The things children see can have a profound impact on them. A single image, even a seemingly banal one, can change a child’s life.
For me, that image was my dad reading a book.
Not any book in particular, and not any particular time. Just the image of my dad quietly sitting in the living room, reading a physical book, sometimes hours into the night.
It’s not a sight many see these days. According to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the number of Americans who read books has been steadily declining. In 2012, 54.6% said they had read at least one book within the past year. By 2022, that number had fallen to 48.5%. Similar trends were seen amongst children and teenagers too, with fewer and fewer reporting that they regularly read for fun.
This decline in habitual reading has gone hand-in-hand with a decline in general reading skills. Exact measurements are difficult to obtain, but most of the data points decisively to a literacy nosedive. In 2017, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development found that about 80% of American adults could accurately paraphrase and make reasonable inferences from a multi-page text. Just seven years later, only 70% could do the same. Of those aged 16-74, just 46% could read above a 6th grade level, while 21% were considered “functionally illiterate,” meaning that while they could technically read very basic sentences, they struggled to read the requirements on job listings or instructions for filling out legal documents.
Not that any of this is surprising. Anyone who grew up in the mid-2000s or later knows just how many things now exist in our homes that relentlessly distract us from focusing on anything, especially reading. Traditional television was distracting enough, but at least there were times when whatever was on simply didn’t interest me. When I was a teenager, I’d sometimes read during commercial breaks. With the advent of streaming, we no longer have even those short lulls anymore. It’s just constant entertainment and immediate gratification.
Lest I be accused of being an old man yelling at a cloud, keep in mind that I’m a millennial, and a younger one at that! If I am worried about how passive entertainment has destroyed our society’s appetite for reading, it’s because I’ve experienced it myself. Netflix, smartphones, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter all came about when I was a kid. With endless movies, shows, and videos to choose from, I was less tempted to pick up a book that would take me several focused hours to read. A book was a heavier commitment. Reading started to feel like work.
Reading can be real work at times. But that’s part of why literacy is so important. Just like working out makes us stronger and improves our athletic performance, reading engages our brain and strengthens our intellectual muscles. And like your real muscles, your intellectual ones shrink if you don’t use them.
Of course, reading books doesn’t necessarily make you a better person. In fact, reading for the wrong reasons can turn you into an acquisitive philistine. Online finance bros and self-help gurus often frame reading as “extracting value.” Then there are the toxic “Book-Tokers,” creators on TikTok who mainly promote YA fiction and stir up fake controversies, usually by accusing someone of racism, sexism, or one of the various phobias.
So how do we build a healthy society of readers? Readers that can not only understand the books they’re holding, but who also don’t just read them to find clues about how to get rich, get clout, or get some poor sap fired from their job?
To get kids to read, fathers must lead. The best way to set children up to be life-long mature readers is to provide them with a good example. Kids can learn technical skills almost anywhere, but they learn cultural habits and customs from their families and communities first. The things they’re regularly exposed to become part of their world, for better or worse. If they grow up in a household that values reading, they’ll come to see reading as a normal and even vital part of their lives.
That might seem daunting, but raising up a generation of readers isn’t as difficult as it sounds. Modest time investments, like reading aloud to your kids for a few minutes before bed each night, can have enormous impacts. Studies show that reading aloud improves a child’s story comprehension, widens their vocabulary, and makes it easier for them to learn to read on their own later.
But the easiest thing fathers can do is to read books themselves. Read in the living room, so your kids can see you doing it. Keep books around the house. Just having them around encourages kids to read more. They become part of your family’s culture. Even if they never pick your books off the shelves, seeing them there sends a message: books are important.
That’s what my dad taught me, probably without ever intending to. And hopefully, while I’m lounging on the couch reading my dusty old history books, my kids will see that too and be inspired, just like I was.
Good article