How to turn reluctant readers into bookworms

I'm going to tell you how we turned our non-reading six-year-old boy into a teenage bookworm - despite feeling like I shouldn't because it feels smug, boastful and a little uncomfortable.

But I thought it might help other anxious parents plus I passionately believe that while being able to do it well is the key to everything, reading for pleasure should be just that: pleasurable and not because the Government says children should be reading 50 books a year.

We needed nerves of steel, a laid-back approach and deep pockets but it got our boy reading. He's now 14-years-old and only yesterday asked me to get him up 15 minutes earlier in future so he has time to read before schooI.

But his love of reading blossomed late so I understand only too well parental anxiety particularly when others' children are onto War and Peace by the age of eight (if the parents are to be believed).

I'm convinced kids raised in a print-rich home filled with shelves heaving with books, whose parents make reading a fun, relaxing, integral part of their family will eventually have a bookworm on their hands.

Up until the age of eight or nine my son was home-educated but wasn't reading. Was I worried? Hell yes. We tried lots of different methods, none of which worked. He was bright but, frustratingly for a fellow bookworm, he didn't click with reading.

Despite our anxiety, we eventually became laid-back when it came to doing our self-imposed reading exercises and quickly abandoned them as it was obvious they weren't working. We also closed our ears to the bragging of other parents (which was quite hard). He returned to school but obviously was behind the other children.

So what did we do? Well, not a lot. We just carried on reading lots ourselves. Reading to him (the Edge Chronicles was a particular favourite of his and his Dad's). We took him to the library, and we started buying books. Lots of books.

We went to charity shops and we went to our local bookstore. Despite being on a budget with a soon-to-be large family on one income, I made the decision that I would never say no to buying the children a new book.

I also bought cheaply from the Book People a hardback copy of the Alex Rider stories when he was about eight or nine. And that was that. He was hooked.

And he's stayed hooked. I like to think he's never been aware of any anxiety I may have had about his reading but I can't be sure. I didn't want to turn reading into a big thing, I just wanted it to be seen as something we naturally do for pleasure.

Books are now something we bond over. We visit the library, I'll buy him a much-wanted book and he tells me about the latest series he's reading which he's keen for me to share, although I have to get in line behind his sister.

So my message for parents of non or reluctant readers is this: relax (believe me I know how hard that is). Just make reading, yours and the family's, something you do. Something natural that is integral to your life. And indulge it often to the best of your ability. I bet, or at the very least hope, you'll have a bookworm in a few short years too.

Photo: Debbie Webber