Find The Keys To Cultivate Reading Habit

Start small and progress over time

One of my friends once asked me, “how to encourage young children to read? I want my child to love reading like you”. She wanted to know the tips from me, but I absolutely had no proper answer at that time — and since I’m not an expert in child development either — I just said to her, maybe she could start small, by introducing short stories book to her child.

I remember when I was a child, I had a favorite book that I always read before bed. At first, my mother would read it aloud to me, but after a few storytelling sessions, I started interrupting my mother and blurting out the whole story, after she read a few pages. This short story was really engaging for me as a child — and I think it is because I felt connected to the character — we had a similar curiosity about things around us.

Starting from my childhood experience, my reading interest began to spike. I regularly visited the school library or wandered around inside a bookstore just to read some book samples. I could stay for hours there — living inside my own bubble.

Nevertheless, no matter what age do you want to start cultivating this habit, there are a few ways worth trying.

Set the example

My mother was — and still — an avid reader herself. I often see her reading in her spare time at home. Her books are also accessible mostly everywhere, but she keeps most of her collection on the shelve inside the bedroom. When I was a child, every time we went to the shopping mall, my parents would also take us to a local bookstore. We spent some time there to wander around our favorite book sections.

My closest cousin also loves reading since she was a kid. She had these book collections ranging from the encyclopedia, comics, and novels (she was a Goosebumps collector!), so every time I spent the night at her house — out of curiosity — I would grab one of her collections and started reading.

Growing up, I was surrounded by role models who enjoy reading. I think this is one of the reasons why I saw reading as a usual thing to do, so I get used to the idea of it. Putting children in this environment will influence their approach to reading as a part of their daily life. Encourage them to visit the library or book stores in their spare time.

In the case of adults, looking for a reading partner by joining a book club or discussion page from a website like Goodreads, can be one of the ways. Therefore, you have a community that will encourage you to reach a certain reading goal.

Create a routine

As I shared previously at the beginning of this article, my mother and I had a routine reading activity together almost every night. This ritual still stuck with me until now — I mean, not with my mother anymore, of course — but I can spend around 70% of my reading time before bed.

Another hack that I do to keep reading as a routine is allocating certain time of the day and placing a few books or my Kindle near the spot where I spend most of my time every day — such as, my work desk or on my nightstand — make it within my reach. Also, make sure that you minimize the distraction from your surroundings — for me, I usually set my phone to airplane mode and set the timer when I want to read.

Research related to habit-building by Phillipa Lally from University College London stated:

“…It took anywhere from 18 days to 254 days for people to form a new habit.”

Well, I guess now you already knew what will happen if you continue to repeat certain activities throughout your life. You will start to do it automatically!

Make reading an engaging activity

Based on the study from childhood development experts, an attention span of a child is around 12 to 18 minutes for children aged 4–6 years old. However, the study also stated that the environment can be another factor — it can be shorter or longer — for example, depending on the child’s mood and how interested they are in the activity.

Increasing the children’s interest in reading can be done by encouraging them to do some activities that can serve as complementary to reading.

Debbie Sterling, an entrepreneur with an engineering background, created a toy called Goldieblox — a construction toy targeted for girls, aiming to encourage girls to explore the STEM field. She combined a storybook with fun activities, so children can read along while also having fun creating things.

One way to increase the reading interest in adults — if you are a parent — try to read together with your children as part of bonding time. My friend, a young mother, did this and she said that somehow it made her interested more in reading. She also found out, sometimes she just read her son’s encyclopedia or books outside those times, by herself.

Another suggestion is trying to find books that are appealing to you. Knowing your preferred way of learning can be helpful for this. Besides the verbal type, there are other types of learners — visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.

Visual type learns best through observing things, thus you can start by reading books with a mix of pictures and descriptions — such as comic books or kids encyclopedia. For the auditory learners, try to switch to audiobooks for a better experience. Lastly, for the kinesthetic learners, try to read practical books — for example, reading a book on how to design a logo while practicing it using photoshop, if you are interested in art and design.

To sum up, there are ways that you can try to cultivate your interest in reading — set the example, create a routine, and make reading an engaging activity.

However, in the end, what matters is just to start doing! Don’t worry about how small the progress you make — it is still progress. Small achievement does matter.

Start small and keep progressing!