Why does she hate to read? I don't get it......

[Jenn Lynn]

Reading out loud at night is a great idea!

What about books on CD and she could follow along? Maybe Harry Potter? My 5 year old loves to do this even though she can't read yet.

 

[Swimnoid]

My DD never really liked to read either. That was disappointing to me because I was an avid reader as soon as I learned to read and that was something my mom and I shared. And I cant share it with my DD. Well, we found other stuff we could share so thats not a problem and she does read more now but I would still like to see her enjoy some of the books I like.

 

[believe]

My DD acted the same way at 7, she is now close to 9 and has begun enjoying it again. I just didn't press her. I bought her books of her choice, let her see my read and figured she would 'get it'...and she did. DD finally told me that she now can picture the story and really get into it. I think before she concentrated so hard on being able to read bigger, harder words that she missed the joy of reading. She is passed the challenge of harder words. Just set the example, let her know it is there.

 

[PaulaSue]

I hate to read long things. I have a short attention span and a page or two is my limit until I feel like I am going to go batty, even online. It makes reading to my kids hard. Magazines are my favorite, short and sweet. Maybe your DD is the same and would like magazines like American Girl.

 

[CEDmom]

It could be just her trying to have power over her life. Maybe if you did away with the mandatory reading she might just decide she enjoys it afterall. As long as there isn't any problem with her reading ability I wouldn't make a big deal of it.

 

[ticktock]

I agree that you should find books on subjects that intrest her.

I also second Cool Beans, we still read to ds and he is 12. Over the years dh has read him the Lord of the Rings, Watership Down, all the Narnia books and more. I've actually read him A Wrinkle in Time. Great book.

Also try poetry. Since ds was little he's loved Shel Silverstien, Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses, and of course A.A. Milne. I still read him The Rime of the Ancient Mariner around Halloween. It was soo cool when we were watching a show together and one character said " Don't hang that dead bird around my neck, I didn't shoot it" and ds turned to me and said "He means the albatros, like from the Ancient Mariner" YES! He really flipped out when he started reading a Hellboy comic and the story line was based on an Edgar Allen Poe poem. He was screaming "Look mom, it's The Conquerer Worm!"

You should not give up on mandatory reading. The schools here have a read 25 books a school year rule. That is above and beyond what they do in class. She is going to NEED to be able to read quickly with good comprehension to get all those books read AND her school work done AND still have a life.

What I did was have DS read a specific amount of pages, chapters etc instead of reading for a certain amount of time. The faster he read it and could tell me what it was about the faster he could go do whatever. In the 5th grade he was taken out to dinner by his principle for having the highest f-cat reading score possible. So this works.

 

[Hedy]

You're forcing her to read and you wonder why she doesn't like reading? I hope this is a joke post.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I was also going to suggest that you read out loud to her. My youngest, who is 6yo, is a pretty good reader for his age, but his listening comprehension is much better than his reading comprehension, which is normal at this age. He loves to be read to. He doesn't really like to read a lot to himself, but I do have him read out loud to be for about 15 minutes a day.

I would bring your DD to the library and let her pick out some books that she's interested in. Don't worry about the reading level being hard enough. Try reading together in the same room and maybe earlier in the day when she's not so sleepy.

And I agree that everyone is not a lover of reading. Nothing wrong with that and you don't want to turn her off to it by forcing her to do it. My reading to her you might be opening her up to a love of reading. There are so many great books to read to her. Buy the Read Aloud Handbook --that's a great resource of books to read to a child of varying listening abilities.

 

[PenskeSth1]

My DS (8) hates to read, although he is trying. He is required to read at least 20 min. a night and then has to answer questions after he is done reading. (This is a paper from his school.) He picks the book. Ex. what part of the story did you like? Name three things that you would tell a friend that happened in the story. If you met the author what would you ask him?

He comprehends ok, he just is not into reading. He goes to a special reading class at school for an hour every day. He had to take a fluency test and apparently to the school he does not read fluently enough. If he does not get at least a 2 on the Florida F-cat in reading he will automatically be retained, we do not have a choice.

I do not force my son to read 20 min. a night, it is something that the school requires ( or at least wants you to do). If he doesn't read and answer the questions, they mark it as incomplete homework.

He seems to like the treehouse series books I let him pick out from Scholastic books.

How I got him to start reading without a fuss is, he reads a page and then I read a page. So far it seems to be working.

 

[Tink&SquirtsMom]

I would really drop the reading requirement. As many have said, some people are just not readers. My dh isn't. Now, I have to say he is dyslexic, but its not dylexia that makes him hate it. He cannot stand subtext, and flowery language and symbolism. He wants people to say what they mean and give only the relevant info. Hand him a programming manual and he'll devour it to learn everything he can (so he can feed his love of science and math), but read for fun, No thanks! Maybe she is just more of a math, science person. Drop the requirement and let her find things that interest her.

 

[lsyorke]

I have mandatory 30 minute reading time each night.

I found with my son that anything that was made "mandatory" became something they hated. I found that taking him to the bookstore and letting him pick out a book or magazine that interested him, worked much better. He is now 18 and loves to read.

