Teaching your child to read may be one of the most important things you do as a parent. When your child can read, the whole world opens up to them. They will be able to read not only for fun but will understand signs, food labels, and instructions.

One of the most important tips in regards to teaching your child to read is to simply make time for it. How can you as a parent create a reading schedule for each child, and a location that works for everyone involved?

Read at the Same Time Each Day

One of the easiest ways to remember your child’s reading schedule is to do it at the same time each day. Make it a habit for your child that cannot be quickly forgotten. For example, perhaps you could read with your child after they have eaten a small snack when they arrive home from school. The more you turn reading into a habit, the less of a fight it will be to get everyone to consistently cooperate.

Make an Easy-to-Understand Schedule for Your Child

Put a schedule where it is easily viewable by your child that is easy to read and understand. Make it clear that reading will happen at a certain time. This way, your child can begin to take ownership over their reading, rather than having you verbally dictate when it is time each day.

Create a Cozy Corner

No one wants to read when they are uncomfortable, or when they do not like the space they are in. A great way to encourage a love of reading is to make it a desirable activity. Create a cozy area with bookshelves that are filled with a bright and interesting collection of books. Put a comfortable chair in the middle that is fluffy and inviting. Make sure there is sufficient lighting, but not so bright as to ruin the warm ambience.

Look for Someplace Quiet

Create your reading space in a part of the house that is not a central or overly loud location.

It is difficult to concentrate and learn when there is too much going on around. This will frustrate your child, as they will feel like they are missing out on everything else that is going on in the room. Create a space with a minimal amount of distractions, to encourage stillness and contemplation.

Be There

Last but not least, be there for your child as they are reading. They will need you to help them with sounding out unfamiliar words, and to encourage them when they are feeling discouraged. You will interact with your child in a mixture of reading to and with them, as well as listening to them, but staying around for all of it shows your genuine support.

Enlist a Furry Friend

Whether feline, canine, bird or farm animal, Parents need to look closer to home for the four-legged, furry, winged or beaked reading buddies that could be just what our struggling young readers need. Pets are patient and understanding and often love the attention of being read to. Pets will also never correct or ridicule a struggling reader which will increase confidence.

Many libraries now have reading dogs and we love this article about an Animal Shelter that Encourages Kids to Read to Homeless Cats! This amazing article recounts how an animal shelter in Pennsylvania is helping young students improve their reading skills in the most heartwarming way imaginable — by offering them a rapt audience of needy felines. Please read this article in its entirety HERE.

Reading is such an integral part of having a successful life. Make it a priority to encourage reading in your home by having a reading schedule that is easy and enjoyable to follow. The hours you spend teaching your child to read will come back to benefit everyone involved.

If you are looking for a fun digital and interactive children\’s story inspired by a kids\’ classic story, you will love The Ultimate Guide to Charlie out into the World.

Enter a world where collaborative play is woven into the fabric of our everyday family life. The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will open the door to transforming relationships, encouraging new perspectives, and indulging in the happiness and the joy of innovating with your children.

Who is Charlie? The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is an interactive, adventure that leads us through the Chocolate Factory with stops along the way to create, laugh, and learn. It reawakens the passion and idea of “jumping” inside the pages of this book with the knowledge that each chapter is a gateway into a magical world. Now available on iTunes, it’s your opportunity to truly experience where art, literature and technology meet allowing you to feel the story like never before.

Charlie was born of a unique collaboration between co-authors Valarie Budayr and Roscoe Welply, this dynamic duo along with Kite Readers have crafted an enchanting world that leaps from the pages, and coaxes the reader to immerse themselves in the adventures that await them at the Chocolate Factory.

What You Can Expect with Charlie:

• A bridge between the “plugged” and “unplugged” world for families
• A book that brings families together reading and enjoying their imaginations.
• Creation of an atmosphere where reading becomes a family event instead of a solitary act.
• The option to educate, inform, and entice children to want to know more about the world they live in.
• The delight of pulling the story off the pages, and the act of bringing the pages to LIFE.

Gather your family and come along on a magical journey into one of the most beloved children’s books of all time to experience a story like never before. You will have a front row seat to this delightfully illustrated and fabulously written children’s enhanced digital e-book that will come to life with not only a great story, but over 20 activities and crafts that will spark their imagination and awaken their inner child.

Are you ready for an adventure? Enter HERE to start the Charlie experience or grab your download on iTunes.

Disclaimer: This book is not affiliated or associated with the author, publisher, or distributors of Roald Dahl’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.