As a dad myself, I know how incredibly busy fathers can be. You’ve got more responsibilities than ever, work more hours with less job security, slog through heavy traffic to and from work, have to fix things up around the house, and are always heading out of town for an emergency meeting. Before you know it, Emsculpt NYC your kids have grown up and you’re living out the lyrics of a bad Jim Croce song.
Well, I’m here to give you something that’s worth a time out: Reading to your son and making it fun. But what’s the urgency in that, you wonder? You’ve been meaning to do more reading to your boy – and, anyway, you catch a quick story with him when you can. That’s good enough, xfiles-mania.de right? Wrong!
Numerous studies have proven that boys lag well behind girls when it comes to reading skills. And a late start in the world of reading means they will be digging themselves out of a hole for their entire academic careers. With more competition for admission into top colleges, you just can’t afford to let your children fall behind.
One of the most vital links in the chain of good learning is the relationship between boys, administratiekantoor-start their dads, and reading. Simply put, not enough dads are making reading a part of their special time with their sons. And that is a shame because a boy’s hero is his dad – and if he sees him as a “reading role model,” he is that much more likely to build the crucial reading skills he needs to succeed in life.
But what to do? Be proactive, that’s what! Let’s roll up our sleeves and discover some fun things that dads can do with their boys to help transform them from reluctant readers into future academic all-stars!
When my boys were young, hindpanchang one of our favorite reading-related father-son activities was a weekly trip to our local bookstore. The Barnes & Noble store in our neighborhood was built for constructive loitering, and my sons and I took full advantage. We started out at the in-house coffee shop (java for me, hot chocolate for them) and then wandered over to the young readers section of the store (with a quick stop at the grown-up periodicals section to grab a couple of my favorites). Then we grabbed a stack of their favorite books – along with plenty of new discoveries – and settled in for an hour or so.
At home, we took our reading activities to the next level. Boys respond well to stories that are acted out or told with an interesting narrative style. So sometimes we would “play act” a book – with each of us taking on different roles. Our favorite was “The 3 Billy Goats Gruff” and we played i-base it out every Saturday for a couple of years. We used funny voices and lots of animated movement to bring the story alive. Try it! Lighten up and get a little crazy! You’ll be amazed at how the kids’ eyes brighten up when you throw in a little genuine enthusiasm.
I also highly recommend choosing books that are relevant to your son’s favorite things. If he’s into dinosaurs and space shuttles, then books based on those subjects are going to be the most fun for him to read. And here’s the secret: the more fun he’s having, the more he’s comprehending and learning. Pretty cool coincidence, huh? When I sat down to map out the topics for my popular Time Soldiers® series of adventure books, I researched what topics where really relevant to young boys and wrote accordingly. The books feature tales of pirates, dinosaurs, knights in armor, and ancient Egyptian mummies because these are the kinds of things I found most boys loved to learn about. Have you ever seen two boys with cardboard tubes or sticks not want to “sword fight”?
A friend of mine just told me about a great activity he uses with his son. Every week, they take part in the “Reading Bowl” – a competition in which they chart how many books they read together – then try and top that number the next week. It’s a great little motivator that gets his son as revved up as any sport or video game ever could. It appears to be working, as they’re on a thirteen week streak of beating the previous week’s totals!
Finally, grammiemagazine my sons and I would take the adventure of reading out into the real world. When we found a topic we loved, we headed out on the weekends to discover more about it. So if we were reading about dinosaurs, then we’d go to the Natural History Museum. If we were into Space Exploration, then it was off to the local observatory or space museum. By taking part in these activities, I was satisfying their thirst for knowledge and proving that reading is a jumping-off point into even more exciting and fun activities.
A number of years ago, there was a public service television commercial that showed a father, beat tired after a hard day at the office, who still managed to muster up the energy to read to his son at bedtime. The look on that little boy’s face (he’s probably about 30 now) always stuck with me. He just looked so happy and proud that his dad had taken the time to read to him. Well, imagine my surprise when I started to see that very same look in my sons’ eyes when I settled down for the evening and read them their favorite stories. The point of this trip into the lifestyleforboys TV time machine is that there’s no greater feeling of joy than your own son’s expression when you take the time to read to him. It’s good for you as a parent and even better for him as he grows up and makes his way in this world.
