It’s a pretty well known fact that boys do not like to read. Parents with the best intentions read aloud to their sons just like they did to their daughters from the time they were babies. The kids successfully learn to read by first grade and everything seems good.

Then schools start giving standardized tests in elementary school and suddenly a gender-performance gap appears. According the U.S. Department of Education, over the last 30 years boys have continued to score worse than girls on reading tests in every age group, every year.

What gives?

The Guys Read website lists the follow possible reasons:

• Biologically, boys are slower to develop than girls and often struggle with reading and writing skills early on.
• The action-oriented, competitive learning style of many boys works against them learning to read and write
• Many books boys are asked to read don’t appeal to them. They aren’t motivated to want to read.
• As a society, we teach boys to suppress feelings. Boys aren’t practiced and often don’t feel comfortable exploring the emotions and feelings found in fiction.

Boys don’t have enough positive male role models for literacy. Because the majority of adults involved in kids’ reading are women, boys might not see reading as a masculine activity.

So how can you get your son to read? Engage the Brain investigated the Internet and collected the best suggestions.

Be Realistic and start small

Say to your son, “Here is one book, one magazine, one article, one website you might like.”

Expand definition of reading

Non-fiction, humor, graphic novels, action-adventure, magazine and websites all count as reading.

Read aloud

Most parents are guilty of stopping to read aloud once their child begins to read independently. Boys AND girls benefit from continuing to read aloud to them through the elementary–age grades. Take turns reading pages in a book and discussing the plot and characters. Make it fun.

Pair books with activities

Boys by nature are active. Encourage your son to act out a scene from the story. Take out a cookbook with your son’s favorite recipes and read through the ingredients and instructions. Then make one as a follow up activity.

Find male role models

Boys typically do not have many male “reading” role models because most elementary teachers are women. Boys need to see men reading. Dads, older brothers, uncles, grandfathers, coaches…this means you! Boys need to see men reading to understand it is socially okay to like to read.

Family book club

Start a family book club. Encouraging several members of the family to read the same book can serve as motivation (and role modeling) for boys to want join in the fun. Plan to watch the movie version of the book on a Friday or Saturday night.

Use a reading log

Seeing is believing. By asking your son to keep a reading log, he will see his progress. The log can be simple: book title, author and genre. By reviewing the log your child can see the types of reading material he likes – action, biography, humor, etc. Plus, keeping a reading log may kick in your son’s competitive juices and want to compare his reading log with his friends reading logs. Remember – boys are competitive.

Conclusion

There is clear evidence boys are falling further behind girls when it comes to reading. Anyone who works in education has heard the following refrains from boys, “I don’t like to read” or “There is nothing good to read.” It takes effort and an adjustment, but boys can and will read for enjoyment. Be persistent and try one, two or all of these strategies.

Happy reading!