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Original poster

Shocked by son's reading

90 replies

Aria2015 · 24/07/2023 23:42

My son is nearly 8. We have been told that he is quite behind with reading (1-2 years behind). We read daily, but he’s a reluctant reader. He complains the books are boring and babyish (I see his point!). Getting him to read with any enthusiasm is almost impossible.

We read daily to him. Chapter books for an older child (10+) to keep him interested in books. He loves us reading to him.

Randomly tonight I challenged him to attempt to read a page of the chapter book. To my astonishment he flew through a chapter with relative ease!! I could not believe this was the same child who had ‘struggled’ to read a book aimed at 6/7 year olds in a monotone and bored voice earlier in the day.

How is it possible he can read a significantly harder book easier than his school books? He wants to continue his reading practice with the chapter book and not read the ‘easy’ books. I’m really confused and unsure what to do. Shall I just let him read the harder books? He seems so enthusiastic for it in comparison to the school reading books.

It feels like a lightbulb moment for him. I don’t want to mess it up!

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Original poster
Aria2015 · 25/07/2023 00:18

@SleepingStandingUp we've read to him from a baby, so at home we have loads of books that we read to him from a baby to say 4/5 years and then we jumped up to older books because he enjoyed us reading them to him.

When he got into year 1 (he missed most of reception due to covid) he didn't want to read the younger books we had as he said they were for babies, and it didn't occur to me to get him to read the older books because school were providing daily books. By then they were saying how he needed to practice every day and it felt like a lot to make him read additional books (plus he showed no interest). We stuck a deal. He read his school book and we read the chapter book of his choice.

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Original poster
Aria2015 · 25/07/2023 00:23

@Totaly that's a great idea. I will definitely do that. I hope we can maintain the enthusiasm over the summer break! 🤞🏻🤞🏻

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JFDIYOLO · 25/07/2023 00:29

Brilliant, how exciting - and yes give him the harder books! Take him to library and bookshops and let him choose. I read anything on my parents' shelves - they were just stories to me. Being bored by the prescribed reading is a sure way to put him off.

Have you ever tried reading plays with him? It's one of the things that got me into acting.

Harry Potter, obviously ...

Topseyt123 · 25/07/2023 00:35

I remember being bored silly by the books we had to read at school, and that was back in the 1970s. Nothing interesting ever really happened in them.

When I was about your son's age my mother (herself a teacher) managed to convince me that I would be able to read some of the books we had at home, not just those given to me by school. That was when I first picked up The Magic Faraway Tree books, and the Famous Five etc.

I never looked back after that, and soon realised that I could enjoy reading, while also just getting on with what I had to do at school to satisfy things there.

School reading books were deadly dull. They weren't much better (if at all) when my own DDs were learning to read more than 30 years later.

My own DD1 loved to read Harry Potter from age 6/7 but was totally bored stiff by school books.

Take him to the library as others have suggested, and let him choose a few books so that he can find his style. Also, a good bookshop with a large children's/young person's section might interest him. I love to browse a good bookshop, Waterstones being a firm favourite.

NotBotheredAnymore · 25/07/2023 00:36

Congratulations, you must both be buzzing!

I remember being told that it doesn't matter what you read as long as you read. Comics, older books, younger books, car manuals, newspapers, magazines. It's whatever they find interesting.

I also remember veering off into sci-fi once I had found my wings. Isaac Asimov did a lot of short stories if I recall correctly, although I was the only girl to read him 😂

Grmumpy · 25/07/2023 00:37

I got to see some of the reading scheme a local school was using based on phonics and some of the books were dire. Jet andJazz was one of them. Only phonics..no chance to use prediction skills or other reading strategies. I am glad your son is enjoying reading non reading scheme books.

TiaraBoo · 25/07/2023 00:48

That’s brilliant! 🤩
My DS was the opposite! Great reader, ahead of his age until he went onto chapter books and only wants to read 1 page which means he never will get ‘into’ a book.

