Imagine you are camping with your family on the beach. You were given fire duty. You’ve collected small sticks and dried moss, which you lit with a few sparks. Do you sit back now and hope it takes off all on its own? No! You blow on it and supply more fuel. You feed that baby whatever it needs!
Kids are the same as young fires. They are messy, finicky, destructible, constantly hungry, and sometimes downright dangerous. But for now we are going to focus on how we can fan their flames of interest . . . with books!
Consider this quote from an article by Robin H. Boltz:
Most school-age boys score lower than girls at every level on standardized tests of reading comprehension in almost every country where tested. The amount of reading that a child does is directly related to reading fluency; the more one reads, the more proficient one becomes. After reviewing theories and research studies investigating why boys perform less well than girls, a consensus emerges that one reason boys read less is because the kind of reading they are given to do in school does not connect to their interests.
Essentially, Boltz is saying that the more kids read, the better! And to encourage more frequent reading, we should introduce them to books they can’t help but burn through.
Fan the Flames of Your Child’s Curiosity
If your child starts asking questions about pharaohs, the Eiffel Tower, or how electricity works, I PROMISE there is a book written for kids about that very topic! It’s part of our job as their guardians to make a note–either mental, on paper, or in a device–about what is currently piquing their curiosity.
Then, when you have a few minutes, reserve some fun books at the library, ask friends if they own a copy, or order them online. This may stoke your child’s interest even further (so you can look for more books!) or satiate it and then they can move on to another topic (so you can look for more books!). You never know . . . that one spark might become the torch they carry their whole life.
Fan the Flames of Your Child’s Interests
If your child is into sports, music, or baking, it is just as important to find complementary reading material as it is to get them registered on a team or signed up for lessons. We all know that mental and physical training go hand-in-hand. Some professionals insist that the mental aspect is even more powerful than the physical. Reading, studying, and visualizing are an integral part of that mental preparation.
I’d like to extend an invitation to each of you: find just one or two books within the next week that will answer a question your child recently asked or relates to one of their hobbies. Put it in their hands and watch that flame ignite.
But wouldn’t it be easier to let them figure things out on Youtube? Of course! However, it’s also a lost opportunity to encourage discovery through reading. Tend that burgeoning fire well. Give it the good stuff. Just don’t let it die out! Feed those beautiful sparks so you can both enjoy the roaring flames later. Can you imagine the warmth and comfort it will bring?
Happy reading!
1. Robin H. Boltz, “What We Want: Boys and Girls Talk about Reading,” School Library Media Research 10 (2007), https://eric.ed.gov/?
A few of my kids love to be read to, but don’t love reading to themselves. I love this idea of answering their questions with books! I can see how that would work well!
Please let me know how it goes, Marie! We’ve had a lot of success with this little trick. The kids always dive into the library bag before we’re out of the library parking lot. It’s almost as fun as finding their Easter basket! Some nonfiction books they have enjoyed are the Blast Back and the Weird but True series.
https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/Blast-Back!
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/books/topic/wbt-books-hub
I like the analogy of sparking the flames of interest in reading for a child. You are so right, anything that is relevant to them will be of more interest.
Linda, thank you! We have really enjoyed seeing the kids respond to this. It’s the best when they show us what came home in the library bag with shocked looks on their faces. Listening pays off big time!
That’s one of my favorite activities as a library assistant, to discover kids interests while I am with them at recess and then try to find books for them to read. Most my life, I’ve struggled with reading and I’m just now finally discovering children’s biographies as my new hobby. 🙂
Emily, you are the best recess duty/library assistant a school could want! I am not surprised to find out you do this. You are always thinking about how to help the people around you. Especially the little ones! There’s just something about children’s books, isn’t there? I love them, too.
I love the idea of answering their questions through books. It opens up new genres they probably haven’t considered. I will be putting this into practice right away.
Kelly, it is so rewarding to observe their process of discovery, isn’t it? It never gets old to me. Have fun with it!