We all want children to love reading. But how does it happen? Well, it happens because of the adults that surround them. Mom, dad, auntie, uncle, grandma, grandpa, everybody has a part to play.

And we’re so often asked, ‘Well what do you want us to do’?

We’ve got some top tips for helping your child to read and they are top tips that you can achieve.

1. Talking to Your children help build their vocabulary

Unless you can talk, you will not be able to read. And if you can’t read, you’re not going to love it. So we have to give children the tools for reading. And any child that has a wide vocabulary, we know is at advantage.

So where do you acquire your words and your language? You acquire it from people talking to you, you don’t acquire it from a screen. You acquire it from human beings.

So from the moment your child is in the womb, and I do mean in the womb, we should be singing, enjoying rhymes and talking to our children.

Talk as you walk, talk as you do, talk as you cook, fill your children with vocabulary and language for later use. But of course you’ll also be developing their curiosity, their imagination alongside this.

2. Be your child’s reading role model

Children who read as adults, almost all of them came from homes where other adults read. So it’s vital that you are the best advert for reading yourself. Your children have to see you reading. Otherwise why would they want to do it?

It can be the newspaper they catch you reading, magazines, books, the cereal box.

You have to be a role model for reading because it’s infectious, they’ll catch that bug.

3. Read aloud regularly to you children

We now know that the single most important activity for giving children a love of reading is that they were read to aloud regularly.

Now sadly we’ve discovered that almost 1 in 5 children have rarely been read to by their moms and dads, and only 1 in 5 parents read regularly. So there’s a lot still to be done.

You should read to your children as often as possible. Sometimes snugly at nighttime, sometimes in the daytime. Every one of us that enjoys being with children has to be a performer and a performer of stories.

So as often as you can, and when you’re in the mood, remember don’t do it when you’re not in the mood. Read aloud to your children. And don’t be afraid to make up silly stories. We guarantee is if you make up a good story, your child when they’re 50 will remember where mom or dad told that silly story.

4. Play is Vital

Now we’re better place to talk than when you’re playing. Research shows us that children who played faired better in life, they developed as whole human beings.

Play is vital and essential, but of course what play does is it encourages you to talk. In fact, some of my best talking was when I was playing often on my own even, it still encouraged me to talk.

5. Put your books on show

Please make sure that your children have as much access to books, magazines and comics as you can provide.

Yes, comics are great, they’re full of action, full of wonderful vocabulary, full of sound effects, really good for children. But please make sure that your child has access to as much books as possible.

We know that they can be expensive, but there are secondhand sales for which you can get books. There are also public libraries that will lend you up to 5 books at one go. So make use of those.