 

[ticktock]

I would really drop the reading requirement. As many have said, some people are just not readers. My dh isn't. Now, I have to say he is dyslexic, but its not dylexia that makes him hate it. He cannot stand subtext, and flowery language and symbolism. He wants people to say what they mean and give only the relevant info. Hand him a programming manual and he'll devour it to learn everything he can (so he can feed his love of science and math), but read for fun, No thanks! Maybe she is just more of a math, science person. Drop the requirement and let her find things that interest her.

Reading is reading. If what she wants to read is Stephen Hawking fine. But she needs to read daily to fullfill the schools requirments.

My ds has been reading Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, and computer magazines since he was about 8. He can build an engine out of kitchen implements. I let him do whatever he wants in the garage as long as he doesn't blow anything up. Right now he is working on some type of mag-lev experiment . $75 worth of magnets .

He didn't ENJOY reading when I first MADE him do it, but he does now. In the past 6 months he's read Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Little Prince, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Starship Troopers, The Call of the Wild, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in Eighty Days and many, many others. Great readers are made, not born.

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

not everyone likes to read. when i was younger i didn't really like to read either. now i enjoy it, but back then i could care less. she's just a kid, i wouldn't worry about it too much.

i hate to write. and in school i had teacher after teacher tell me i should be a writer because i was so good at it. my mother and sister would tell me all the time too. but i HATE it. it just takes too much time to get to the point, which happens sometimes while reading.

my father hates reading. not his thing at all. and i don't think there's anything wrong with him. he would rather do "crafty" things too i guess you could say lol. he fixes things and works on computers and stuff.

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

I just think where she is so young, it is strange for her to have such an aversion to reading, when there is no real struggle. She is in 3rd grade, and I shiver at the thought of her 1st book report.

I don't care if she never picks up a book to read after grade 12, but it would make my life a lot easier if she would just read in her school years.

being that she is so young that's probably why she DOESN'T like reading. i would always watch my mom reading books when i was younger and thought it was "so boring!". i read when i had to for school, but i didn't read any other time. i would rather play barbies or board games or be with my friends.

 

[Tink&SquirtsMom]

Reading is reading. If what she wants to read is Stephen Hawking fine. But she needs to read daily to fullfill the schools requirments.

My ds has been reading Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, and computer magazines since he was about 8. He can build an engine out of kitchen implements. I let him do whatever he wants in the garage as long as he doesn't blow anything up. Right now he is working on some type of mag-lev experiment . $75 worth of magnets .

He didn't ENJOY reading when I first MADE him do it, but he does now. In the past 6 months he's read Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Little Prince, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Starship Troopers, The Call of the Wild, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in Eighty Days and many, many others. Great readers are made, not born.

The OP never said it was the school requirement she said it was HER requirement.

I just totally disagree with the theory that forcing a child to do anything helps nuture a love in it. I think the same could be accomplished more peacefully and efficiently by modeling love of reading and encouraging it by providing materials of interest, a good environment for it (talking with your child about, reading the same book as them, or even just turning off the tv and picking up a book whenever you see them doing it). I'm glad that it worked for your son (and think it would probably be ok for my son), but I can tell you it would never work for my dd with her personality. Thankfully her teacher agrees with me on this and has excellent ways of inspiring her with her work and she is doing awesome. Compared to last year with a teacher who was all about set time limits and regimented ways of doing things, this is working much better and I actually have a daughter who wants to read and is initiating it on her own, vs fighting it or faking her way out of it (as the OP said she thought her dd was purposely going to sleep to avoid reading). BTW, my dh also had a daily requirement of reading all through elementary school and still to this day sees it a chore and only does it as a way to get info he needs, never for pleasure. So not all stories are like your sons.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I'm betting that the school has a reading requirement. Maybe not the 30 minutes that OP is requiring, but they must have something. Would be interesting to know that.

 

[Disney Doll]

I got to be that way for a while when I was your DD's age. There were just so many more interesting things to do than read!!! I was a good reader, good comprehension etc. No learning disabiilty or anything that made reading difficult...just was mor einteretsed in doing other stuff.

My parents didn't make "mandatory" reading time beyond what was reqired for my schoolwork to be done. They did make it clear that any school assignements that needed to be done that required reading(such as book reports) would be done. Beyond that, they sort of laid low as far as forcing reading was concerned.

I turned out fine, hold a job, am a contributing member of society, like to read today, no major issues.

 

[noodleknitter]

Maybe you could read together. Third grade is kind of young for a kid to be enthralled with reading, but, of course, many are. Grab a "little House" book or something like that and read aloud together. Enjoy the time, don't push it! My opinion.

 

[slo]

My 8 year old doesn't love to read either

Because of this, I sit with her during her reading time and sometimes I read a page and she reads a page - she really likes this Plus, I think it has helped her hearing me read because I put a lot of emphasis in my reading, and it's teaching her how to do this and not be a boring reader.

 

[slo]

I'm betting that the school has a reading requirement. Maybe not the 30 minutes that OP is requiring, but they must have something. Would be interesting to know that.

I wanted to comment on this...

My DD's school does have a reading requirement, and for 2nd grade (that is the grade my 8 year old is in) it is 75 minutes a week. This breaks down to 15 minutes a day. We don't do it that way though. We read when we have time and I don't put a time limit on it. Doing it this way has actually put us over 100 minutes every week, because there are times we start reading together and the time flies by.

I do suggest to the OP that you try reading with your DD - she may start enjoying it so much more - my DD really did

Good luck!!!!!