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The Parenting Podcast
The Parenting Podcast
Epi 177 More Than Words: Growing Readers for Life
The best reading lessons don’t always come from a book. Sometimes they happen in the car, around the dinner table, or when you’re laughing over a silly rhyme. In this episode, we’ll explore how everyday moments can spark curiosity, confidence, and a love for reading that lasts a lifetime.
Learn more about Leslie Whittington’s tutoring work and resources at The Space to Learn: https://sites.google.com/view/thespacetolearn/home
Some kids fall in love with reading right away. Others take the long way there. But no matter where your child is on the journey, what happens at home makes a difference. I'm Cheryl Lang and today on The Parenting Podcast, I'm joined by reading Tutor Leslie Whittington to talk about how parents can grow readers for life. We're not just talking about phonics or homework, we're talking about the little things like rhymes, conversations. And page turning moments that, especially in this digital age, help kids see reading as something they want to do. Listeners, we're back here with Leslie Whittington again, who is a reading and math tutor, Welcome back. Thank you. Leslie, last time you were here we talked about reading in general and seeking help and de-stigmatizing struggles, trends that you saw. Yes. Alright, so I have a lot of specific questions both of us do that we'd like to ask you that parents might want to know. Absolutely. Um, red flags or what does this mean? Should I be concerned if I see this?
Christie:Absolutely.
Cheryl New:One of the terms, print rich environment mm-hmm. Is a, a term that i heard said, really helps towards reading. And I am a big advocate. I love to read myself and reading was a huge part of our education mm-hmm. And our home environment. Right. Were we putting too much, uh, trust in that or Do you agree with me that reading to your children books, audio? Yes. A Print, Rich Environment, are extremely important? yes.
leslie ai:Yeah. No, I, I don't think you have over emphasized. a print rich environment is where they're seeing words. Um, their eyes are on the text or they're hearing stories, when we say print rich, they're seeing the text, but they're also hearing it.
Christie:Language in general.
Leslie:Language in general, yeah. Because it's literacy rich, I think is what you can kind of Oh, that's good. Encompass it. Language rich. Yeah. Language rich. Mm-hmm. Um, because you know, you have the whole debate now. Oh, well, do I read because I just listened to Audible? Yes. You're still reading, you're still reading stories. Of course. Mm-hmm.
Cheryl New:My children are readers,
Leslie:yes.
Cheryl New:But they do a lot of audio books. And so then we have the argument, the text war. Do they, are you really reading?
Leslie:Yes.
Cheryl New:Oh, wait, did you read it did you just listen to it
Christie:me and my family said, you get half credit.
Cheryl:ha ha
leslie ai:I do think that's important that they hear, but print rich means that, that you have language, um, in your house all over, like you're talking to each other, you're reading books to each other, to yourself, you're reading to your children, you have stories, you're reading maybe something to your spouse and, and that's, that's a lot for some people.
Cheryl New:I love The phrase language rich. Language rich, because that's what we want yes. And you know, again, I'm looking right here. Our phones are sitting here on the table let's talk some more about what these devices are doing. and The language rich environment.
Leslie:But I also wanna include when we're talking about language rich Yeah. Lists, um, sometimes we just take notes on our phone, but I think maybe, in this age, um, we're having to be more intentional about writing things down and letting kids see their writing. Mm-hmm. That's good. And, um, and, and maybe handing them the phone at times and saying, okay, write this word, you know? Mm-hmm. I don't know. I, I don't know how that looks different. And that's part of the. Struggle is our world is different. And so we're having to teach in different ways at times. That's true and measure in different ways at times. Um, but yet these skills are still important., So you're saying
Christie:even us as adults, because I'm thinking mm-hmm. I learned on an analog clock in the eighties. I learned how to write in cursive. But in our daily lives, we're not practicing these habits anymore or as often. As often. And so we do need to be more intentional to provide that for our children.
Leslie:yeah.