My local library used to / maybe still does a reading challenge over the school holidays (with stamps and stickers) so check that out.
Also make sure he takes one of your books to school and reads this to the teacher when he goes back and isn’t pigeon holed.
Thats so exciting that he can secretly read really well!

Original poster
Aria2015 · 25/07/2023 08:56

Thank you for all the replies and great advice! It's also really heartening to hear that others found a passion for reading by veering away from the school books. It didn't occur to me to focus our efforts elsewhere. School had basically said that the reading learning process involved going up the various book levels and he had to just keep chipping away at them. I didn't question the method!

He's got a few chapter books that we'd lined up for bedtime reading that he is now saying he'd like to read and I'll take him to the library too.

I know his new teacher in September and I'm confident she'll not care what he's read, as long as he's reading and improving. I'd love for him to go back and surprise them as he has me!

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TJsAunt · 25/07/2023 10:13

OP - sounds fab! DS was a v reluctant reader at that age - until we found Beast Quest. It's a whole series of adventure books specifically aimed at that age.

DS couldn't get enough of them - they're pretty cheap and you can usually pick them up on ebay/amazon second hand - worth a look!

Hazeltrees · 25/07/2023 10:21

This is brilliant!!! If you take him to the library he could sign up for the summer reading challenge...and he can explore new books.....a love of reading is a tru special thing!

Pointypointything · 25/07/2023 11:09

Well done your boy! Leave school books for school now and go for it in encouraging a love of reading for pleasure! My 8 year old only learnt to read this past year and is really enjoying the X storey treehouse books. The first is the 13 storey treehouse and is available in colour.

SamPoodle123 · 25/07/2023 11:16

Let him read the books he likes to read. Once my dc were fluent readers we do not really bother with the school reading books being sent home. I let them read the books they wanted to read at home and once in a while I would have them read a school reading book (like every few months). I would of course ask questions once in a while to make sure they understood what they were reading. If the teacher said they were having any issues, then I would have of course gone back to the school reading books. Once my dc started reading their own books for pleasure, they were GDS for reading.

Treaclemine · 25/07/2023 12:19

I hear my own experience here, from the early 50s. I'd changed school a lot by the time I was 7 (moving) and at a little private school it was announced on Prize Day to the whole (miniscule) school the I wasn't getting a prize because I couldn't read. I walked home, hopping mad. The Head, of whom I had nightmares, had used my short name.which was only for friends, and wasn't it her job to teach me to read? Mum was cross, too. She was an infant teacher, and the understanding then was you didn't do home reading because it confused the school teaching. In the absence of school teaching to confuse, she went off to Smiths, bought pre-readers and the Beacon Readers series, and within 2 or 3 weeks we were at the library, and I was reading the Princess and the Goblin by George Macdonald. (On several rereadings, I found bits of descriptive text I didn't recognise, so there must have been skipping going on.)

Some time later, a teacher myself I found myself hearing a child read from Janet and John. This was unusual. We had better schemes. But I found, to my horror, that I knew what was coming over the page, picture and all. "See Spot run." Extremely boring. As a Junior, I'd not been exposed to the Infant schemes. I could only have seen it in my infant youth. I had read it, but not out loud. And my deceitful brain had actually stored it in memory. What a waste of space. It wasn't worth it, unlike my Mum's collection of stories to read to me. (Elizabeth Clark, collections of folk tales, etc.)

So, if the new schemes - I retired before they replaced the stories with phonics - aren't helping, get some real books, as all the PPs have told you. I'm sure phonics help some, but understanding narrative is vital. (It leads to not story stuff, history, geography, science, news texts...)

SnowdaySewday · 25/07/2023 12:28

Do you and the other adults in his life read for pleasure?
Make a point of borrowing some books for yourself as well when you’re at the library.

