impact on language development and literacy. But here’s the catch: The language has to be live, in-person and directed at the child. Turning on a television, or even an audiobook, doesn’t count.”

Babies learn that reading is fun by being read to. It’s as simple as that. They experience it through all the senses: the feel of the pages, the smell of the glue, the visuals of the illustrations as well as the sound of the parent’s voice.