I am a words girl! I love writing novels and reading books. A special way my husband and I bond is reading together. We read out loud to each other and listen to audio books while doing projects or driving in the car. I am part of a ladies’ neighborhood book club and love chatting with women about books and the woes of motherhood.

I have three boys. Two of them are in school. My oldest is in 3rd grade and my second oldest is in Kindergarten. My youngest is 3 years old. My 3rd grader LOVES to read! He will read and read and read. It started in his 2nd-grade year that reading became a place to escape, imagine, laugh and find personal downtime. My Kindergartener loves me to read to him and is starting to read well by himself. He hasn’t found a “love” for reading like his older brother has, but I’m hoping it will come as he progresses in his reading levels. My youngest boy likes me to read books to him at night before bedtime.

Here are three ways I try to help my kids find joy in books ::

Read out loud as a family

Betty Bardige, author of Talk to Me, Baby! said in her book: “Reading aloud to young children is not only one of the best activities to stimulate language and cognitive skills; it also builds motivation, curiosity, and memory.” As parents, we teach by example more than we realize! Our children mimic what we do. When we tell them to do something, but we are doing the opposite, they get frustrated.

An example could be parents telling their kids it’s time to sit and read but we sit and scroll on social media and are not involved in what we asked them to do. They will not love reading if we parents are never reading. We try to read a book as a family. We are currently reading The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. Other books we have read together is the illustrated Harry Potter books (1 and 2), Classic Fairytales and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (we LOVED THIS ONE! Very short with fun illustrations).

Read a few minutes of your personal book in front of your kids

At night, after I sing songs to my oldest, I will pull out my personal book on my phone and read out loud to him. He struggles to fall asleep at night and my “boring” book usually does the trick! I find that it’s so nice to read my book and help him fall asleep. It’s a perfect balance of personal fulfillment and mom duties.

My husband and I are always listening to audio books while cooking and doing projects. The kids are usually playing and hearing the book and will occasionally ask us “who was that person?” or “what just happened?” It’s fun to see!

Schedule reading times for your kids throughout the day

My kids like reading at night before bedtime so that is our scheduled time, especially when it helps fulfill school reading assignments. They will sometimes come home from school and read a new book if they are really interested or when they just got a book as a gift or from the book fair. I think it’s important to have “quiet” time that can include reading books. As a mother of 3 rambunctious boys who usually like to be as loud and crazy as they can, scheduled reading times can save your sanity as a mother and you can feel like a good parent doing it.

Try these three things to see if it helps your children find joy in books!