Chocolatebuttonanyone · 25/07/2023 12:34

He might also like the 7 storey tree house books. My DS used to sit giggling when he read those about that age. And Flat Stanley went down well too

Airdustmoon · 25/07/2023 12:37

TJsAunt · 25/07/2023 10:13

OP - sounds fab! DS was a v reluctant reader at that age - until we found Beast Quest. It's a whole series of adventure books specifically aimed at that age.

DS couldn't get enough of them - they're pretty cheap and you can usually pick them up on ebay/amazon second hand - worth a look!

Another vote for Beast Quest! My 7 year old DS is a fairly reluctant reader outside of school (despite somewhat surprising us by greater depth for reading in his Y2 SATS!) and someone recommended Beast Quest to me. I bought the first 6 and DS is really interested in them, we’ve been taking it in turns to read a chapter and I nearly fell off my chair in shock when one morning he picked the book up and said he was going to read a chapter to himself.

LadyMargaretDevereux · 25/07/2023 12:47

As well as going to the library, give him a few quid to spend in charity shops on children's books because then he can start his own collection of books and can go back to favourites.

AsterixAndPersimmon · 25/07/2023 13:10

My experience with dc2 is that you should always let them read what they want.
Even if it looks really too difficult for them.

dc2 Has been struggling with reading too but as soon as he could started to read ‘difficult’/adult books (well I put Lord if the Rings as an adult book, not the least because if the sheer length of it). The children books? I genuinely don’t remember him reading them (apart from the school books which he hated…)

Original poster
Aria2015 · 25/07/2023 13:43

Well, for the first time EVER, he has initiated his reading today!! Two more chapters from the harder chapter book! I asked him quite a few questions afterwards to confirm he had understood what he'd read and he was able to give me a lot of detail! Again, he was laughing at parts as he read and also making more effort to read as it's written eg putting on a loud voice when the character was shouting. All things he's never done with the school books!

@SnowdaySewday my husband has never really read for pleasure, but I have, although not much since my youngest was born. I need to try and get back into it (along with exercise and all the other things I've put on hold!).

It's so interesting to read others experiences. Thank you so much for all the replies! I've read them all and really appreciate you taking the time!

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NotBotheredAnymore · 25/07/2023 20:27

Woot Woot!! That is awesome news Grin

Definitely try and take him to the library as it might get him excited for different authors or genres. I loved going to the Library every Saturday morning and spending half an hour picking up different books and reading snippets before walking out with a couple of new books. Thank goodness my mother was into reading too, it was our bonding time in a way. Is that something you could do once a month?

Original poster
Aria2015 · 25/07/2023 22:31

@NotBotheredAnymore yes, definitely will do the library. We've read to him a lot over the years so he has a good feel for what books he likes and hopefully he'll be excited to attempt reading them himself.

He did another chapter before bed today too! He asked that we match him eg he reads 3 chapters and we read 3, so he gets 6 chapters in all. We said 'of course!'

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WutheredOut · 25/07/2023 22:37

The thing I found encouraged my DS was actually leaving him alone with the book - not reading out loud and him being able to immerse himself in the story

It does mean that you obviously don’t hear what he is reading but it gave my DS the confidence to pick up so many new books

captain underpants, dog man, fart powder all very boy friendly books 😬

OrlandointheWilderness · 25/07/2023 22:39

Which book is it out of interest!?

The key is finding something they engage with. If they click with it, you are halfway there because they will want to read.

AnkleWidget · 25/07/2023 22:41

Let him read what he likes.

I have an advanced reader and when he was little I found early reader books linked to his interests. Now he is older I’m happy for him to read comic books as he struggles with chapter books (attention rather than comprehension).

As an adult I struggle to read things I find boring!

hiredandsqueak · 25/07/2023 23:19

Dd's reading ability leapt at one point, enough for her teacher to ask what we had done anyway. Truth was I'd had a baby and didn't have as much time to spend reading with her and to her and so she read for herself instead because she wanted to finish the books that were now taking a lot longer to get through. Well done to your son, maybe he'd like to do the summer reading challenge at the library this year?