Most parents understand the importance of learning to read. You wouldn’t be reading this if that weren’t true—sometime during your early years the mystery of the printed word unfolded and you became a reader. Reading is critical to nearly every function of our adult lives. For children, daily reading practice is essential to developing reading skills and building a solid reading foundation. The only way children will become readers or improve their reading skills is by reading—pretty simple, right? Those whose children are natural readers are fortunate. But, sometimes we face the challenge of getting our children to sit down and read. Some of us seek the elusive “hook” or magic bullet—something to engage our children and make them want to read; to discover the pleasure of reading and all the wonders that books hold. So, what do we do? One of the most wonderfully simple ideas I’ve seen is the Milwaukee Public Library’s Read to Rover program. In collaboration with the Wisconsin Humane Society, certified therapy dogs are brought into the library so children can read to them.
Why read to a dog? Because, a dog won’t embarrass you if you make a mistake. A dog won’t interrupt you. A dog won’t start to fidget and roll its eyes as you work on deciphering a passage. True, the dog can’t correct you, either, but just think about the benefits a child gains by reading for a solid 25-30 minutes. Children need models for fluent reading so they know what good reading sounds like, but they also need opportunities to build their fluency by reading and re-reading until the words are automatic. Rover won’t mind listening to the same story until it flows off your child’s tongue like butter.
If you can’t participate in the Milwaukee Public Library’s “Read to Rover” program, this is an idea that is easy to implement at home—with your own pet be it a dog, cat, chinchilla or gecko. Children might even enjoy reading to a favorite teddy bear. Any loving and accepting audience will do! What is important is the motivation to read.
I do want to offer one word of caution. After we participated in “Read to Rover”, a four-year “please can we get a dog” campaign was launched in our household. I think you can guess the outcome. Yup, we now have a dog; in part because of our “Read to Rover” experience. And our little pup faithfully supervises homework each night and is eager to cuddle when either child stretches out to read. Now, if I could just launch a “Rover Takes out the Trash” program…
To learn more about the Milwaukee Public Library’s “Read to Rover” program, visit www.mpl.org
