Start a reading routine

Kids who hate reading get bashed all over the place. Reading class is hard enough, but then all the other subjects pile on with material to read, too -- and schools often require that, on top of everything else, students keep a paperback on their person for free reading. Reading figures into every school subject; once your child gets to the age where story problems rule, even math provides no refuge. If your child sees reading as a battle and printed words as tiny angry adversaries, it may seem cruel to force even more book-time into the evening's line-up, even if it's allegedly reading for "pleasure." But as with every hard thing, practice is the secret to improved reading agility, comprehension, and tolerance. You can't get better at reading if you don't read. Try hard to find material your child might actually like reading, even if it's nonfiction instead of novels, and set aside a little bit of time each night to read together (if only because misery loves company). Starting a reading routine is today's addition to August's countdown of 25 Ways to Make This the Best School Year Ever. And here's a little extra motivation: Give your child a specially designed bookmark (like the one at right) that allows him or her to either rate books read or have a hole punched when the volume's finished, then exchange it after 10 books read for a special reward. If your child's a particularly slow or particularly reluctant reader, you can seal the deal after 10 chapters instead of ten books, or even 10 pages -- the bookmarks are easy to print and print and print again.

• More on reading
• More on reading comprehension

_{Bookmark design by Terri Mauro}