Why Teenagers Are Not Reading Regularly

We can sit here all day and blame television, video games, music, cell phones, and peers, for why teenagers do not read regularly; but it boils down to and stems from poorly developed foundations before the child reached their teenage years.

If you as a parent do not ever read a book and your children never see you pick up a book to read for entertainment and simple enjoyment, they will never learn that reading is a definite activity they can engage in during their spare time. Our children learn from behaviors and tendencies they view in their home environment. So, if you, the parent, is never seen reading for pure enjoyment, then chances are your child will grow up seeing no point to reading as a pastime.

If you as the parent do not start reading to your child from the time they are born, and exposing them to places like the library and the fun of reading a book, then chances are they will not know that reading can be fun. They will get the early on impression that reading is something only associated with school and doing their assignments, and they will never learn that reading can become a hobby.

I remember, as a child in elementary school, we went to library once a week. It was an hour class just like math, reading, science, history, gym, art, music, and so on. Our librarian, Mrs. Cooper, taught us lessons in how to use the library and how to choose books. When we were really young, she acquainted us with George that curious little monkey and the wacky maid Amelia Bedelia. She exposed us to different authors of our time like Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, and S.E. Hinton. She turned us on to the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, and we knew about The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and Charlotte's Web before they were box office hits. Mrs. Cooper even had us write letters to our favorite authors, and we really did hear back from them. It was having this special interaction with books that let us see that reading was not just a chore that we had to do in order to complete an assignment, but rather an adventure that allowed us to use our imagination while we nourished our minds.

It was definitely the early on interaction with reading and books, between parents and a quality library program at school, that grabbed me early on and allowed me to continue reading as a teen, and as an adult. Many schools today do not even have a quality library, let alone a librarian that is actually there to draw the kids into the fun of reading. They are there rather to monitor the library usage and assist with homework research; where's the fun.

If you want to see more teenagers reading, you need to encourage parents to read themselves and then encourage them to incorporate a reading routine with their kids while young. As parents, we need to lead by example if we want to see our teens reading for enjoyment. Start them young and it will follow through to their teenage days, and long into adulthood.