Children Are Tough Customers
By Mark W.F. Condon, Unite for Literacy vice president
Young children like what they like and while being curious about new things, unless they sense some immediate value, they will pretty much ignore our suggestions with hardly a casual wave of the hand. They have no qualms about sharing their disapproval with us. Tough sale!
So, how do we get kids to try and like what we offer them, since from our experience we know it will be totally enjoyable and even good for them? Like books and reading them together, for instance?
It’s a sales job, sort of like luring them into trying new foods. The key is to understand what is important to our possibly very picky customers and gently nurture them with patient understanding to appreciate the contributions that books can offer them.
If children buy into the notion that ongoing book consumption is a never-ending stream of delight, a source of regular fun, they likely will become lifelong book consumers. But timing is everything. We must know the best time to deliver each part of our sales pitch, delivering it with enthusiasm and charm, ever ready to move along with our most important customer’s whims.
Early on, children’s tastes and needs change regularly, so we must keep our inventory fresh and relevant, and then present it well. If they reject the books we offer them, a trip to the closest public library may be in order. Over time, such outings can teach them that there are always more fun books available. At home, we recommend that every child has their very own tidy bookshelf, with book covers displayed so our little one can easily access their favorites. Even if the “shelf” is just a room’s dedicated corner on the floor, it will leave the impression of the specialness of the books among their other playthings.
Reading with “littles” will not be all rosy at first. We must be prepared for them to close the book they’ve selected while we’re reading it or to wander off to do something else, showing no apparent interest shared book reading, despite our best attempts to bring the book to life. Sometimes even using special voices for characters and dramatic facial expressions still can’t pull them in. But don’t give up!
Like all good salesclerks, we mustn’t come on too strong. But we do want to establish ourselves as trusted resources. Our goal is to help kids discover what they do not yet love, to try those books on for fit, and give them a chance to be good choices for them.
We can do this by engaging with them while reading together. “Let’s see—what we have here? Oh look! A book about bunnies! We love bunnies.
Remember your Pat the Bunny book—how soft that bunny was?
“This book is called The Runaway Bunny! Should we read it now? No? Well, would you like to pick another book? No?
“How about this one? Want to flip through pictures and see if this book looks interesting? No? Well, your books will be on the shelf over here when you are ready for them. What would you like to do right now instead of reading?”
We need to guide them to explore, reject, embrace, and decide for themselves what they like and dislike, and cheerfully accept their choices.
If your child’s response to any suggestion is “Ho hum,” the next “move” is to identify the bookshelf/corner pile as a constantly growing and changing source of fun and enjoyment.
Surprisingly, they may choose something they have enjoyed many times, and in your view should be given away. But they also may want to “try it on” again and again and again. “I always love reading that!,” we can say, acknowledging their continued interest in a familiar book. We understand that each time children revisit a book, they are still finding something new in it. For little ones, consistent favorites might best be treated like classic styles, never out of fashion.
We must be able to convey each new book’s possibilities clearly and consistently for children, over time showing them how we inspect books to determine how each one may have promise. Our salesmanship complements and in time shapes children’s shopping practices as your little one grows to appreciate the social nature and benefits of books and reading.
If we do all this consistently, one day our sales jobs will pay off. We’ll know we have succeeded when our kids appear in the doorway, bounding toward us with one or more books wrapped up in their arms, headed for the “fitting room” (our laps!). They will have chosen each book for its promise as a perfect match for their personal tastes in the moment. At that point, we sellers of literacy can give ourselves a pat on the back for a job well worth doing that was also well done. The joy our youngest children eventually take in seeking out and selecting books for reading will be the family’s and the child’s enduring rewards.