Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy How to make reading interesting again

I was just glad I didn't have to read them aloud. Can you imagine? Same with Magic Treehouse.

We have a large class of "in your head only" books in our house. Fairies, Junie B, MT, anything Classic Starts, and all Magic Schoolbus (they just don't read out loud well).

Books I read to kids must be for mutual enjoyment. We're weird and unreasonable parents in that way.

geofizz, ITA re: Magic Schoolbus! Not linear enough for a read-aloud. That's one of the best things, in my opinion, about reaching the independent-reading milestone...not having to read these things out loud any more

Funny. I was going to say: I have never actually read one of the fairy books! Maybe my disinterest helped her make them her own. She also used to enjoy scooby doo books read to her because of the predictable plot. If my husband, who is pg did not tell me to let her keep reading the same "stupid books," I would have never found their value. But it is true. I messed up my earlier post because I am typing with my thumbs, but little one went from a DRA of 18, which is end of first grade to a DRA of 38 which is end of third grade. This happed while she was a six year old and in first grade and mostly ONLY read those Fairy books. There MUST be something to them! And these tests look for reading fluency as well as comprehension and summarizing skills. So, these Fairy books taught all that! Lol. Okay, to be fair, she has read SOME other stuff. Like she got all interested in that surfer girl who lost her arm to a shark and read a fifth or sixth grade book on her. But that was short lived. I really DO think that if you let them read what they want, they like reading more. At three, your dd might like reading the shopping list to you. You can through some hard words on it. Instead of writing "apples" you can write "red, juicy, deliceous apples" and make it her shopping job to remind you what's on rhe list. So she doesn't feel like she is being quizzed on her reading abilities, but you can still keep tabs on how she is decoading. And another thing that my dd has loved for the past four years. Books on cd.

Dear Lord, my DD5 has just discovered these and will read nothing else. I looked it up and there are now well over 100! I guess with a quartet of ghostwriters, "Daisy Meadows" can churn out about a book a week.

Oh dear, I haven't encountered Rainbow Fairy yet, thank goodness from the sound of it! DD6 just got into Junie B. Jones at the end of Kindergarten, but I quickly discovered that those were "read it to yourself" books, along with Magic Schoolbus and some others -- glad to see it's not just me.

As for the question at hand, I would say just leave it alone and don't worry about it -- if she has books, she will get back to reading them when she doesn't feel like she's on display. It's probably just been too big a deal lately. Ignore her reading or lack thereof, and "seed" an occasional irresistible tidbit of a book around the house. She'll bite.

Getting the vision checked is a good idea too. Although it may be very hard to get an accurate assessment if your child is only 3.
My younger one is 7- when he was 5, we learned he has alot of astigmatism, which doesn't usually go away. We got him glasses- he wore them 6 months and then started taking them off in first grade, so we let him not wear them.
However, I noticed that he would frequently get up and stand by the teacher during class, to look at the white board she wrote on. He also rubbed his eyes alot during reading with me at night.
We just got glasses again- for now, just while reading. He reads very, very well, and he is reading alot faster and more fluently with them on. No more eye rubbing. I think he was getting eye strain.
My older boy is hearing impaired. Neither of them can really articulate things like, "gee, I didn't hear that." Or "gee, I didn't see that very well." I don't know if it is b/c they are boys or children or what, but you can't assume that they will always articulate when something isn't right.

A good pediatric ophthalmologist can get a very accurate assessment. My younger DD has worn glasses since she was 8 months old. If you suspect any kind of vision issue, it's really important to get it checked because a lot of vision issues at that age really have more to do with the brain than the eyes. If the eyes develop in a way that is out of sync with the brain, it has to be caught early or else vision loss can occur (and be permanent).

IMHO every child should get a vision screening by age 2 or 3 just to make sure they don't have any of these developmental vision issues. It's a simple appointment but it can save a lot of heartache later.

OK . . . stepping down off of soapbox now

PS. I'm so relieved to hear I'm not the only one who hates those rainbow magic books. I can't decide if it's because they are terrible or because I wish I had thought of them first. I could be making my fortune now