Use Precious Moments to Boost Reading Fitness

By Mark W.F. Condon, Unite for Literacy vice president 

Physical fitness research indicates that a few minutes of activity every hour for desk-bound workers can accumulate into a sizable boost in positive health outcomes. The same holds true for reading. Taking a few precious moments to read with children whenever possible can accumulate into a sizable boost in learning outcomes. Think while waiting for a bus or for an appointment, as dinner cooks, or during other lulls in the day. 

“Reading Fitness” has been the topic of conversation among school folks for a very long time. It comes up every spring when the prospect of children taking a summertime reading hiatus portends a several-step loss before the next school year and requires much backtracking to get them caught up to where they were months before. This summer slide isn’t fun and games. In fact, it has a paralyzing effect, resulting in badly weakened reading muscles. 

Fortunately, there’s an easy preventive remedy to experiencing reading paralysis: use free moments to grab a paperback, a magazine, or access a digital book and fall quickly into the world created by an author with a delightful story to tell or some expertise to share. 

If children always have a self-selected book, magazine or comic at hand, they won’t be bored (or whiney!). Rather than melting down, they’ll melt into their own reading worlds, delightedly becoming part of an unfolding story or picking up where they left off exploring a topic of personal interest. 

So, creating a family culture that includes the expectation that wherever they go and no matter what’s not up yet, there’s something interesting and fun to read in a tote bag, in a pocket or on a smartphone. This habit is the simplest possible way to address and even possibly eliminate as many as three full years’ worth of lost reading progress. 

Taking advantage of precious moments to read is an investment in children’s academic success and futures.