we need more readers...

People still read. Remember Harry Potter is such a hit. The thing is kids now do not read Sweet Valley, Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, they read books that maybe are not that popular anymore to us. :) And the emergence of technology, the reading habits have evolved also. :)

Ha ha, i use to read all those too! This age of video games, television, ipods, computers, internet....and all the lazy stuff! I think that is why they are pushing reading to your children and schools are giving you incentives to read to your children now b/c it is so important and has been lost. My step-daughter reads as much as I did at her age, she is at highschool reading level at 11! But my sister who is 13 hates to read! Go figure. Just depends on the parents I think...alway have books around and let your kids see you reading...now my son always sees me on othe laptop and wants to type now too...he has figured out how to type and send messages on my yahoo IM, that is bad I know! But i read to him a lot too...right now he is working on a penguin collage that has to do with the book we just got done reading...a gift from his pre-school...they sent home the book and everything needed to do the collage, puzzle and penguin cards...pretty cool

I think it's up to the parents and teachers to get the kids into reading. Whenever I have kids I'm going to get them to start reading as soon as possible, and then teach them the fun of reading. I'll make sure to provide them with books as they grow that will keep them into it :) I have a lot of books from my 7th-12th grade years that I think my kids will enjoy also.

ohh yes i remember also my younger days that i and my sisters has to go the the school library to borrow nancy drew or hardy boys. my children also reads but yes like you said its not like how we do it. with the cables, high tech games and on line games kids is more on using their eyes to watch not to read. my children does read but not like i do when i was their age.

Hello dear dolce_vita. Long time no see. Your case suits me when I was young. I did a lot of reading and most of the books were classic novels from both the famous Chinese writers and foreign writers. At that time we did not have any Internet, therefore my favorable pastime was doing a lot of reading out of my textbooks. I am glad that my son has also read a lot of famous books by ancient Chinese writers and now his interest in reading books is changing a little bit as he is growing older to his teens. You are right that reading is very important to us all as it helps enlarge our knowledge in many fields. Reading makes us wise and intelligent. Thanks very much for your discussion and I am glad to you around, my dear friend.

I agree, now that entertainment comes in so many different and easy digestable shapes it's important to remind the kids that reading is pretty good fun too. I was a regular book worm when I was a kid, I'd tackle childrens books and more adult material with the same enthusiasm. :3 I think it's important to let kids read what they're intrigued by though, even if you might think the book in question is too difficult for them in terms of language.

Well sometimes they do read up information from internet i guess the world is changing yea.

This is something that has to taught when the child is young. When I babysit my nephews (ages 2 and 1) I try to prevent them from watching Spongebob Square Pants and Playhouse Disney. I make them watch the PBS Kids channel which has shows like Sesame Street, Super Why, and I think Word World. There shows are about teaching kids.

you are talking my language. i grew up reading nancy drew & the hardy boys. i have one son who likes to read & one that doesn't. i read to both of them every night. i can't imagine not being able to read. that would be horrible. greetings from tennessee.