Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #918 A Slice of Advice on Getting Your Kids to Read More

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#918 A Slice of Advice on Getting Your Kids to Read More · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

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  Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families Podcast.
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  Speaker 2: It's the podcast for the time poor parent who just
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  Speaker 2: once answers Now All.
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  Speaker 1: This week on the Happy Families Podcast, I'm loving what
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  Speaker 1: we're doing. Back to school slices of advice on how
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  Speaker 1: to help the kids to navigate the ups and downs
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  Speaker 1: in week one, Week two, getting back into the rhythm,
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  Speaker 1: getting back into the routine. I'm doctor Justin Causon, got
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  Speaker 1: a PhD in psychology, written nine books about raising happy families,
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  Speaker 1: parenting expert and co host on Channel lines hit TV
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  Speaker 1: show a Parental Guidance. I know I said the Perental Guide.
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  Speaker 1: It's truth parent I can't say it now. Parental Guidance.
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  Speaker 1: And the husband of the wonderful Missus Happy Family is
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  Speaker 1: Kyla Corson, Mum to our six daughters.
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  Speaker 2: I sound a bit boring, now, don't I?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, sorry that did. But you know what two things.
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  Speaker 1: First of all, you've been the one who's been invited
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  Speaker 1: to be the guest speaker at an upcoming event on
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  Speaker 1: the Sunshine Coast, not me, look at you go. And
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  Speaker 1: also somebody asked you to MC their wedding, not me.
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  Speaker 1: So I think that you might be the star of
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  Speaker 1: the show. Anyway, very funny. Today a slice of advice
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  Speaker 1: on helping the kids to love reading. Why well, holidays
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  Speaker 1: are over. Screens probably took over during the holidays if
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  Speaker 1: your family's like most, and getting the kids back into
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  Speaker 1: reading can be a little bit tricky. Some are more
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  Speaker 1: resistant than others. Reading is amazing, but I don't know,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes the kids just fight against it. And the last
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  Speaker 1: couple of days we've been having a really hard time
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  Speaker 1: sticking to one slice of advice. We've given several slices
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  Speaker 1: of advice, but today it's just one one slice of
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  Speaker 1: advice to help your kids to love reading. But as
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  Speaker 1: we talked it over before we started to record this podcast,
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  Speaker 1: we realized that we were going to slice that one
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  Speaker 1: slice of advice into You know, when you dip your
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  Speaker 1: little soldiers into the egg yolk, You get your toast
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  Speaker 1: and you slice it into long, thin strips and dip
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  Speaker 1: into the egg yolk. That's what we're doing with today.
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  Speaker 2: We've no I think today is actually all about that
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  Speaker 2: one slice of bread with all of the amazing additives
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  Speaker 2: that we're adding in fiber.
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  Speaker 1: And the iron and the fold and all that good stuff.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're adding to that slice.
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  Speaker 1: I still like the soldiers imagery. But whatever it is,
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  Speaker 1: it's still a slice of advice. The one piece of
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  Speaker 1: advice if you want to get your kids back into
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  Speaker 1: reading or get them reading for the first time, is
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  Speaker 1: read Read, read, read, literally, that's it. Read. You read,
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  Speaker 1: they read, everybody reads, and that's how you fall in
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  Speaker 1: love with reading. There's only one way to do it,
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  Speaker 1: and that's to actually have books in your hand, not screens.
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  Speaker 1: So let's slice up this piece of bread. Let's throw
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  Speaker 1: the additives in whichever metaphor or symbol or object list,
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  Speaker 1: and you like the better one the best. Kylie, You're
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  Speaker 1: I'm super passionate about this, but as we were talking
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  Speaker 1: about it, you just true ideas at me. Straight up.
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  Speaker 1: I would love for you to lead this and I'm
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  Speaker 1: just going to chime in with some ideas.
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  Speaker 2: You shared a quote with me recently that readers are leaders,
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  Speaker 2: and leaders are readers. As the leader in my home,
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  Speaker 2: if I want my kids to read, I actually have
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  Speaker 2: to read. They have to see me with a book
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  Speaker 2: in hand in they need to see that reading is enjoyable.
