Today is Book Day (unofficially), but in South Africa, 15% of Grade 3s cannot read. Clearly, something needs to change. How are you encouraging reading in your own home? Was there a specific book or person who sparked your love for reading as a child? I’d love to know.
Hi there. I read to both my daughters every night at bedtime. There is a five year age gap between them so I was reading at bedtime for quite a few years. I have always loved reading and I prefer it to the TV. Now my girls are in High School and university and they both read but not a lot. School work keeps them busy and of course the dreaded social media but at least they read. My oldest almost treats it as a gift to herself when she is on break which is quite special I think. I would like to think my reading and the stories at night have influenced them. A visit to Exclusives is a must whenever we are at the mall. We donate books to Reading is Kwaai and it gives my kids a lot of satisfaction to pass on a book that they have loved.
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I religiously read to both my kids when they were little and regularly read them my articles - mostly to hear how the writing sounds when read out loud (pro tip: reading your writing out loud this is the quickest way to pick up any pacing or tautological (?) issues) - because they do their homework in the home office. Now getting them to read is not the problem - getting them to read something other than the narrow band of things they’ve decided they like reading is the problem 
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Diary of a Wimpy kid was the game changer for my son. Despite reading to him at bedtime he just did not take to reading until he started the series. Then all he wanted was the next book.
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