Any tips of getting reluctant son to read?

[KatieBw]

My DS is 8 and won't read by himself. I have always read to him and still do every night. We all read in the house and have masses of books. I restrict screen time and really encourage books and reading but worried in turning it into an ordeal as he shows zero interest. Any tips on fabulous books he won't be able to resist?

What does he like?

I read to ds from a young age books that I had liked. I read roughly a chapter a night and leave the book by his bed.
I know if he's really enjoying a book he'll finish it.
But if I catch him reading after lights out, then it's a bit of a "hey, you'll be tired, finish the chapter and light out." So he knows he can get away with reading at a time when putting his phone on is totally unacceptable.

Some of the books he has loved have been ones that I expected him to love (Mystery at Witchend, Cue for Treason), some have been ones I thought he wouldn't be especially thrilled by (Swish of the Curtain).
So maybe he hasn't found his books yet-not all boys are thrilled by "proper silly fart and poo books". Ds in RL thinks those are terribly funny, but not reading, he finds them try too hard and silly.
Have you tried ones like Harry Potter, Alex Rider, Roman Mysteries?

Definitely Beano and Captain Underpants etc...

Yep, mine is the same. Not interested in anything to do with reading. It's so frustrating!

Asterix and Phoenix comic are about all DS2 will read voluntarily!

My son loves the Phoenix magazine too and we've bought quite a few of the Looshkin and Bunny vs Monkey spinoff books which feature in the magazine. He won't stop reading now!

Geronimo Stilton
Cows in Action
Dinosaur Cove
The Unbelievable Top Secret Diary of Pig

Comics
Magazines
Guinness world record books (very popular)
Minecraft books
All very popular at the school I work at. Reading is reading, doesn’t mater too much What form it’s in. Anything yo diary an interest!

Oops fat fingers!!!!

Anything to spark an interest!

My two love the Phoenix comic and that got them into reading books by themselves.

Another recommendation for Asterix but also if you can find them - “choose your own destiny” type books used to have my non-reader brother quite hooked. There’s a game-playing element which is quite addictive I suppose.

We tried everything we could to get our son to read, we did all the '10 things to encourage reading' etc. list things

as soon as we stopped trying to get him to read he started to read himself.

Lots of my suggestions have already been said.

A controversial one - during lockdown DH worked in my 8 year old's bedroom so when he'd been naughty I couldn't send him to his room. Instead I made him sit quietly and read for 10 minutes (book of his choice). 9 times out of 10 he carried on reading for 30 or 40 minutes which was fantastic for him and unheard of.

How is his writing?

The only reason I ask is my son wouldn't read at that age and we all put it down to him being a boy and liking non fiction etc

I now realise it was one of many signs that both us and the school missed of him being severely dyslexic. He's a very bright boy and did extremely well in all the science/maths subjects and even did ok at English but takes no pleasure out of reading at all. It's simply not something he will ever do for fun.

He was only diagnosed at age 18 but when I look back now it seems v clear! We are also a family of massive readers so he always seemed at odds with that!

Glad I found this thread, very helpful tips as my DD has a habit of refusing to read new books and would rather read the same books over and over again that she knows by heart lol! It's becoming a problem because im starting to see that she actually struggles with reading unfamiliar books and seems to guess a lot and panic. She also refuses to read non-picture books and always tries to figure out the words based on the pictures. I might try non fiction on her favourite topics with her as at this point I am just desperate for her to get into reading new books properly!

@FiveGoToLidl

How is his writing?

The only reason I ask is my son wouldn't read at that age and we all put it down to him being a boy and liking non fiction etc

I now realise it was one of many signs that both us and the school missed of him being severely dyslexic. He's a very bright boy and did extremely well in all the science/maths subjects and even did ok at English but takes no pleasure out of reading at all. It's simply not something he will ever do for fun.

He was only diagnosed at age 18 but when I look back now it seems v clear! We are also a family of massive readers so he always seemed at odds with that!

This is so interesting and makes me wonder about my DD... I have never considered dyslexia but it might be something to bear in mind... :(

I second the Phoenix comic. Also audiobooks/reading to him so he's absorbing narrative voices.

If he's got any interests like history or something there are some great kids' graphic novels about. My 9 y o daughter's just read the Iliad for kids in graphic novel form and I couldn't get her to read anything this time last last year.

Another thought is dyspraxia- my DS is currently being assessed for it. His problem is coordination and his eye getting distracted. He finds it easier to read a short text on an empty page than say a comic book where the page is full of images and words.