Yesterday, we went grocery shopping and found the store packed with people—it’s the holiday season, so it was to be expected. Normally, we head to the grocery as soon as it opens to avoid the crowd, but this time we went later than usual since we had just returned from a local trip and took a day to recover.
We had planned to buy a JisuLife Fan—the same model I use—for a friend’s child as a gift since we’re meeting him and his family this week. However, when we visited the kiosks at SM North, they only had models I didn’t prefer. Instead, we decided on a dinosaur book after remembering how much he likes them. As a geologist who also shares a fascination with dinosaurs, I was thrilled to find one with beautifully illustrated pages and detailed explanations of various species whose fossils have been discovered.
The Book Sale at SM North has long been one of our favorite places to shop for secondhand books. Most of their books are in excellent condition, and I’ve found rare gems there—titles that aren’t even available in other local bookstores. In fact, we’ve even included books from there in the loot bags at my sons’ birthday parties because I strongly believe in encouraging kids to read.
When I was growing up, it was common to see kids my age reading books, but with the rise of tablets and smartphones, many now seem to prefer digital formats. On top of that, a lot of kids today are hooked on social media and gaming. That’s why I find it inspiring to know that, according to an article from Yahoo Finance, the Philippines is among the top 20 countries with the most book readers. The list includes Germany, Canada, Spain, Turkey, Argentina, Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, Venezuela, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, France, Sweden, Czech Republic, Egypt, China, Thailand, and India. It’s heartening to see my home country recognized, and it reaffirms my hope that the love for books remains strong here.
After we finished picking up everything we needed, I asked my husband and kids to head to the checkout line while I grabbed a few more items from nearby shelves. As I made my way back, I overheard someone mentioning a “cute kid slumped on the floor near the counter reading a book,” and they added how rare it is to see kids doing that these days. Curious, I reached our line, and there was my youngest son—sure enough, sitting on the floor engrossed in a history book we had just purchased from the Book Sale an hour earlier.
With that scene still fresh in my mind—and pardon the lengthy introduction—I’d like to share some tips that have worked for us in raising kids who love reading and even collecting books.
1. Lead by Example
Kids emulate what they see. Let them catch you reading for pleasure or learning. Share with them how books make you feel or what you’re learning from them.
2. Create a Reading-Friendly Environment
Keep books accessible. A cozy corner with a bookshelf and soft cushions can be inviting. Rotate the books to keep their collection fresh and exciting. In our home, the whole length of living room has a bookshelf full of books and some of their toys. They have the option to always pick which book to read for the day or toys to play with. I even rotate the books so that they can reach for one easily and to vary the ones they can read per month. Rather than another TV, we opted to have a huge shelf for books installed in our bedroom because that’s how my own bedroom looked like growing up. I had a tiny bookshelf beside my small bed so that I could reach for a book while lying down. My mom used to complain that I slept with books scattered on me.
3. Incorporate Story Time
Make storytime a daily ritual. Even older kids enjoy being read to, and it can be a bonding moment. Use different voices and expressions to make it fun. Here’s a video of me reading animatedly on my kids when they were much younger (prepare to laugh at this one):
4. Let Them Choose
Encourage your kids to pick their books, even if it’s a comic book, a picture book, or something “unusual.” Letting them explore their interests fosters independence and a love for reading. Whenever we visit a book store like Book Sale or Fully Booked around the metro, I’d ask them to explore and pick a book or two that they like then we will decide if we want to buy or not. More often than not we would come home with a paper bag of books.
5. Use the Library and Visit Museums Too
Visit the library regularly. The adventure of browsing and choosing books makes reading more engaging. Some libraries even have reading programs or storytelling events. When my eldest son was merely 4 years old, I enrolled him in a reading program hosted by the College of Education at the University of the Philippines to boost his reading interest. The program proved to be effective as he was able to finish some chapter books that we had at home in the years following that program. We also visited several museums around the country and have talked about these visits at length in this blog site. One example is our visit to the living museum that is Batanes Island which we decided to visit back in 2019 after my son read about it in one of his school books.
6. Connect Books to Their Interests
If your child loves space (just like my son Ian), find books about astronauts, planets, or science fiction. Tailoring books to their hobbies keeps them hooked. We have quite a collection of books about watercolors, acrylic, oil painting techniques, geology, math, statistics, and sketching for myself. For my two kids, we have a collection of books about history and geography, space, geology (dinosaurs and Tarbuck’s introductory book), and story books.
7. Make Reading Fun and Interactive
Turn reading into an experience:
- Act it out: Pretend to be characters in the story (see the video above). Our home is our own little theater where my kids and I take turns being the main character.
- Draw or write: Have them draw their favorite scene or write their version of the story. One of our projects were painting scenes from the Harry Potter series which my eldest had finished reading when he was 8 years old. My youngest has a collection of Dog Man and Diary of a Wimpy Kid and he would sometimes draw his own comic strips featuring characters from both series. Ian is always on the lookout for latest releases of both series both online and in book stores. I think we have already completed the Dog Man series to date.
- Discuss: Ask questions about the story to make it come alive. Discussions about what we read has become part of our habits at home. We often do this during dinner time. I admit we didn’t do this as often this year while I was finishing my thesis for graduate school but I intend to go back to this habit religiously starting next year. I myself would need to keep reading for leisure again.
8. Limit Screen Time
Encourage balance between screen time and reading time. Offer books as an alternative to entertainment or relaxation. My kids have limited screen time – only 3 hours per day. However, that screen time already includes Duolingo where they learn new languages as well as games they like to play both on Nintendo Switch, their PC, and phones. I also limit their exposure to social media as I told them they would waste time through mindless browsing.
9. Gift Books
Books make excellent gifts. Personalize them by writing a special message inside. A book from a parent or grandparent often becomes a cherished keepsake. As mentioned, we also tend to gift our friends and family members with books, sometimes even including books in birthday loot bags. The main objective for doing so is not only to encourage my kids’ circle of friends and cousins to read books but so that they can all enjoy the books together during gatherings. I also don’t want my kids to think or feel that they’re the only ones who enjoy reading.
10. Be Patient and Persistent
Kids’ interest in reading might ebb and flow. Celebrate small wins, like finishing a book, discovering a favorite genre, or even flipping through pages on their own. I occasionally bring my kids to book stores so they could take a look at new titles to keep them updated. I also remind them when they tell me they’re bored (often this is a euphemism to wanting to watch TV or having extra gadget time) that the books are there to entertain them also. Thankfully, they don’t need to be forced to read.
Books are a great conversation starter among new acquaintances. You’d be surprised at how a lot of people you meet for the first time have read interesting books. You also get recommendations that way. I remember meeting new homeschooling families and we’d discuss books we’ve read hours. These families eventually became our friends! Really, reading books also help you make friends!
Finally, these are my boys yesterday, reading the books we got from the Book Sale. We scored Spanish and French language books, a “When on Earth” series book featuring important events in the world’s history, and the dinosaur book as gift to our friend’s son. We paired the book with a dinosaur plushie for added fun. 🙂
Thank you once again for reading this far. Hope the 10 tips I shared on here will be helpful for your family too. Happy holidays, everyone!
xoxo,
Grass
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