Christie:And so, start. Just
Cheryl New:giving that, we kind of talked last time, let's go through the ages, first what are things that parents can do below kindergarten that would, strengthen reading awareness, reading preparation, uh, for language richness
leslie ai:Yes. So, um, songs and rhymes. I, uh, there's a lot to be said. So there's, you'll hear a lot of terms, phonics, phonemic awareness, all that kind of thing. Um, basically what it's saying is, can children understand that words come from sounds and sound, uhhuh sounds come from letters and that kind of thing. So I think rhymes are a huge thing, um, that a lot of kids. That I come across today aren't hearing, um. Mm-hmm. You know, and, and those things are out there. They've been around for a long time, but just hearing rhymes, playing with language, silly songs. Our kids, so you're talking Dr. Seuss nursery Rhymes.
Christie:Just simple rhymes. Raffi,
Leslie:um,
Christie:anyone know Raffi? I love Raffi.
Leslie:We listened to Raffi and, um, I just introduced it to my grandson. And so all fun, but just that this, the language of Willaby wallaby, woo. You know? Mm-hmm. It's not real, but it's plain with sounds. Mm-hmm. And so all of those kind of things, silly rhymes and things like that. Um, and then. Labeling things. And I think sometimes, whether that's writing it down or just saying, what is that? Let's label it what? That's a pencil. Mm-hmm. That's a clock. That's a, you know, um, kids need words for things. And then as we move that to, thinking about writing and reading. We write that down on a post-it note and put it in front of something. And that's, um, you know, we're clock and they recognize clock,
Cheryl New:you know, and it's interesting and don't wanna harp on devices but, to be aware. Somebody I know I think they were teaching at a Mother's Day out and they had, Maybe a 2-year-old was sitting in their lap and they opened up some cute little, Board book, you know the thick ones that children can chew on and the child kept rubbing their fingers Oh. Against the board book Uhhuh. And she just said, what are they doing? And other teachers said, they're trying to scroll. Yes. So yes, it started being in the Mother's Day out. They were trying to show the children. Mm-hmm. That in English, we read by turning pages from. left to and Right that we're going through a book. They had to teach their children. They can't scroll through a book. Yeah. They have got to actually turn the pages. So it is a new world.
leslie ai:It is a new world and, and you have to ask yourself, okay, what's important in this world. I mean there are things like Kindle and I'm sure there are lots of other ones that, that turn the page like they would mm-hmm. Because there is that, that left to right that kids need to understand when they're reading print. Sometimes we think that they'll just get it and they don't because the. Devices are so intuitive that they're learning, oh, this, I just scroll. I go up and down Yeah. Um, so, so exposure
Cheryl:really
Cheryl New:counts. Yes.
leslie ai:And that exposure to books. All kinds
Cheryl:of books. Absolutely. And reading books really matters. Yes,
Leslie:yes. Reading and listening. And so going back to, um, audio books,. It's okay for kids to listen to books that are higher than their reading level. Yeah, and that's what I encourage.'cause it will enrich their vocabulary and you'll pick up on their interest a lot more when you're reading things that are above their reading level Uhhuh, so that they become interested in Oh, that's an interesting story that they couldn't read by themselves. Yeah. Yeah. But that gives them the motivation to want to read it,
Cheryl:so besides, creating this language rich environment mm-hmm. What are a few things that parents might be aware of even in this preschool age?
leslie ai:I would say to do rhyming things with them if they're having a hard time finding rhymes. Mm-hmm. if they have been, um, exposed to reading, If you're seeing kind of a disconnect, that some sounds. Match up with some letters. Mm-hmm. A lot of kids will pick up on that. Mm-hmm. And get that. So if kids aren't picking up on that, okay, why? and we need to maybe look at doing a little more explicit teaching. So you're not
Christie:looking for perfection? No. You're looking that they
Leslie:would understand the concept. Yes. Understanding more that, oh, words say this and. I take, the approach with phonics is sound based. So sound is first. Uhhuh we speak, we talk, and that's more innate. We know how to do that. Our brain works with sound and talking. Um, we try to make sense of the world with our words, but when we put it to print. Our brain doesn't work as naturally. And so we wanna start with the sound, um, and then match that to symbols.
