How I Encouraged My Children To Read
Teresa K. Saari
January 22, 2005
Are the electronic toys your children received as presents getting in the way of their studies? Restrict their times of usage and steer them toward other fun filled activities. How, you ask? Read to them. Read out loud with expression and humor. Travel together to far away lands, meet exciting characters and partake in exciting adventures. Again, you ask how? It’s as simple as picking up a book.
Are you having difficulty in encouraging your child to read? There was a time when I did. I was at my wits’ end, because I really didn’t know what to do about it. How did I solve that problem? I wrote a book! No, I’m not saying that all parents should stop in their tracks, sit down and write books. I’m just going to tell you how it worked out for my children and me.
Last year, I self published my first book entitled Imogene of the Pacific Kingdom, a 233 page story which is geared toward young readers. But that’s not where it began. It all started about two years before.
I’ve always been an avid reader, and so when my eldest daughter, then ten wasn’t able to find any books which interested her, I worried. More than I should have maybe, but now looking back, the positive results which have ensued due to that particular chain of events shows me that my concern was more than worthwhile. Rather than take my daughter to the library to seek out suitable reading material, I decided to write a story myself.
And so on that day approximately three and a half years ago, with coffee cup in hand and thinking cap on, I sat down at the keyboard, looked my computer straight in the monitor and began to type. Unfortunately the process wasn’t as simple as I may make it sound. First of all, I was unsure whether or not the story would even end up being suitable or of interest to a child of ten. But I was determined. Chapter by chapter I would write and then proceed to read aloud to my three children until we were all happy with the results. It was so encouraging, the read more, read more...I received in return for my efforts. They laughed and frowned in all the right places. And by the time the story was done and it had been enthusiastically read by other children and adults as well, I was quite confident that I had in my possession, a sure thing.
Enter the second hurdle. I imagine my naïve train of thought was not unlike that of many aspiring writers, when I wondered which publisher I would choose. Of course I sent submissions to the biggest and the best first. And I worried about turning them down, selecting one over the other and that sort of thing; after all I didn’t want to hurt any feelings and burn bridges in the process. And it so happened that my precious manuscript traveled the world twice over in its quest to find a worthwhile home. Alas, the laugh was on me. The first rejection letter was exciting. By the time the fiftieth landed in my post office box I was nearly in tears. My heart was broken, my ego was deflated, and my soul had been defeated. Much to my own regret and more importantly to the dismay of my children, I shelved the story. I wrapped it up in manila, kissed it goodbye and tried to pretend that Imogene had never even existed.
One and a half years went by, and as it did the clock seemed to tick so much slower than it ever had before. Finally with heavy feet, I pulled the Imogene envelope back off the shelf, opened it up and began to read. I was surprised that after all the time had passed, I still considered it to be a good story! I soon discovered however, that the entire manuscript was in need of editing, and so I spent the next two months doing a major overhaul.
In December of 2003, I held in my hands the first copy of Imogene of the Pacific Kingdom. I had traveled by way of the self publishing route and in doing so, I was able to present my children, husband and other family members with their own copies as a gift for Christmas. Another bonus came about when by the end of January 2004 there were on the average four copies of Imogene in thirteen Cole’s/Smithbooks outlets in and around Edmonton!
That’s hardly where my story ends. What started out as “I’ll just sit down and write a book for my child to read…” has since progressed into writing and self publishing the second story in the series, also a 233 page novel entitled Dager of the Tasman Empire. The biggest personal reward is that my children, now ages 8, 10 and 13 read steadily. They voraciously inhale stories of wonder, fantasy, friendship and love. The days of worrying whether or not they read enough are long gone. Remarkably they’ve also advanced into the positions of my highly esteemed number one editors. At ages 8, 11 and 13 they have the amazing skills to pick up mistakes and errors that I and other adult readers blindly pass over.
This is all great, but how does it help them in the long run? Statistics show that children who read not only when they have to read, but also when they want to, have improved literacy, comprehension, fluency and grammar skills over those who don’t tend to read a lot. Who wouldn’t want their children to have this advantage? Reading easily becomes a skill that will enhance and open their minds not only through their school years, but through their entire lives in general.