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  Speaker 1: Set the example. Yeah, yeap. And that means that when
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  Speaker 1: they walk into the room and you're on the bed,
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  Speaker 1: your phone is in your hand, that there is a
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  Speaker 1: book in your hand, and that you're reading a biography,
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  Speaker 1: or you're reading a textbook or a manual, or that
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  Speaker 1: you're reading just something. It could be nonfiction, it could
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  Speaker 1: be fiction. But when the kids see you reading, they
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  Speaker 1: get the idea that my parents really like this. Reading
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  Speaker 1: is obviously good for them. They might even say not
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  Speaker 1: for me, but they're seeing that it's good for them.
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  Speaker 2: I think not only that, though, if you're reading something
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  Speaker 2: and you find it really exciting or enthralling, or you
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  Speaker 2: learn something new, sharing that concept that I deal with
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  Speaker 2: them letting them read a paragraph and just going, wow,
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  Speaker 2: this is amazing.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. I just read recently that a parts you I
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  Speaker 1: don't know if it's called a putsche fish Paacu. I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to call it a part to fish has human
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  Speaker 1: like teeth. I haven't told the kids about that. I
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  Speaker 1: haven't shown them a picture of that yet, but I
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  Speaker 1: should because to me, that's just fascinating.
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  Speaker 2: Human like teeth.
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  Speaker 1: I can't wait for our next book review book Club
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  Speaker 1: podcast episode, which is coming up in the next couple
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  Speaker 1: of weeks, because I think that I've read something like
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  Speaker 1: I think I'm up to thirteen books for the year already.
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  Speaker 1: I love love reading and the kids.
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  Speaker 2: If I read novels, i'd be up to that as well.
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  Speaker 1: I haven't read it. I think I've read one novel.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe no novels, I can't remember. Anyway, read set the example.
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  Speaker 1: That was your first one. What's the second one?
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  Speaker 2: The second one is include your kids, read.
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  Speaker 1: To them and have them read to you.
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  Speaker 2: This is really really important. Sometimes our kids aren't interested
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  Speaker 2: in picking up a book, but they there's not too
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  Speaker 2: many kids. There's not too many kids who won't take
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  Speaker 2: the chance to have a snuggle with Mum or dad.
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  Speaker 2: And if you spend the time reading to them, bring
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  Speaker 2: out all of the voices, use your best theatrics to
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  Speaker 2: bring that story to life. Your kids will grow to
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  Speaker 2: love books. Whether they read it or you read it
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  Speaker 2: doesn't actually matter.
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  Speaker 1: I definitely have to add a couple of things to
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  Speaker 1: this really important slice of advice, A piece of a
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  Speaker 1: slice whatever it is you mentioned using voices. So at
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  Speaker 1: the moment, I'm reading a book called Leven Thumps and
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  Speaker 1: the Gateway to Food to Emily, our nine year old, and.
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  Speaker 2: You wanted this to all of the kids. That's right.
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  Speaker 1: One of the characters. Geth speaks a little bit like
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  Speaker 1: Sean Connery, and so I put that voice on, and
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  Speaker 1: there's another voice, Clover, who speaks a little bit like this,
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  Speaker 1: and it's really always up and always so funny. That's
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  Speaker 1: the comic relief, and the kids love it. They fall
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  Speaker 1: absolutely head over heels with the voices. You don't have
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  Speaker 1: to be theatrical. You can just do the very best
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  Speaker 1: that you can do, accents whatever. The kids don't care.
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  Speaker 1: But I was also going to say, when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to including the kids, when you're reading to them, slow down.
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  Speaker 1: Don't skip pages, even when it's late at night and
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  Speaker 1: you're exhausted. Slow down, read carefully, include punctuation, and make
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  Speaker 1: sure that they can feel your enjoyment, because they'll fall
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  Speaker 1: in love with the story so much more when you
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  Speaker 1: do that with them. I think it's also worth stopping
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  Speaker 1: now and then and asking them what would you do?