Cheryl New:Oh, good. So, okay. So let's move up a little bit older. Let's say the beginning reading, age. Mm-hmm. Uh, what are things that parents can do besides continue what you've already suggested?
Leslie:Well, I would say it kind of cuts a K through two and then three through four. Okay. I would say. But, um, early on, take'em to the library, find books that are in of interest to them. So, you know, you can go out on the library website and if they're really interested in construction, take them to that section and say, okay, let's, let's find a book in this section. And because it is interest, a lot of, kids need to have a reason for reading. Um, and for some kids that story will be enough. And for other kids, they wanna learn about something specific. Mm-hmm. And that's where you know, your kids, you know, what is gonna pique their interest. Um, so I think getting them to read, having them read signs to you,
Cheryl:Do you wanna know my oldest daughter, the first word that she read on her own? Walmart, Uhhuh. Oh,
Leslie:okay. Well, because it's the symbol, right? Right. The symbols. And we don't even know that that's all she connected the picture. Yes, absolutely. Right. Walmart,
Cheryl:because we're going to Walmart.
Leslie:Right. And I just
Cheryl:thought that was hilarious. Thought that was her first word.
Leslie:Well, and when I. Say, get them to read signs. That's kind of tricky now.'cause you don't know exactly what's going, what they're gonna be reading. That's true. Right. Um, so I think connecting, so when you see a word you're connecting, oh, that's a duh duh. And mm-hmm.. Mm-hmm. Um, you're, noticing and pointing out, oh, that d always says duh. Mm-hmm.
Christie:Yep. I really love your point about, um, finding what your kids are interested in. Yeah. You know, as adults, some of us love reading, some of us don't, right? Some, some are more, um, literary minded, some are more logical minded. But if you can find, um, the reward or make reading the means to an end, end that they're really wanting in life, whether it be to gain knowledge or. Like you say, signs, you know, that they want to drive someday, or well, you wouldn't want to walk into the wrong bathroom. Or, you know, just showing them the practical reasons of why, um, reading gives them something in life. Mm-hmm. Right, right.
leslie ai:Most of the time kids are going to learn some sort of phonics at this stage in life. if they're reading something, they're using context. And yes, that's what happened when we didn't teach phonics at all, is they looked at pictures. They looked at and, and cover the pictures. Cover the pictures, read it, and then let's look at the picture. Does it match up with what we thought it was gonna be? I mean, make it a game. Um, because kids are reading in context, but they're not really reading. So the problem with that is when they come to new words that they've never seen before
Leslie:They don't know what to do with them.
Cheryl:mm-hmm.
Leslie:I
Christie:remember that with one of my girls. Once they started reading chapter books, I realized they weren't as strong of a reader as I thought
Leslie:because
Christie:there weren't the pictures to help them along.
Leslie:Yes, exactly. Um, and that's when we usually figure out kids have been faking it mm-hmm. Is when they get to third, fourth grade. Oh. Because also with math, you have story problems. You have context problems. Yeah. And they can't read'em, figure'em out. So I would say that's another benefit of giving them something a little harder to read is you're seeing, are they actually decoding? And that's the part, the decoding, the phonics part. Very good.
