How To Help Your Child Learn To Read

Does your child argue with you, throw tantrums, daydream, create distractions...or just, plain, refuse to write? If so, I'm sure you've asked yourself time and time again, 'Why won't he try?'

Well, for most children it's actually very simple:

• They don't see any reason for writing
• They don't think they can spell
• They are not having the right things said to them about their writing

Find out how to make your child WANT to write!

Just knowing what to say and how to say it will start getting you results immediately.

Let's look at the first two reasons why kids don't like writing...

They don't see any reason for writing and they don't think they can spell.

Here's what to do!

Get your child writing for fun purposes

One idea: Start writing short notes to your kids or other family members to let them know, for example, about something delicious you've put somewhere. Make them fun and hide them in unusual places, like the fridge. After a while your non-writer child will begin to see writing as fun and purposeful, and will want to have a go himself.

More ideas like this...

Get your child over his spelling hang-ups

Stop making a big deal of spelling. Your child is probably not an accurate speller...but may well be a phonetic speller, which is an essential stage on the journey to becoming accurate. This stage needs to be valued, not condemned.

Now let's tackle the third reason many kids don't like writing:

They are not having the right things said to them about their writing

I have this down as the third reason but did you know this is actually the Number One reason why we have reluctant writers!!

Here's what to do!

Say the right things to your child about his writing

You need to give positive feedback to your child. This is not saying 'That's great' every time your child writes another torturous sentence. He knows this isn't true. Instead say something like 'I like the way you mentioned....' or 'I like your idea about..'

Ask a question about the content of his writing, such as...'Does this person remind you of anyone?' or 'Why did you choose to write about horses?' or 'What's going to happen next in your story?'

Both your comments and your questions are equally important. You need to do both. It will take you a little while to perfect your skill at this so just aim for one question (about content of what he's writing) and one positive comment as above.

Click here for step-by-step help for your reluctant writer!