DS age 7 can read but won't read. What can I do?

[Honesttodog]

STILL waiting for the lightbulb moment..

He reads well enough, will read a small amount daily from his reading book in order to fulfil his homework commitment, but he has not finished any of the books most boys his age seem to enjoy. He has read the Twits in class, we've read George's marvellous medicine together, i got him the Greg James book on CD so he could listen, but he never finished listening, and he just never finishes a book!

He basically loves factual books but as a massive reader with one DD who is a massive reader I feel like i'm weeping inside because we have so many books and he might look at them but rarely gets stuck in. I just thought it would come naturally and I'm so sad that it hasn't.

To be honest I think his lack of interest has put me off reading to him and I often let him look at books on his own at bedtime rather than reading aloud . He can read, he can read in his head, i feel like he ought to be be enjoying books on his own at this age. Should I just keep reading to him every night and hope he'll take over over one day? On the flip side he is very interested in cars, minecraft, lego and he is good at playing on his own, so he can definitely achieve flow in other aspects of his life.

I also think he knows that i am frustrated with his reading but it is just maddening! So often when we read we end up talking about reading more.

i recently read a story about a guy whose dad used to just get a different book out for him every week and after months, the son finally picked up one of them and loved it, but I JUST DONT HAVE THE PATIENCE.

are any of you on the other side of this and have boys who read lots now? Just looking at the read for good readathon sponsor card lying on the table and smh, there is just no sodding way

I would keep reading to him
If he likes factual stuff then get something like a book or print out of facts about stuff he's interested in and he can read you a fact a day?
And then reading in other stuff too so recipes, shopping lists, TV guides, menus, and on and on. So he is reading but not "this is how to read" type stuff?

What is he interested in? My DS was very late to reading and I swear he learnt to read on the wii!! He had a lego Star Wars game and kept asking me to read the instructions and I couldnt whilst I was cooking etc so he figured it out. Minecraft followed and I bought some books on the subject which he loved. His reading picked up at school in about yr 4 (he's a July baby so would've been about 8) and by the end of yr 6 he had the third highest reading score in his year. He's still the only one of my children that genuinely reads for pleasure. (he's 14 now)

Incidentally, DD was that child in reception that read really early and was moving through the stages quickly. Aged 12 she barely picks up anything more challenging than Top of The Pops magazine!!

I found with my son that they have to find their reason to read... some children's reason is the pleasure, that wasn't the case for DS.

Some people just aren't readers, or aren't fiction readers. I will read non stop given the chance. My wife only reads non-fiction, mainly to do with serial killers or weird facts. She just doesn't enjoy the story aspect like I do.

I would focus on getting your DS as many different types of books as you can, and find something he does enjoy. That might be comics about super heroes, Lego themed books, car manuals, joke books. Leave the fiction novels for a while. Putting pressure on him to read them will only make him less likely to want to. Provide him with options, and then as PPs have mentioned, read with him more. Let him choose, regardless of what it is. Go back to the beginning, one page each maybe, and build the relationship with books again.

I guess he just is not reading fiction of a kind where he is holding characters and storylines in his head, or really aware of different personalities and qualities, descriptions coming alive etc.

My DD is older (10) so I know that he will really struggle with comprehension if he doesn't more widely now. My dd's vocab and reading are light years ahead of my son's , and that is fairly daunting considering he'll be going into year 3 in september and will be doing more challenging work.

I suppose I see reading as an ability to focus and hold things in your mind. It's just so important and natural to me and i'm a bit of a geek, and I want him to use reading to pursue his own interests and he just doesn't do that yet.

Just re-read your message and saw that he likes similar things - DS loved books on Minecraft as they taught him 'hacks'. He also loved books like this - lots of information but in small chunks rather than a story. The usbourne 'see inside' books were also a hit. He really didn't start reading stories until year 5 - even at bedtime he liked Where's Wally or one of his information books.

It really doesn't always have to be a story - reading is reading!!

I had to back off from promoting reading for fun with my DD as it was backfiring and putting her off completely when she was 6. She finally started to read for fun at age 17.
It turns out that she prefers getting info visually, ie films and tv, so reading doesn't give her the same pleasure as it does me.

