Here’s a checklist to build — or strengthen — your family’s reading habits
By Dawn Miller
Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, writes that habits have three parts – a cue, a routine and a reward. Something cues us. We perform the routine, and then comes the reward, which may be just a chemical reaction in the brain that feels like pleasure. But the next time we get that cue, we are likely to perform the same routine.
Does your family have reading habits? Experience the pleasure and build yours with this checklist of cues and routines:
- Books – some we own, some from the library. Children cannot form a reading habit without books.
- A place for books. It can be a low shelf that children can reach. It can be a box, basket or bin, but they must be handy and in sight (not tucked away out of reach).
- Light, the right light. Be honest. Is the on switch easy to reach? If it isn’t, you’ll resist turning it on and getting started. Does it glare and hurt your eyes? Is it too dim to see well? If it is a hassle or uncomfortable, it will interfere with building your reading habits.
- Comfortable spot, with room for two or three, or even more. Plus other places where children can read on their own, where they can be free of the TV or computer screens long enough to get pulled into a book.
- Time — a set time. Set a reminder if necessary until it becomes a habit. Look for reading cues that fit in your day and into children’s rhythms. Before bed works for a lot of people. During a bath? After a bath? After dinner? First thing in the morning?
- Screens off. Devices away. Make a quiet space for the imagination to take over during a regular time that works for your family, and the cue-routine-reward pattern will have a chance to take hold.