Cheryl:And uh, friend of mine who is the best read person I know, And she was in California when they only did sight word. Mm-hmm. So she doesn't have phonic skills. Yep. And even now, this late in her life, sometimes there'll be a big word and she'll have to ask her husband. To read it to her. Yes.'Cause it's just memorized. Yeah it's amazing to me that she's read so well, so
Leslie:those explicit, those things that we have to show kids and teach them sometimes are, words are broken up into parts and mm-hmm. Words are broken up into sounds and so Yeah. And that's what you'll find with spelling. Um, if you teach them to say the sound in their head as they're spelling, then they're able to. Map it and it it is, it's ortho a graphic mapping. It's the big name for it. It's, it's writing and, and the sound that maps together in the brain. Okay. And someone,
Cheryl New:a young mom that knew we were coming in here to talk. Mm-hmm. And she said, I have a question. And then I remember my kids do it too, most letters. are, fine. Mm-hmm. Certain letters flip three E always write the J's backwards. Of course b-d is hard, Mm-hmm. Fives are backwards and there's certain repeated patterns when they can do everything else and they flip those. Is, that a concern or is that just a maturity thing that you just keep pointing out?
Leslie:Usually that is a problem that will work itself out Uhhuh. And there's a scientific reason that that happens and it's kind of neat because really, so if you look at a chair, you know, that's a chair. If you flip the chair upside down, you know it's still a chair. The way our brain looks at pictures, we know what it is, no matter which way we turn it. So if you look at a letter. Your brain's looking at it like a picture and it's, it's seeing A. It's seeing B, but then if I flip it, oh, well is that B or D or P or Q, you know, C Oh. So they're seeing the one object as all the same thing. Okay. So it is a learned thing. Yeah.. So if you think about that, the way. We map things in our head, in our brain, and how our eyes see it. You go, oh, well that makes so much sense that they, they flip it. Yeah.
Christie:That I've never heard that. That's fascinating.
Cheryl:Yeah. Oh, well,
Christie:because
Cheryl:I've seen before where they'll go read this and you read it and they go, and there are three mistakes in this and mm-hmm. We are projecting Yes, yes. What we know and they're tricking
Leslie:us on it. Well, and that's what we wanna get to eventually, um, is being able to fill in the things. Yes. Because we don't read. Right as closely once we learn to read, but kids kind of wanna flip that and go backwards. And I think as adults that we, oh, we realized, oh, we can't do that. Um, they wanna just read it and you can't, you've gotta start with the basic blocks. And then you can get to that point
Cheryl:a phrase I heard one time that you have to move from learning to read, to reading, to learn. Mm mm-hmm. And that, that's a progressive thing. The first part can be messy, but we want to get them where they are reading to learn. Yes. And enjoying it.
leslie ai:Yes, and I've always taken that kind of approach but one of the things that I would say, we are still learning to read as we're reading to learn. Because as you get older, you're picking up other languages, you're picking up other, um, parts of, speech. like prefixes, suffixes, all those things. Sure. Picking up on all those things. So. we should always be learning!
Cheryl New:absolutely!! Okay, besides the things we've mentioned, is there anything else that you would encourage parents with So.
leslie ai:Um, I think when you notice kids guessing words. Mm-hmm. They get the beginning and they just guess but they may flip'em or it could just be something with the same beginning. So they're just guessing. They're not reading through. When they don't get it right. Um, to not correct them, but to just point to it and say, check that again. Oh, that's good. Okay. Because they need to be the ones to figure it out. If you're correcting them, then they're gonna move on.
Cheryl New:So, do you mean, If they can generally read and they see. Three. And they say there. Mm-hmm. Should we Say, go back and try again.
leslie ai:yes.
Leslie:So there's different purposes for reading practice. Right. Okay. Uhhuh, you have one level that you want them to be able to read and have success. Mm-hmm. But then you've got the guided reading, which is you wouldn't give that to them to read by themselves. They're gonna need help. Good. Keep those short. But I think those are important. You've gotta push'em. So sometimes we, we don't wanna give kids things that are too hard for them because, oh no, they're gonna get discouraged. But if you're letting them work it out, and it's a small section of something. They're actually making more gains because you've pushed them a little bit. And that's, that's a key in finding that balance with learning. There is some resistance, right? When we learn something, there's that, that resistance. And so trying to find that balance between, it's hard and we're gonna help you get that. And not, we're not gonna cross the line to frustration. There you go. So it's that, it's that balance.