So have fun with reading. It shouldn’t be a chore. Play word games. Play sentence games. Create stories together. How else could you possibly travel to far away magical lands and meet exciting characters right from the comfort of your own home?
Are you having difficulty in encouraging your child to read? There was a time when I did. I was at my wits’ end, because I really didn’t know what to do about it. How did I solve that problem? I wrote a book! No, I’m not saying that all parents should stop in their tracks, sit down and write books. I’m just going to tell you how it worked out for my children and me.
Last year, I self published my first book entitled Imogene of the Pacific Kingdom, a 233 page story which is geared toward young readers. But that’s not where it began. It all started about two years before.
I’ve always been an avid reader, and so when my eldest daughter, then ten wasn’t able to find any books which interested her, I worried. More than I should have maybe, but now looking back, the positive results which have ensued due to that particular chain of events shows me that my concern was more than worthwhile. Rather than take my daughter to the library to seek out suitable reading material, I decided to write a story myself.
And so on that day approximately three and a half years ago, with coffee cup in hand and thinking cap on, I sat down at the keyboard, looked my computer straight in the monitor and began to type. Unfortunately the process wasn’t as simple as I may make it sound. First of all, I was unsure whether or not the story would even end up being suitable or of interest to a child of ten. But I was determined. Chapter by chapter I would write and then proceed to read aloud to my three children until we were all happy with the results. It was so encouraging, the read more, read more...I received in return for my efforts. They laughed and frowned in all the right places. And by the time the story was done and it had been enthusiastically read by other children and adults as well, I was quite confident that I had in my possession, a sure thing.
Enter the second hurdle. I imagine my naïve train of thought was not unlike that of many aspiring writers, when I wondered which publisher I would choose. Of course I sent submissions to the biggest and the best first. And I worried about turning them down, selecting one over the other and that sort of thing; after all I didn’t want to hurt any feelings and burn bridges in the process. And it so happened that my precious manuscript traveled the world twice over in its quest to find a worthwhile home. Alas, the laugh was on me. The first rejection letter was exciting. By the time the fiftieth landed in my post office box I was nearly in tears. My heart was broken, my ego was deflated, and my soul had been defeated. Much to my own regret and more importantly to the dismay of my children, I shelved the story. I wrapped it up in manila, kissed it goodbye and tried to pretend that Imogene had never even existed.
One and a half years went by, and as it did the clock seemed to tick so much slower than it ever had before. Finally with heavy feet, I pulled the Imogene envelope back off the shelf, opened it up and began to read. I was surprised that after all the time had passed, I still considered it to be a good story! I soon discovered however, that the entire manuscript was in need of editing, and so I spent the next two months doing a major overhaul.
In December of 2003, I held in my hands the first copy of Imogene of the Pacific Kingdom. I had traveled by way of the self publishing route and in doing so, I was able to present my children, husband and other family members with their own copies as a gift for Christmas. Another bonus came about when by the end of January 2004 there were on the average four copies of Imogene in thirteen Cole’s/Smithbooks outlets in and around Edmonton!
That’s hardly where my story ends. What started out as “I’ll just sit down and write a book for my child to read…” has since progressed into writing and self publishing the second story in the series, also a 233 page novel entitled Dager of the Tasman Empire. The biggest personal reward is that my children, now ages 8, 10 and 13 read steadily. They voraciously inhale stories of wonder, fantasy, friendship and love. The days of worrying whether or not they read enough are long gone. Remarkably they’ve also advanced into the positions of my highly esteemed number one editors. At ages 8, 11 and 13 they have the amazing skills to pick up mistakes and errors that I and other adult readers blindly pass over.
This is all great, but how does it help them in the long run? Statistics show that children who read not only when they have to read, but also when they want to, have improved literacy, comprehension, fluency and grammar skills over those who don’t tend to read a lot. Who wouldn’t want their children to have this advantage? Reading easily becomes a skill that will enhance and open their minds not only through their school years, but through their entire lives in general.
So have fun with reading. It shouldn’t be a chore. Play word games. Play sentence games. Create stories together. How else could you possibly travel to far away magical lands and meet exciting characters right from the comfort of your own home?
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