To feel fustrated and sad

[Leafitout]

That my DS no longer reads books anymore. Since he was little he loved books and me reading him bedtime stories. Now his head is permanently attached to his xbox, iPhone or iPad and it's a battle to get him off. I feel like chucking the whole lot in the bin. It saddens me how he now neglects his reading try as I might to encourage him! Is it an age thing or him just growing up

Maybe downloading a reading app on his iPad may be helpful.

My ds was the same, then he got into the whole YouTube craze. Now many of these you tubers have published books so books are back! He's even going to a book signing soon

He started out gently with the "pointless book" which combines reading, art and an app so maybe look at one for a gift and see if it kick starts anything?!

Children have done this since long before screens. My brothers gave up books not required for school due to an interest in sports.

Will he read stuff related to his games? Manual and websites?

My DD13 recently got totally hooked on reading again. You just need to find the right books (dystopian crap here, but whatever works!).

You can easily set time restrictions on an XBox. INFO HERE. SeT it so he can,for example, to play between the hours of 7 and 9 or whatever you want.

Once you have set it up you won't need to argue with him about it.

You should also set up time/ device restrictions on your wifi. I guess you already have normal parental restrictions set up?

Your DS won't be happy about this but once it's up and running he will get used to it and you won't need to constantly butt heads over it. I strongly recommend doing this ASAP as it will only get more and more difficult to do it as he get older.

Try being a bit sneaky...? Get hold of a couple of books by Lee Child or Matthew Reilly. Leave them laying around. Have a loud 'private' conversation about how much violence and swearing is in the book, and you really hope DS doesn't read them... Heck, it might work!

I genuinely totally recommend Ice Station by Matthew Reilly, there's a mystery, possible alien spaceships, SaS versus Marine shootouts and a cool hero.

Leaf, have you tried introducing your DS to the Tintin books.

My DSS can't be dragged kicking and screaming to most books because he finds the stories are not relevant to him. He loves reality, science, nature and doesn't enjoy make believe, although he has a good imagination. He took to Tintin like a duck to water. They have a lovely blend of humour, interesting characters, adventure and of course the wonderful cartoon imagery but plenty of reading.

We even bought the DVDs but only after he had got through the whole series of books! They are his most treasured book collection.

Also Gerald Durrell are funny and great animal stores.

I think it may be a question of trying a lot of different alternatives, and entice him off the screens. They are awfully addictive!

He probably needs to have something more suitable/interesting to read.

Also limit screen time. It's your choice! You have the power.

Or have a computer games free days next week. He might have to get bored before relearning to occupy himself.

Or use screen time as a reward. So to have two hours of screen time he first needs to do his chores and read for 30 minutes