Mumsnet users share their tips for encouraging their children to love reading with McDonald's

[JustineBMumsnet]

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Reading with your child can be a fun, educational and rewarding experience, but reading may be an activity your child comes to associate with schoolwork rather than fun. With their fifth Happy Readers campaign coming up soon, McDonald's would like to hear about how you encourage your children to love reading.

Here's what McDonald's has to say: "We're committed to helping families enjoy time reading together and believe in the power of stories to ignite children’s amazing imaginations. However it’s not always easy to fit regular reading into busy lives. As we prepare for our 5th Happy Readers campaign, giving away a free book with every Happy Meal, we're keen to get advice from Mumsnetters. Your tips and advice for building a love of reading with your children, inventive ways you manage to build regular story time and reading into your busy lives, and, with the school holidays in full swing, all the ways you encourage, nurture and ignite your children’s imagination. Through reading and beyond."

How do you encourage a love of reading? Do you have tips for building reading into your child's daily routine? How do you ignite your child's imagination while reading with them?

However you encourage a love of reading with your child and using their imagination, share this with McDonald's below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

By finding a good chapter book, like The Magic Faraway Tree and reading it with them each night. As they get older, we read a page each so they don't get overwhelmed with too much reading in one go. They enjoy the turn taking and always want to have a go.

When our daughter started school, we were advised to leave a few books lying around to "acclimatise" her to reading. They must have been joking. Our house is crammed full of books. A bookshelf even collapsed onto our daughter's bed once (she slept through it unharmed). If the parents love books and reading, then so will the kids. Just help them with their choice. If you don't read, then seek advice on which books the children would love. Ours liked Tolkein and, yes, of course, Rowling as well.

Bedtime stories every night. My dad read us the hobbit when we were little and I plan on doing the same when mine are old enough. I used to love him doing the voices

My child has always loved reading so it's never been a chore thankfully.

Like many things in parenting, leading by example is the easiest way.
Fortunately, in this regard we're well set I think lol we have literally hundreds of books in our house so DS has always seen them around, and seen both me and his dad reading frequently.
I also genuinely enjoy reading with him, especially when I get to rediscover stories that were my favourites when I was a kid (that's always special).
Bedtime stories all cosy in bed at night has always been part of our bedtime routine (and one of my favourite times of the day, too!)

And as he gets older, I'll encourage him to read whatever interests him, hopefully without getting too hung up about what's considered 'challenging' or 'appropriate for his age bracket'.

We have a good selection of books on the book shelf, and in our town there is a charity second hand book shop. So we will take the books ds has outgrown and he'll choose some new ones (usually around £1 each)
We also do the Summer Reading Challenge that the libraries do, 6 books in 6 weeks. DS likes to participate every year and he gets a medal 🥇 at the end.

Children learn by learnt behaviour, I love a good book so they see me reading a lot. I love to read them bed time stories, and I always encourage them to read morning stories to me. I find they are more willing to read after a good nights sleep!

My children are older now, but I used to encourage them to read whatever they wanted to read, even if it was just comics on some days or Harry Potter all the time at other times. We always had a house full of books, mostly bought at car boot sales or charity shops.

I encourage my dc by reading to her animatedly so as to hold her attention and interest. I point the words out to her while I read to show how fun it is. I know she enjoys it too because it is quality together time

Lots of books in the house, tripa to the library, and see me reading lots

Lead by example ! I’ve always read and started to read to them from babies and they have a bookcase in their rooms.

My children grew up in a home where the adults always read, and we read to them every day

Part of the bedtime routine - We read every night before sleep

We started reading books to our son from when he was a little baby. When we put him to bed my husband and I would take it in turns to read a short story. This continued way past the time he could read himself as we all loved the special relaxed time we spent together.
A love of books is a wonderful thing.

Start at an early age - Have plenty of books - as varied as possible and try different types and format eg popup and and flaps to lift for the very young

Lots of books, lots of reading to them, and time spent reading ourselves.

I've got a 1 year old and we read lots of books and bed time stories. I hope this will lead him to love reading when he is older.

My daughter loves reading. From a young age we read everynight. We make up voives and act out scenes and years later she still loves reading.

It's never been an issue my children , and now grandchildren see me, and my children reading regularly. It's even rubbed off on my dyslexic son-in-law who is regularly seen with his nose in a book

Reading to children from a few months old sets aside special time and lets children understand story telling, that images represent reality and letters form sounds. I have spent hours reading to my children and it is one of our favourite things to do. My children have also seen me read when I can and I have always listened to them read and taken turns reading. I think it must be much harder for children or parents with dyslexia.

i pick books/topics that interest my children, my son will read about football for hours

Bedtime reading every night is the most obvious & successful

We have stories every night and the children once a week write a story and read it to us. A lot of stories we take sections and make a song - sometimes its hilarious fun!

i make every book into a song for my toddler. he even sings along too. He has it favourite books and we would read day and night to him.

We make reading a joint activity, so each night we read a chapter of the book together. It's great as my eldest has started secretly reading ahead to find out more of the story!