You can buy your kid a Kindle, but you can't make him to read it. Not that he will not look at it! He or she will start exploring it for a week or so from the date it came to his or her possession. Then you will notice, gradually, there is a lack of interest in his part. After a month or so, on day you will notice, the Kindle you spend 24k on is accumulating dust at some remote corner of his book rack.
Does it sound familiar?
Well, don't be surprised. It's natural. He is simply distracted. He has switched over to the new 'interesting' thing.
You can be worried, frustrated, or plain angry but that's not going to make him read it. Rather your display of such strong emotions may be counter productive.
All you have to do is make the kindle device somewhat irresistible.
How?
Let me give you 3 clues.
1. Buy him a story book he loves
Children love stories. Give them one story book and they would ask for another. Buy him another and he is again ready for more of it. That's the common sense part, and you probably know that.
But which story books?
That depends upon the age of your child, mostly his mental age. All kids are not equal when it comes to understanding written words. Some show more aptitude in grasping written text whereas some are slow starters. That's natural, so don't be frustrated if your kid is slower than your neighbors' kids. Give him some time and he would pick up. But never mention to him that he is slower than his friends. That would certainly discourage him.
Do you know how kids enjoy their stories most?
When reading stories is a participative family affair, they enjoy it more than reading it alone. When Papa or Mama is listening to their reading, he is the storyteller, even if they read it from a device. He is in command, in control. Let reading popular stories be a family pastime, say after dinner. If both the parents participate, it's even more fun. Do it!
Things are a bit different if your child is already in his / her teens. They don't need parents participation, rather they want more private space when they read. They have already developed independent reading habits. To engage them in a regular reading habits, buy them books that are already produced as movies. You can choose old classics of famous authors too.
2. Convert family photos into kindle books
Kindle books are easy to make. You can collects all the family photos and arrange them into groups. Then turn the groups into chapter and arrange them in chronological order. Arrange text snippets below each photo describing each of them. Mention the occasion, who photographed it, and something memorable about the photo.
Your kids would find such books interesting and go through them when they have time.
3. Sharing his works among friends
Now make your kid participate in the Kindle book creation. Let his learn the process of text formatting, inserting graphics, and adding other style elements into any document.
With these skills, he can convert his school projects, writings such as stories and poems into kindle format. He can distribute his works among his school friends too. Appreciation from classmates and peers is a great motivator for kid, so he would love to do it again and again.
The latest technology nor the most coveted gadgets can keep your child forever interested in it. You want to see that he loves it, but he can't stick to it all his spare time. There is more to him that a Kindle. Sooner you accept it, better your life would be. The only way he is going to interact with it frequently is it should be of great interest you him. Show him how he can use it to beat his boredom and he would beg for more of it.
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