Strengthening Literacy Skills is something that goes beyond the classroom walls. First and foremost, your children will value Reading and Writing based on their experiences with your family and in your home. Parents and caregivers can begin to support their child's development and views on these through their daily habits and practices. Since children start to form their opinions about the value of reading and writing based on what they see and experience in their homes, you must be aware of these. At an early age, if parents/caregivers read to and with children, it can go a long way to begin to form positive impressions on students about the experience of reading. The same applies to writing letters, emails, or other messages with your children. Children also build bonds with these adults through reading and writing, which help them connect with those memories as they grow in their learning. As students mature, they become more aware of the value of reading and writing in your home by watching adult habits. If your child does not see you reading and writing for pleasure or work, they will begin to lose faith in the value both now and for their future needs/uses.
I remember when my son and daughter were finally old enough to get themselves to bed. I was relieved to get a break from the evening routine. While I enjoyed our time together and cherished those memories, it was nice as an adult to finally have more time to unwind and relax. I had been previously so busy with the kids at bedtime that I had trouble figuring out what to do with this newfound time. Initially, I just wanted to do nothing for a change and chill out. Then, it was so tempting to use this time regularly for other things to escape from the stresses of the daily routines. Before I knew it, months had gone by, and I noticed my kids, who had excelled in school, were suddenly starting to challenge us on homework. We saw a slight slide in their report card grades. At first, we just chalked it up to part of rebellion while growing up, bit is was getting worse.
Then, we decided to get them a tutor. What we found to be more helpful than the actual tutoring was what the tutor told us after the first week. She said that when trying to help our children establish better habits and routines, she asked if there was a regular time when they would sit down to do their homework or read and write for pleasure at home. My kids told the tutor that they had to do their homework as soon as they got home from school based on our house rules. Then our kids told her that they did not read or write for pleasure anymore because "Mommy and Daddy said we are old enough to get to bed on their own". The tutor then asked, well, when do Mommy and Daddy do their reading and writing? Our kids said they did not know because they never get to see us read or write at home unless we are reading the mail or answering work emails. At that moment, we realized, "Uh oh, life happened and we got too busy educating the kids at school that we were forgetting to model for our own kids." Our kids did not see the current value of reading and writing in our adult lives, so why would they continue to value it in their lives as children? That very next night, we began to set a time before bedtime when our kids would read or write for pleasure while we did the same near them. It took a lot of work to get ourselves into that routine, so we would take turns while one of us took care of other household duties. Once we got a good few weeks of solid consistency, we became more flexible, allowing for more family game time, watching movies, etc. We kept at least 3 days a week of reading and writing. We regained our connection with our kids as a family and regained the importance of lifelong literacy in our household. As a bonus, we still had free time after they went to bed to do what we wanted as adults. Our kids' grades started improving; they were more intrinsically motivated to finish their homework, and we started catching them reading or writing for pleasure at other times.
Never under estimate the power of what your children see in your actions and habits, despite your rules or guidance.
