Home » News » How to show a child the joy of reading? Reflections of specialists and parents on book reading habits nowadays / Article / LSM.lv

How to show a child the joy of reading? Reflections of specialists and parents on book reading habits nowadays / Article / LSM.lv

The overarching goal is to make reading a habit, recognizing the guests of the program “Family Studio”, assessing whether children read and what they read, recognizing that the joy of reading has not diminished, there are always those who are eager to read and those who do not find it interesting .

Do children really read less and less? Solvita Lazdiņa, the director of the Riga City Primary School, the senior expert of the project “School 2030”, believes that children read and they read differently: there are those who read more, there are children who need extra effort to read. Children are still passionate about reading.

Sanita Lazdiņa, a mother of three children, a professor at the Rēzekne Academy of Technology, admits that 10 and 20 years ago there were children and young people who did not read.

“Nowadays, the possibilities for reading are more diverse, the understanding of reading has changed. Reading is not just about reading books, but thematic sites on the Internet are also reading. The range of texts or genres has increased. If we look at it this way, young people and children read quite a lot,” Sanita Lazdiņa.

Solvita Umbraško, a leading researcher and doctor of psychology at the University of Latvia, also agrees that this is speculation on a topic that she reads less.

“Perhaps the explanation for this is that in the past, children who read printed books were more noticeable. Today, the diversity of text and the digital format, which is also in line with the reading material, is less noticeable or less traceable to children or young people reading digitally,” he said. Solvita Umbraško.

The question they read is the reference literature, which is more accessible in the e-environment, whether it is also fiction.

Parents who participate in the discussion, however, object and point out that children read little and share various suggestions on how to engage children in reading.

We have compiled the comments and experiences submitted by the listeners to increase the pleasure of reading or by expressing the opinion that reading can be replaced by other sources of cognition.

Family example

Agnese: Do your husbands and grandfathers also read? Isn’t reading important to women only?

Nora Good afternoon! In our family, the system is simple – an 11-year-old child has to read 2 books a month – one chosen by the mother, the other chosen by the mother. Working at school, I can safely say that the success of those children who read more is better and they are interested in learning.

In the “Family Studio” podcast:

Length – 50 min; new episodes every working day.



Kristine: Yes, I agree with guests about reading, it is a JOB that parents must be prepared for. Adults, we are resilient and patient!

Ginta: The joy of reading is one thing for parents who have read to the child from an early age and literature teachers, if they are not lucky with their parents. The problem is literacy. As a teacher, I have noticed that students have difficulty understanding what they have read, students often do not understand the rules of the assignment. Distance learning communication also showed this.

Nauris: Read in front of his son from the moment he was able to perceive. He is currently 14. He still reads one hour every night. This is our time together. As a result, he cannot be distracted from books and vocabulary …

Ilze: As I have noticed, since my dad and I both read books, the girls also want to read, because it seems cool to them from an early age. We also read books in front of us in the evenings, now the big sister reads more in front of us all, not ourselves 🙂

School influence

Agnese: Of course, it was a surreal feeling to sit in the countryside by a fragrant jasmine bush and read King Lear, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet! Today I am so grateful to my demanding literature teacher!

FRIDAY Good afternoon! When I was studying at school, there were obligatory books to read in the summer, including the history of Latvia, such as “Soul Blizzard”. I really appreciate it at the end of school. I believe that books on the history of Latvia and an optional book should be included as compulsory literature in the summer. And the resumption of school in September should be in writing to be shared by all students in the class. Today, young people have a very stingy wording, which is very sad. Educators should think about it.

Eve: The list of compulsory literature that children read at school is very outdated and in no way makes today’s children want to read. Well, please replace those depressive, next-century stories in school curricula.

Literature content

Inguna: Good afternoon! Comment on children’s reading – our family has 5 children (3 are already grown up, 2 are students. Parents read a lot. A teenager reads a lot, a first-grader still needs to be encouraged to read. One of the big children doesn’t read at all) and from time to time topic on the content of studies in literature lessons. There are basically old classic writers, who must “translate” a whole sea of ​​old names when reading, and Latvian folk tales are often incomprehensible to modern children. Such content does not in any way stimulate the child’s interest in books. It’s just boring. That’s why we buy a lot of books by modern authors (and we are gourmets – we are looking for good, professionally recognized literature) and we try to create interest in reading ourselves in the family. However, there are so many Latvian and foreign authors who write about topics relevant to modern children and in good literary language. Unfortunately, “White Paper” or “May and Paija” will not be the works that will address most of our young people.

No: In my opinion, a good option for non-readers is to offer, for example, comics – better less text than not at all. Although Tintins’ adventures or other modern editions.

Rebecca: It seems to me that children just need to be taken to the bookstore and allowed to choose, I understand that as a child.

No: E-books can be read in an e-reader other than a computer / tablet. The eyes do not grow more than at a paper book. If children want to read, it takes discipline to develop a habit – everyone in the family reads for a certain amount of time each day.

Don’t read!

Eve: We really don’t read books in our family, because it seems more interesting and also more effective to watch a good movie, including a documentary. We are not poor or otherwise affected. But yes, our children don’t like books and forcing them to read seems wrong to me because it doesn’t make any sense. Maybe it’s time to assume that you can live without reading books ?!

Janis: Good afternoon. I’m sorry, but it sounds so naive how confident your guests are that children, if they don’t read books, then read books in the e-environment !!!!!!! I have wondered among so many colleagues how much their children read. I was not surprised to hear the answer that you do not read at all, or read only compulsively …. Naive Your guests, really naive …

Krista: Don’t read! Dirty workers are also needed!

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