How to Motivate Your Child to Read More Books!

For young children and teenagers, the summer break brings them a wealth of free time. One of the best pastimes to make these months more memorable is reading!

As parents, you may find yourself at a loss towards what might motivate your child to adopt a consistent habit of reading, but it is actually much easier than you’d might expect.

VSA Future put together this article to provide parents tips on how to motivate their children to fall in love with reading!

Tip #1: Find their favorite books!

It’s essential that you sit down and discuss with your kids about what kind of books they love to read. Whether they are fans of mysteries, animal adventures, superhero graphic novels, or magical fantasies, knowing their interests will help you identify books that they are eager to read through.

Tip #2: Make reading a weekly adventure!

Designate a special “Bookworm Time” each week! Select a specific day of the week to head to the library with your kid and ensure that it becomes a regular routine. For each of these library visits, let your child to pick out two to four books they are interested in reading. Be sure to offer them help if they have difficulty picking!

Tip #3: Celebrate important milestones!

You can accomplish this by setting up a fun reward system. When your child reads a certain number of books (e.g. 8-9), celebrate by taking them to Barnes and Noble to pick up a brand-new book, or alternatively, treat them to some dessert at their favorite ice cream store.

Tip #4: Track their progress!

Among all the strategies, this is one of the most essential. Avoid boring logs by instead creating a fun, visually engaging reading record. It could be an excel file sheet with silly fonts, a colorful, decorated chart, or a list within one of your child’s favorite fancy notebooks. In these reading logs, track the date, book title, author, and the number of the pages your child was able to read each day. Rest assured, this list will grow exponentially longer over time, filling your child with a sense of accomplishment and thus motivating them to continue their reading journey.

The Importance of Reading

From discovering new vocabulary words to improving reading comprehension, reading books can provide students with a variety of useful tools for academics and future careers.

For example, exams like the SAT or high school courses like history and English require a high caliber of reading comprehension and vocabulary that are important to develop early on.

About VSA Future Learning Center

Interested in having your child take a class on improving reading skills? Join VSA’s fall courses, where we emphasize these necessary skills! Fall enrollment is now open for the 2025-2026 school year, with classes in English, Reading & Writing, Math, Public Speaking, and SAT Test Prep. We’ve developed active learning models in our classrooms, where students have the chance to engage with new concepts, participate in meaningful discussions, and build confidence in small-group settings, both virtually and in person. 

Learn more at www.vsafuture.com, call (973) 951-9600, and visit 600 S. Livingston Ave. Ste 105.