The Home Learning / Reading and Talk at Home

Keep reading aloud long after it seems necessary

Most households stop years earlier than they need to.

Reading aloud tends to end the moment a child can manage a book alone, as though it were scaffolding to be removed once the wall stands up. That is a shame, because it was never only about decoding. A child can listen to and enjoy language well beyond what they can comfortably read themselves, which means reading aloud is one of the few ways to put richer sentences, unfamiliar words and longer arguments in front of them without it being a chore. It also happens to be one of the most companionable things two people can do at the end of a day.

It works with older children, though it has to look different. A chapter of something genuinely good, taken in turns. An article that made you laugh, read out at the table. A page of something the child chose, even if you would not have chosen it. The point is not the reading practice, which the child is getting elsewhere. The point is shared attention on the same words, which produces conversation that would not otherwise have happened. It is also one of the few remaining activities that a busy household can do together without anyone having to organise anything, which is worth something in itself on a weeknight.

Do not make it a lesson. The fastest way to end the habit is to turn it into comprehension questions, and children detect that shift instantly. Stop where it is interesting, say what you thought, let them disagree with you, and put the book down when the room has had enough. If a night gets missed, nothing has been broken. The households where this survives are the ones where it is a pleasure rather than a programme. If the child wants to reread something they have read four times already, let them. Familiar books are not wasted nights, and the aim is that reading remains something the household does for its own sake.