For parents with school-aged students, this is a great opportunity to share the adventures of reading with your child and cultivate a life-long reader.  Whether it’s reading out loud together or individually, you can’t go wrong with a book in hand.

Here are a few tips to cultivate a life-long reader:

• Find out your child’s independent reading level. Independent level means what they can read with either no help or just a little help so that they can read at leisure. If you aren’t sure then speak with their teacher. This is the key to picking out the best books for them to read so that they won’t get discouraged if the book is too hard or bored if it is too easy.

• Take your child to the library or a bookstore and let them pick out their books. If they have books that they are actually interested in they will be much more likely to read them. Find out their interests and make books on those topics available to them. You can pull topics from their favorite hobbies and movies.

• Make sure they have easy access to books and put some out where they can see them around the house. Try used book stores, yard sales, discounted or free e-books and the library to stock up on books without breaking the bank.

• Lead by example. Like they say, monkey see, monkey do. Not only should you make time to read with your child but also make sure they see you reading too. Make it part of a family routine.

• Figure out your child’s reading personality. Introverted readers tend to read to the point of isolation and need encouragement to talk about the book so make sure you open up the door for discussion with questions about the plot etc. Extroverted readers often bounce from book to book and want to read what their friends are reading so sometimes they do not finish books. To encourage them to finish, offer to take them to the library or the bookstore for a new book when they are done.

Hopefully these tips will set you off to a good start on raising a lifelong reader.