I have 3 ds who only liked fact books at that age. My oldest just got a place at Oxford and the other two have been tested at reading comprehension years above their ages. Give him factbooks on anything and everything, at this age its just important that theyare reading, not what. Mine moved onto sci fi and fantasy fiction when they were about 10. Another thing that caught their attention was joke books and crazy but true stories, also the guiness book of records. Remember he is his own person, not a copy of you, he needs to find his own path and know that it is ok with you

He sounds just like my ds. He just gets bored with stories and is constantly trying to turn the page before I have finished, go for water, sneak lego into bed, stand on his head, generally piss around etc.

I think we have just cracked it. He is 9 now but I think it is the book rather than his age. We are reading diary of a minecraft zombie (truly awful books but he absolutely loves them) begs for reading time every night. There are loads of them, they just follow from the last. He spent his christmas amazon vouchers on more of them - He has never willingly bought a book before, never mind chosen instead of a toy!

We take turns to read, he could read them himself but I think he is enjoying sharing them with me - many conversations based around 'do you remember in the book when zombie did x, y or z'

Hoping this is the start of a love of books for him.

DS has no interest at all in reading fiction. We got him hooked on Horrible Histories and that worked really well. Small chunks of fact-based comedy he could then share with other people

seatoski thanks. I have had some success with joke books and a beautiful encyclopedia of animals, and also a minecraft book, but i guess i have to let go of the idea of him reading Roald Dahl for a while!!

I do a lot of leaving piles of interesting books on his bed and around his room and am dreaming of the day I walk in and find him engrossed in something...

Mine was the same. I’d explain to his teacher that I’d find him online looking at aircrash reports but he’d never read books. She pointed out he was reading, just not from books. He’s about to do his GCSE’s now and still has never read a novel aside from those on the curriculum. His current reading is Stephen Hawking and the Elon Musk biography. It’s hard for an avid reader like you but honestly, don’t worry

What about a game that he plays but you have to read along?

I don't mean an educational app, I literally mean a game. My brother would never read, but we played (showing my age here) sega and PlayStation games where a lot of Reading was involved as part of the storyline. Our mum used to play with us too. Fond memories! It might be a start?

To be honest, as someone who comes from a family of readers and isn't a reader herself I say don't worry about it. I'm a teacher and have a degree in literature and theatre as well as a PGDE but I never read for pleasure. It's not held me back at all. Saying that, I do enjoy audiobooks. My sister devours books and reads very quickly; always has. Dh and I both dont but we keep lots of books around the house for our son and read 3 or 4 every night as well as visit the library regularly. Some people just dont enjoy reading and it's very hard for those that do to understand. As long as he reads what is required at school he should be fine. Maybe play audiobooks in the house? Or podcasts?

How about graphic novels? I think your DS is probably a young for them still, but there is a manga version of The Vampire's Assistant series by Darren Shan that my reluctant reader DS absolutely LOVED. DS didn't take to Asterix at all, but something easier like Calvin and Hobbs worked well.

My DS also likes autobiographies/biographies. If you have a look around on something like Amazon there are a fair few written for children about sports people, especially footballers, if he's into that.

The series that starts with this book was incredibly popular with DS too at about 8 or 9 yo. There's a bit of story, some activities to do and quite a few pictures as far as I remember.

My 7 year old is the same - can read but doesn't enjoy it.

Unfortunately he has at least 45 minutes of homework a night so when I try and add reading a book "for pleasure" it doesn't go down well! (understatement).

His teacher recently said he really must read extra every day. Fortunately his class is doing a competition (against other classes in other schools) where they have to read books (a HUGE list has been provided) and then answer questions and they get points based on getting the answers right. This has actually motivated DS cos he likes winning points.

on the other hand, we've been told that in the 2 week school holidays he has to read 5 books (long 100 page books) which has been painful for everyone concerned! lol

I still read to my kids - the 13 year old has only recently started to opt out of listening to read to herself, and still listens sometimes. 11 and 7 year olds attach great importance to their bedtime story.

My eldest has always read a bit but only started inhaling books and reading the kind of content "avid" (for some reason I illogically detest that word) readers her age read at about 12. She enjoyed younger stuff for a long time partly due to hating scary content, and having a very vivid imagination indeed, which she now appears to have "grown into" and got more under control.

