His 6-Year-Old Hates Reading So This Dad Asked Fellow Dads For Advice

This right here is why we’re so happy to be running Life of Dad every day. A fellow dad needs help and you guys deliver.

This. Right. Here.

Tony A Gething: Subtitles on cartoons. I’ve done this for my three girls I keep the tv low enough for them to hear what’s being said but also have the subtitles on so they can read along with it, my twins are 6yrs and oldest is 7yrs and there now starting to be able to watch cartoons with out any sound and only subtitles.

Jeff Durgan: Have her eyes checked, we had this issue with our 6 year old, turned out he is far sighted (harder to see close stuff) and needs to always wear glasses, lowcostglasses is our favorite store for buying cheap glasses online. We searched for eyewear options at Eyeglasses.com.

Anthony Mirecki: Try making a schedule. If she knows every day at a certain time is reading time it’ll become habit. If she doesn’t want to then she’s not allowed to do other things until that time is over.

José Bello: I have a 7 year old son who is essentially the same. Persistence. Stick to it no matter what. Push, push and then push some more. Parenting is challenging, this is one of those moments. It ain’t always flowers and sunny skies. Had to fight 20 minutes today to study for a spelling test. I won the battle.

Amber Viney: No Joke comics or graphic novels. There is a series that my girls went nuts over and seeded their love for reading. Mine were the same way. Audio books are pretty good too. A nice way to introduce reading. Call them stories though, so they are different than books, she will associate them with being boring or too hard.

Thomas Sejding Eriksen: Find a book version of her favorite cartoon or something. Make a whole thing out of it, make some games to go along with the reading. A book can sometimes be very boring but if you include illustrations it can inspire her to want to read more.

Em Ma: Look to read in a different way. Shopping lists comic books audiobooks street signs cereal boxes. It really doesn’t matter what it is or how they do it. It may take a lot of false starts but she will get there.

Jesse Lauch: Get white boards and play word games. My son struggled with reading and still does, now I have white boards and dry erase markers so we can practice reading and writing together.

Chris Hardy: Have you tried writing a story with her then reading it back, good way to let the creativity flow and something you can do together. I’m dyslexic which affected my reading ability but I got to university before ever being diagnosed or it even being thought of so don’t worry to much about it affecting the ability to develop as many other things will also teach them skills. Hope this helps a little.

Jake McEntire: Try finding books based on characters that she likes. Graphic novels and picture books are also great for emerging readers.

Gregory Colton: Read yourself. A lot. Make sure she sees you reading all the time. Read her a book or two before bedtime every night.

Hervé Thomas: Have a beloved friend/family member sending you letters telling what they’re doing. [And then say something like…] Too bad you don’t wanna read.

Do you have a tip for helping to encourage a child to read? Share with us and your fellow dads on Facebook!

Flickr photo by Jason Clarke, used under Creative Commons license.