There was a small article in a magazine I was reading a while ago that discussed how to “foster a love of reading” in your child. The ideas were the usual–you know, read together, choose books that your child will enjoy at their level, listen to audio books, re-read favourites, read aloud to your child at any age–the suggestions we have heard many times.

Don’t get me wrong, the suggestions are good and they do work to “…raise a confident, lifelong reader”—in some children. Worked for my daughter–an absolutely avid reader. Yet, I did the same things with my son, and he does not love to read–not for enjoyment, anyways. He is an effective reader, I made sure of that, but pick up a book for fun–are you kidding??

And–it isn’t a gender thing–I know many boys who enjoy reading and many girls who don’t–no matter what, when or how they are exposed to books and reading. There are kids who just don’t love reading–will never love reading–will never, ever be bookworms, no matter what parents do–so don’t feel guilty if your child is one of them.

Make sure your child is a fluent reader with good comprehension and application skills–and of course, continue to expose them to new books–I still do that to my son and he is an adult—and every so often, he will actually read a book–wait for it–just for pure enjoyment.