I suspect that the fact my children are growing up with 2 languages is part of the puzzle for us, and it's certainly what motivates me to keep reading aloud, to keep their passive vocabulary growing in the non community language, but I expect to keep reading aloud to my kids til the youngest is 11 or 12, and so far they are very engaged.

I think as long as you read age appropriate books to them every night, or almost every night, and they don't have 24/7 internet and console access, they will go to books when they need them for comfort, distraction, adventure and company when you're not there to read in future years. Reading aloud sets up a realationship with books as well as building vocabulary and developing their subconscious understanding of how narrative, characters and worlds are constructed. It's not really about launching an avid free reader as young as possible, it's a life long journey.

7 is very young - my youngest is 7 and no, he wouldn't read a chapter book to the end, but DD was the same at 7 and just read 'Ready Player One' in her non-school language in a night at age 13, and ready every night and most days, in two languages, so I believe it will come.

I hate to say this but, as a generalisation, this is boys! I have 4 of the buggers and all but 1 had to be encouraged/forced to read. My youngest is 8 and up until recently I had the same issue After trying lots of books he chanced upon older brothers Tom Gates books and is not reading almost one of them a night. i know they aren't the most amazing books but theyve done the trick and his general reading, which was poor, so much so that I had him assessed for dyslexia, has come on leaps and bounds.

Try them, or other books, hopefully one will spark the interest.

I used to agonise over the fact that DD3 (9) didn't read willingly. She limped through the reading scheme. She's almost 10 now and last week, literally, said "I've seen a book I like the look of..."

Despite this, her latest report says she is beyond expectations in almost all areas of reading. So I really wouldn't panic. It seems that quantity of reading doesn't necessarily correlate with reading ability.

You should let him read what he's interested in whether it's the Guinness Book of Records (or Ripley's Believe it or Not) or an encyclopaedia of dinosaurs or other subject of interest.

Does he watch much adult tv? That might be a good way for him to improve his vocabulary. Richard Attenborough for instance will be using more difficult words than they do on Deadly 60. (Was going to say Steve Backshall but he does adult documentaries too)

Read to him about subjects he likes. I remember reading my children factual books like "how the Internet works" and a lot of history books - my son was really into the Cold War at age 8.

I wasn’t particularly interested in reading until I was 8 and could read more interesting books. An avid reader since then though. You have to bare quality in mind as well. A lot of books targeted at younger children are very poorly written (like Harry Potter) or written in a manner that is better suited to slightly older children (like Roald Dahl). Maybe try lemony snicket? It’s is well written but more accessible to young children than some more popular authors.

Both my ds were not interested in reading fiction. They also liked the same things your ds is into.

They are both over 11 now and read. My almost 14 yr old has just read his first Stephen King book that he read in record time and the younger one is racing through a fantasy series.

Carry on reading to him if he’s enjoying it. I read a lot of fiction to mine and I even read Harry Potter to them a couple of years ago. They loved me reading it tothrm but had no interest reading it themselves.

Let them read whatever they want. Mine have read so many books about sharks and volcanoes and the like. I just let them carry on.

I made it a rule that they had to read for 20 minutes before bed. It didn’t matter what, but they had to. They slowly started picking up fiction from about 9 yrs.

Have you tried comics? My 6yr old dd is a great “listener” and will sit and be read to for as long as we are willing. She picked up reading pretty quickly and is progressing nicely, but very reluctant to read for herself. I think it’s because it’s just hard work at the moment and she can’t read quickly enough to satisfy her need for the story.
I discovered that she would read a comic book and so have bought her a subscription to Storybox which has a chapter story and a comic strip story. I’ve also given her my old Asterix books which are a bit above her, but she has a go. I still read books as much as she wants, to encourage that love of storytelling and hope once she finds reading less of a chore, she will start to pick up books for herself.

Keep reading to him and let him read any rubbish he will read, even comics are good.

So many useful replies! I’m going to have a look at the minecraft zombie books which sound perfect. He also loves David A so I will try to get some DVD’s which I’ve been meaning to do. I also love the idea of trying Greek myths! Thanks so much. I’ll continue to wait for him...,