Raising readers: Why parents should embrace child literacy as much as sports

[Guest guest]

Raising readers: Why parents should embrace child literacy as much as sports

by Shirley

Special to The Star

Sep 12, 2010

Over the past few weeks, I have driven by a gaggle of white helmets bobbing on

the heads of tiny football players in the open green space near my house. Other

little kids looking like Charlie Brown in big T-shirts and baggy shorts have

swarmed the soccer fields. Parents and grandparents have begun lugging folding

chairs from their cars to the edge of practice fields. The season has begun for

hundreds of children who participate in fall sports.

I, like many parents, spend my time on the sidelines wondering if my kid will be

a star player, and I fantasize about the possibility of raising a scholarship

athlete. To this end, many parents will dedicate several hours a week for

practice and game time. Money is spent on fees, equipment and travel. Precious

weeks of summer vacation are devoted to sports camps.

Youth sports are a great way for kids to make new friends, learn teamwork, gain

coordination and skills, and, of course, get much-needed exercise. But is it a

path to a free college education?

According to the NCAA, only about 2 percent of high school athletes are awarded

athletic scholarships in college. The average annual scholarship is valued at

about $10,000 — if you exclude football and basketball, the average drops to

$8,700. Plus, an athletic scholarship it is not guaranteed for four years.

The chances of landing an athletic scholarship can increase for a student with

good academic performance. While athletic skill is necessary to make the college

team, coaches know that an athlete with good grades can boost the team’s

grade-point average and graduation rate. And the best way to increase academic

performance is to read well.

If your student-athlete reads well, and often, he or she will experience the

benefits of the Effect. This theory, developed by Canadian scientist and

psychologist Stanovich at the University of Toronto, is based upon

25:29: “For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but

from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

The Effect suggests that students with more reading skills gain more

knowledge through more reading, which in turn helps them succeed in a variety of

academic settings and will result in more reading. This theory also works in

reverse — students with poor reading habits read less, creating even bigger gaps

between the haves and have-nots of reading.

Raising a child who reads is similar to raising a child who participates in

sports. Young kids often are in sports-related activities because their parents

encourage them, pay the fees, buy the equipment and take them to games and

practices.

Parents should use the same approach with reading.

Just as you buy your child the equipment needed to participate in a sport, it is

even more important to provide books. Make sure your child has plenty to read.

Take them to the library regularly, and keep books and other reading materials

in their reach. Second-hand stores and rummage sales are good places to buy

inexpensive books. Ask for books as presents for birthdays and Christmas.

When your student is picking out books, respect your child’s choices. Don’t

worry if the book doesn’t seem like “literature.” If it keeps a young reader

turning the pages, it is a good book. Notice what interests your child, and then

help find books about those things. Designate a bookcase, shelf or box where

your children can keep their books and develop a home library.

Praise your child’s efforts. Even if your student is not a fluent reader, be

very encouraging as they work through a book, just as you would encourage them

during a game.

Children love to have adults read to them. It reminds them that even with a busy

schedule, you value them and value reading. It also provides an enriched

environment with vocabulary and plot lines that they cannot access without adult

help. Continue reading aloud to older children even after they have learned to

read by themselves.

Set aside some time for reading every day. Challenge your family to spend as

much time reading in one week as you do at athletic practices and games. This

might be hard to do, but most sports do not practice or play on Wednesday nights

or Sundays. This would be a good time to get through several chapters of a

“read-aloud” book. And remember, reading Twitter and Facebook should not count

toward reading goals. Children need to read books to increase vocabulary and

gain comprehension and fluency.

Be a reading role model. Let your children see you read, and share some

interesting things with them that you have read in books, newspapers or

magazines.

Yes, the season has begun for many children who participate in fall sports. And

I will sit on the sidelines to cheer for my child — looking for signs of

athletic potential. But after the game is over and we head home, I realize my

goal as a parent is to raise a reader.