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  Speaker 1: How do you think they're feeling? How would you feel?
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  Speaker 1: You're teaching them empathy and perspective. You're giving them an
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to sit in the moment, and the level of involvement,
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  Speaker 1: the level of connection that you have with your kids
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  Speaker 1: is just vitally important. So to me when you say,
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  Speaker 1: involve them, get them reading to you. But when you
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  Speaker 1: read to them, oh so important that you that you
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  Speaker 1: slow it down.
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  Speaker 2: My number three slice of advice would be to fill
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  Speaker 2: your home with books, all kinds of books. If you
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  Speaker 2: know that your child loves mechanics, then you find all
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  Speaker 2: the books and mechanics that you can. Big, bright pictures,
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  Speaker 2: word books. Just find things that tap into their interest,
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  Speaker 2: but also have things that they might not even know
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  Speaker 2: they're interested in. If books aren't there for them to discover,
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  Speaker 2: then how will that sense of curiosity ever come about?
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  Speaker 1: I have two more quick slices of advice.
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  Speaker 2: You've just cut those soldiers in half.
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  Speaker 1: Whatever they want to read, whatever they want to read,
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  Speaker 1: full stop, end of story. If the kids want to
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  Speaker 1: read something that, you're not that into a case in point. Now,
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  Speaker 1: please forgive me for being a book snob. I want
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  Speaker 1: my kids to read the classics. I want our kids
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  Speaker 1: to be involved in literature, true literature. I want them
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  Speaker 1: to experience the very best that the world has to
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  Speaker 1: offer in terms of great authors telling brilliant stories in
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  Speaker 1: classic ways. I want them to feel the goodness that
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  Speaker 1: comes from these great books. And our youngest daughter had
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  Speaker 1: no interest in reading at all until you helped her,
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  Speaker 1: or maybe she founded herself. I can't remember now. Wings
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  Speaker 1: of Fire graphic novels, and I stood in front of
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  Speaker 1: large audiences of people and said, just get the kids
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  Speaker 1: to read. Whatever it takes. It doesn't matter as long
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  Speaker 1: as they're reading, even if they want to read a
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  Speaker 1: graphic novel, even if they want to read Rugby League Week,
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  Speaker 1: I don't care what it is. If they want to
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  Speaker 1: read a Taylor Swift magazine, who cares. Just get them reading.
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  Speaker 1: And then I've got this kid who just wants to
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  Speaker 1: do exactly the opposite of what I want for her,
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  Speaker 1: which is to read the really great stuff. And so
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  Speaker 1: she is, what's seven eight years old, and she's finally
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  Speaker 1: willing to read. But it's got to be dragon graphic novels.
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  Speaker 1: So way back then we said okay, So we bought
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  Speaker 1: one and she read it in like an hour, and
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  Speaker 1: then we brought another one. I was like, why are
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  Speaker 1: we're buying comic books? They cost a lot and she's
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  Speaker 1: reading that in an hour and this is not worth it?
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  Speaker 1: And she read them. There's like five of these graphic
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  Speaker 1: novels and she's read all of the multiple, multiple, multiple times,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm thinking, oh my goodness.
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  Speaker 2: All the pages of dog ed. Yeah, cover doesn't look sad,
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  Speaker 2: and I keep on.
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  Speaker 1: Saying, don't you want to read this? Don't you want
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  Speaker 1: to read that? And what about Harry Potter, like, come on,
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  Speaker 1: let's get you reading something that everybody loves. And she
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  Speaker 1: won't do it, and I'm thinking, oh my goodness. And
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  Speaker 1: then one day she decides that she wants to read
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  Speaker 1: the novel rather than the graphic novel of that first
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  Speaker 1: Wings of Fire, and you bought it for it and
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  Speaker 1: she devoured it and we kind of looked at each
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  Speaker 1: other and gone, okay, so it's still dragons and there's
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  Speaker 1: still a lot of disrespect and bad attitude, but she
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  Speaker 1: read a novel.
