(NC)-Reading is an important life-long skill-and developing strong reading habits from an early age sets the stage for life.

 

“While we know that it’s important for young children to have strong reading skills, but getting kids to embrace reading is not always as simple,” says Nick Whitehead, the founder and CEO of Oxford Learning.

 

Fortunately there are several strategies that parents can take to help their kids improve both their love of reading and their reading skills.

 

According to Dr. Whitehead, the number one thing that parents can do to improve their child’s reading ability is to simply make books available in the home and to have a regular reading time.

 

He also suggests some other simple ideas to encourage reading such as going to the library together, reading books together as a family, reading a book series, or listening to audio books in the car.

 

For parents who have tried all the basic tips and still have difficulty getting their children to embrace reading, Dr. Whitehead suggests that parents of older children give their kids banned books or let them read above their skill level. Studies have shown that telling a child a book is banned sparks their interest to read it more.

 

For younger children, parents can stop reading right at a pivotal point to guarantee that children become interested enough to read on by themselves to find out what happens next.