"I'm not really a book person, mom."

[Ravin]

:banghead:

 

DD reads at grade level as far as vocabulary and decoding skills go. She's becoming more readily willing to read the cards and asking for help less and less often when we read the cards in games like Cadoo and Scene It.

 

But getting her to read a book, or try to read a book, or even to sit still and listen to ME read a book...

 

How does the daughter of bibliophiles turn out like this? Is it just a phase? How do I turn her on to the joy of reading if she won't read? Is it just attention span maybe? Should I get her evaluated to see if there's some hidden problem I'm not picking up besides that?

[Lily_Grace]

There was a year The Kid didn't read hardly at all. I put them in the bathroom and car, expected him to read minimal things, read to him, got audio books, made him check out seven books a week from the library...but it wasn't until he was past the phase that he started picking up things to read on his own. He reads voraciously now, so I think easing off my requirements that year helped him a lot.

[Heather in Neverland]

ugh. I am so with you. Both of my boys learned to read early and easily. They are excellent readers. I am an avid reader and always have been. But they have no interest in reading for pleasure. I LITERALLY have to bribe them to read. I don't get it.

[Joyofsixreboot]

:banghead:

 

DD reads at grade level as far as vocabulary and decoding skills go. She's becoming more readily willing to read the cards and asking for help less and less often when we read the cards in games like Cadoo and Scene It.

 

But getting her to read a book, or try to read a book, or even to sit still and listen to ME read a book...

 

How does the daughter of bibliophiles turn out like this? Is it just a phase? How do I turn her on to the joy of reading if she won't read? Is it just attention span maybe? Should I get her evaluated to see if there's some hidden problem I'm not picking up besides that?

 

My dd is the same way. Reading isn't hard for her but she has zero interest:001_huh: I don't get it. She doesn't like to be read to or listen to audiobooks either. She's driving me crazy. :eek:

[gingersmom]

My children don't like to read either. :confused:

 

Lucky for them they have no choice. :001_smile:

 

They always have one book assigned for school reading and one assigned book for pleasure reading.

 

I even offered to buy my daughter a kindle/nook but even that did not spark an interest in reading.

[Ravin]

DD did say she thinks she'd like ebooks better.

 

I think part of it may be that she's in that window where her comprehension level when reading and her interest level have a big gap--that is, something she'd be interested in is above her comprehension, while things she can understand when reading are boring or too "babyish" for her.

[Rebecca VA]

I have a non-reader who's 14. Her decoding skills and comprehension are very good; she just doesn't like to read. We have thousands of excellent books in our house that she turns her nose up at. I don't understand her at all.

[Matryoshka]

I've got one of these too. Decoding and Comprehension are excellent. She's been evaluated by a developmental optometrist, and she's fine there too. She's just not that interested in reading. She's not even really into audio books (she's often forced to listen to them in the car, but I've tried to get her the new "Playaways" - she's only finished one :glare:). I have tried all different kinds of genres. The one book she picked up herself and read with no prompting was Alice in Wonderland - but then I couldn't even get her to read the sequel!

 

Her two older sisters (who both have vision issues, no less) are total bookworms.

 

She loves TV and the computer (which I do limit) - but even there I have to insist on educational rather than fun, fun, fun. She also loves to play with dolls and Playmobil, which is usually what I find her doing during "reading time" in the evening. She is much more physical than my other two. But I really have no idea. I have started a book club for her with her friends - for this she will read a book without too much complaining (but still have to prompt) - but then she says she likes the books when she's done :confused:. She'll also read what I assign, but I don't end up assigning as much as I have for the other two because of the struggle. Sigh.

 

Okay, I've rambled.... I think this thread touched a nerve! :tongue_smilie:

[Parrothead]

She is too young to come to that conclusion. One must be at least 12 before saying one does not like to read for pleasure. Tell her that so she keeps the door to reading open.

 

For a lot of kids reading for pleasure does come about 10 or 11. Try books on tape. Try books that are more mind candy than classic in her favorite genre. But don't push. Of course, one must read for school so come to an understanding that school reading must be completed whether one is a book person or not.

 

Oh, and how are her eyes?

 

And one more thing. A person doesn't have to sit still and do nothing while being read to. One can color, play quietly with dolls, build with Legos, etc., and still pick up 98% of the story.

[LauraGB]

I've got one like that, too. He will read what I assign, but as far as anything else goes, he complains constantly. I think, with him anyway, part of the problem is that when he reads, his eyes pick up the pattern on the page of the spaces between the words more so than the words themselves, and he gets distracted. And he's easily bored with run of the mill fiction :rolleyes:. He much prefers non fiction about things he's interested in (for him, things that discuss movies, music, fishing, etc).

 

But dd - she's a nonstop reader and always has been.

[Mynyel]

Have one here too. Ds9 doesn't like to read either. He tells me the same thing. Not into books. He will read on his own when I make him clean up his room :D He will find a book and still there for an hour reading it, I don't say a word. But if I was to ask him the next day if he wanted to read it more, he would say no.

 

He doesn't really like read alouds either.

 

Dd13 on the other hand is the polar opposite. She will spend all her time in her room reading and rereading books. She spends all her allowance on books.

 

I wish that would spill over to ds9, I keep hoping he will catch on to reading for pleasure but not holding any hope!

[Ravin]

And one more thing. A person doesn't have to sit still and do nothing while being read to. One can color, play quietly with dolls, build with Legos, etc., and still pick up 98% of the story.

 

I totally agree. Throwing a loud, crying temper tantrum, on the other hand, does not lend itself to listening.

[sassyscrapperinid]

How about a childs magazine? Or if she is into horses (or whatever), a horse magazine?? My youngest ds9 said he didnt like reading once. I told him then he doesnt know what books are then. =) As a child in ps, I hated reading because we were forced to read a book a month and had daily discussion groups about what we read. I had to relearn to love reading as an adult and I did that by reading magazines. When I was pregnant with my first born, I received a Parents magazine sample and became hooked. Thank goodness for junk mail!

[Rosie_0801]

And one more thing. A person doesn't have to sit still and do nothing while being read to. One can color, play quietly with dolls, build with Legos, etc., and still pick up 98% of the story.

 

:iagree: My daughter can't be convinced to sit and look at a storybook, but she'll listen while she colours or does puzzles. Even when dh reads her bedtime stories, she likes to have her own book to flick through a lot of the time. Ds is still in that stage of swiping the book and running away with it, so I have to read to him while he's in the bath.

 

Maybe you need to get devious. :sneaky2:

 

Rosie

[Momling]

My partner does not like to read. She has never read a book for pleasure. Ever.

 

I have one daughter who is the same. It drives me nuts!

[chiguirre]

My dd just started reading for fun on her own initiative. I bribed her heavily for the first book she read and then she decided that she liked Junie B. Jones and started reading them. They're not great literature but they are funny. She's also read a Ramona book and enjoyed that, but Junie B. is easier and shorter.

[angela in ohio]

My response would be, "Like h&ll you're not." :D

 

But seriously. I vote just a phase. My middle dd went thogh a time where her reading ability was not up to her attention/interest (she's a sharp little thing.) She didn't enjoy books for about a year. I just kept on track, modeling, expecting, and it worked out fine.

[foxbridgeacademy]

I was an early reader and have read thousands of books. It's like pulling teeth to get DS to even read a few pages. He is dyslexic, but he can read and has a huge imagination! He did tell me the other day that he thinks he'll like reading more when he's older. There's always hope.