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  Speaker 2: I think for her it took the challenge out of
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  Speaker 2: it because she'd read the graphic novels, so she had
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  Speaker 2: an understanding of what.
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  Speaker 1: The story was, which goes back to that basic psychological
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  Speaker 1: need of competence. Once you've got a clue about what's
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  Speaker 1: going on, you're much more motivated.
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  Speaker 2: You've made some progress, and that led to her wanting
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  Speaker 2: to read more and more.
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  Speaker 1: Which you've brought especially end of the books in the series,
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  Speaker 1: and she read the whole thing about three times. But
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  Speaker 1: then she started reading Harry Potter and she's read the
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  Speaker 1: first three or four of those now and that's led
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  Speaker 1: to her picking up Percy Jackson. Now she's about to
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  Speaker 1: turn ten and she's reading Percy Jackson. She's reading Harry Potter,
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  Speaker 1: and her love of reading is off the charts. Like
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  Speaker 1: her reading level is sky high. We know that kids
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  Speaker 1: reading is associated with much stronger academic outcomes. It's just
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  Speaker 1: so good for them. And my slice of advice is,
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  Speaker 1: whatever they want to read, whatever it takes, get them
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  Speaker 1: into books. Now, I just said whatever it takes. This
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  Speaker 1: is my final slice of advice, and I'll share it
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  Speaker 1: really quickly. When I say whatever it takes, I don't
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  Speaker 1: mean bribes, Okay, Bribing your kids to read just gets
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  Speaker 1: and to take a whole lot of shortcuts with their reading.
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  Speaker 1: They pick up the shortest book they can, They pick
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  Speaker 1: up the book with the most pictures and the biggest words.
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  Speaker 1: Bribing doesn't work.
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  Speaker 2: And they say, with reading charts, you've got to read
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  Speaker 2: ten minutes a night. Whatever.
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  Speaker 1: Take the time limits away.
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  Speaker 2: It actually takes the joy out of it because you
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  Speaker 2: have to do it to tick a box. Right, if
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  Speaker 2: you say ten minutes, then your child's going to do
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  Speaker 2: ten minutes.
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  Speaker 1: It's like music practice, right when the kids are playing
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  Speaker 1: the piano or the clarinet, or the flute or whatever violin.
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  Speaker 1: If you've got them learning a musical instrument and you
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  Speaker 1: make them go on practice for thirty minutes every day,
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  Speaker 1: they'll only practice for thirty minutes. But if they're playing
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  Speaker 1: the piano and you say I love hearing that piano
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  Speaker 1: play and it sounds like you're getting better, the kids
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  Speaker 1: will sit there and they'll play for a whole lot
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  Speaker 1: more than thirty minutes because it becomes intrinsically motivating. They're
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  Speaker 1: not doing it as you said to tick a box.
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  Speaker 1: So no bribes, no time limits. Oh you know what,
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  Speaker 1: there is one bribe that is acceptable. I'll buy another
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  Speaker 1: book once you finish that one. If you like it,
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  Speaker 1: I'll get you another one. That is I mean, that's
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  Speaker 1: just going to encourage more reading. It and encourages a
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  Speaker 1: love of reading, and it helps the kids to tap
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  Speaker 1: into what they love the very most. So that is
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  Speaker 1: our one slice of advice about how.
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  Speaker 2: Tut into lots of pieces, how.
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  Speaker 1: To get your kids to love reading raising readers, readers
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  Speaker 1: who become leaders. Leaders are readers. Thank you so much
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  Speaker 1: for listening. We hope that it helps your family to
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  Speaker 1: develop a love of learning and a love of reading.
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  Speaker 1: The Happy Families podcast is produced by Justin Rouland from
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  Speaker 1: Bridge Media. Craig Bruce is our executive producer. For more
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  Speaker 1: information about making your family happier, visit us at happy
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  Speaker 1: families dot com, dot you, And tomorrow we're back with
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  Speaker 1: another spice of advice. If you would like more information
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  Speaker 1: about how to make your family happier, we'd love for
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  Speaker 1: your visit us at happy families dot com, dot you.