My kid hates reading... Now what?

I have always, always LOVED to read.  I was that kid who memorized Berenstain Bear books when I was four and had a Lord of the Rings book under my belt at age ten (Fellowship of the Ring, if you care to know).  But not all kids are like that... in fact, a lot of children out there would go as far as to say they "hate" to read.  Why?  Reading, at the beginning, is hard.  Sometimes, if the topic of the book isn't interesting to you, reading is also boring.

How can we as parents encourage a love of reading?  

Why is it important to try?

Reading = Success

Perhaps it's a slight over-simplification to say that being a strong reader will make you more successful, but it isn't completely misleading.  Study after study shows that adults who were strong readers as children have better communication skills, are creative thinkers, and are more successful in college.   Why wouldn't us parents want those things for our kids?

Reading opens the mind up to new ideas, alternative perspectives, and gets our children asking questions about the world around them.  This process helps our children to have active minds - to gain awareness of the larger world.

But my kid doesn't like to read!

It's all well and good to talk about why a child should be encouraged to read, but it's another thing altogether to talk about how to foster a love of reading.  Because of the "hard" and "boring" elements that often make reading a struggle for younger children, us parents need to get creative.  I'll bet that your child who "hates" reading is being exposed to books that are either too challenging for them or are about something they aren't interested in.

So here are three tips for you, the parent with the anti-reader child, to convince your little one to give reading another chance...

1. Pick books that your child WANTS to read.

What movies or games does your child enjoy?  My son is obsessed with Minecraft - so I bought him Minecraft books.  My son loves Disney and Pixar movies - so I bought him books about his favorite characters.  If you know your child, which I'm assuming you do, you'll know what books will be a good fit for them... and try to avoid forcing your childhood favorites on them.

Kids nowadays are very different from the way we were back in the 70's and 80's (or, dare I say it, the 90's... I feel so old sometimes).  While the occasional Dr. Seuss book might be fun, the kids of today have shorter attention spans than we did - they are a product of the technology age and some older books are really outdated, despite our love of them.  Be selective and if your child doesn't like a book, don't make them read it over and over again.  Donate it.  Give it to your neighbor.  Let that book find it's way to the hands of a child that will love it.

2. Find books that are "reading level" appropriate.

Once you've determined the kind of books your child will love, be sure that they are appropriate for your child's reading level.  Every child learns at a different pace, so you'll want to find books that will challenge them to a certain point, but will still be fun for them.  Putting a chapter book in front of most kindergarteners would be a disaster.  But, if your little reader is advanced, maybe they're ready for something a bit longer and more complex.

Sit with your child and read a few books with them to figure out exactly where your child is at if you aren't sure.  My son, for example, is a little bit behind the average kindergartener when it comes to reading - so we're still focused on getting him up to kindergarten level this summer, rather than frustrating him with books that he simply cannot read yet. Accept your child where they're at and introduce the occasional challenge to get them progressing.

3. Read with them.

Above all else, you need to read with your child - even if they're strong readers and naturally love to sit down with a book, we parents MUST make time to read with our kids.  Just sitting them down with a book doesn't help them.  Read with them.  Have them read to you.  Do it every day.

I'm a working mom and we have a three month-old, so I'm often exhausted by the time my son is ready for bed and wants "story time" - so my husband is usually the one who reads with him.  But, whoever is doing it, it's done every single day.  Despite his reading challenges, my son has progressed immensely over the last year... and I feel it's because we made reading a priority for ourselves as much as we made it a priority for him.

Reading is important, and it isn't a chore.  Let your child see the joy in it, and if you haven't found that joy for yourself, perhaps you will through the exercise of helping your child.

Breast Cancer: Metastatic Monday

Today's post is unique - that's because today a viral campaign is taking place online to raise awareness for the deadliest form of breast cancer, Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer.  The campaign, #MetsMonday, is one that I wholeheartedly support, so I wanted to share some important information to all of the moms (and dads) out there about this frightening form of cancer.

Breast Cancer in America

For additional statistics and more information on breast cancer in the United States, please go to BreastCancer.Org.

• About 1 in 8 U.S. women (about 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.  However, both women AND men can be diagnosed.
• In 2014, an estimated 232,670 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 62,570 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer.
• About 2,360 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in men in 2014. A man’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000.
• About 40,000 women in the U.S. were expected to die in 2014 from breast cancer, though death rates have been decreasing since 1989 — with larger decreases in women under 50. These decreases are thought to be the result of treatment advances, earlier detection through screening, and increased awareness.
• For women in the U.S., breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer, besides lung cancer.
• Besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. Just under 30% of cancers in women are breast cancers.
• Overall, African-American women are more likely to die of breast cancer.
• In 2014, there were more than 2.8 million women with a history of breast cancer in the U.S. This includes women currently being treated and women who have finished treatment.
• A woman’s risk of breast cancer approximately doubles if she has a first-degree relative (mother, sister, daughter) who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. About 15% of women who get breast cancer have a family member diagnosed with it.
• About 5-10% of breast cancers can be linked to gene mutations (abnormal changes) inherited from one’s mother or father. Mutations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are the most common. 
• Women with a BRCA1 mutation have a 55-65% risk of developing breast cancer before age 70, and often at a younger age that it typically develops. 
• For women with a BRCA2 mutation, this risk is 45%. An increased ovarian cancer risk is also associated with these genetic mutations. 
• In men, BRCA2 mutations are associated with a lifetime breast cancer risk of about 6%; BRCA1 mutations are a less frequent cause of breast cancer in men.
• About 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer. These occur due to genetic mutations that happen as a result of the aging process and life in general, rather than inherited mutations.
• The most significant risk factors for breast cancer are gender (being a woman) and age (growing older).