Christie:So would you say it's good to tell your kids, Hey, I got you this book. It may be a little challenging. Yes. So we're gonna work through it together. Absolutely. Oh, I like that.
Cheryl New:Yeah, Well, it's an, you know, I'm listening to you. It's the same thing when you go to work out in the gym. Yes. If you keep the same weights, you're not gonna get stronger.
Leslie:right,
Cheryl New:right? Mm-hmm. But you don't want to strain yourself, so, right. You want to do. The bulk of what you're doing isn't too challenging. Right. And you want a little bit more challenging. Yes. Oh, I like that. Yes, any other hints like that yeah,
Leslie:One of the terms that I use is being flexible because we know that some sounds are a little bit different in different things, so, okay. Let's be flexible. So when they're working it out, let's say the word kind and they're saying K, end kind. Okay, let's flex that. What else can our vow say? Ah, and oh, kind. Okay. Yeah, that's it. So teaching them as you're guiding them, you're teaching them, you're being flexible, you're reading from left to right, you are breaking words into smaller chunks. Uhhuh, um, so going, oh, notice how that says RE re and oh, look at this one. It says re Oh, that's always the same. Remember, replace. Mm-hmm. Um. And that's teaching them prefix without calling it a prefix.
Cheryl:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So you're saying as we're working with them, whatever age, that we're connecting the dots a little bit? Yes. And then we kind of pull off a little bit trying to help them connect the dots. So we go in and out. Absolutely. Sometimes we connect a little bit and sometimes we let them connect.
Cheryl New:Yes. Like riding a bike. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, this is good.
Leslie:Just be patient, um, and give them a lot of practice. Mm-hmm. I think it, that's our biggest commodity is time. Um. The reason my tutoring practice is called the space to Learn because sometimes we don't have space. Sometimes we're trying to just get through curriculums, uhhuh and get through and, um, just finding space to take time. To practice and let it be hard sometimes and let it be successful. Mm-hmm.
Cheryl:But it's worth it.
Leslie:Yes, absolutely. Okay,
Cheryl New:and I hear you, because it is a pretty slow process. Mm-hmm. To sit and let. Them read to. you. and to some parents in our digital age, that might sound like you're trying to carve on the inside of a cave. Absolutely. Mm-hmm. But that actually is the best process. Yes, it is. Are
Leslie:you right? Yes, it is. It is. Yeah. And just
Christie (2):being patient in that it can be, um, challenging and maturing for both of us. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
Leslie:And, and the pride that kids get when I can read
Christie:that. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Leslie:Very good.
Cheryl New:You know, Leslie, I don't know about you all, but I think I'm seeing the pendulum swing. Yeah. Uh, I'm seeing some really positive signs. Yes. Uh, audio books, audible and so forth, I see more and more people listening to books and mm-hmm. And one of the things I'm seeing, and I'm talking about late twenties to early forties in my kids, that. Almost all of'em are in book clubs. Mm. Yeah. Book clubs used to be something that like old ladies with their little crocheting would come together and have a book club. Millennials, you know, wouldn't have book cards. I would say
Christie:even younger than that. I see. In the 20 somethings. Oh really? Like late teens or maybe early twenties A lot of the people I know are drawn more towards, um, more lo-fi, less digital, less uhhuh. Technology, more traditional habits of, you know, even just like making your tea instead of using an electric tea. Kettle things like that. Yeah. Yeah.
Leslie:I think it started with record players, right? Yeah. They became a big thing and albums. Um, and we're like, well, what we got those'cause they were kind of scratchy, right? But they recognize. That there's something good in those things. Yeah. Of just that, that quiet slow thing. The value of a slower life this is
Cheryl:exciting for a civilization. It's, it's to feel this switch. And particularly in the area of reading, I'm just starting to see like younger people sitting in coffee shops with this thing called books. Actual books of paper, yeah. Reading books. Yes. So I'm excited about the trend. I hope it continues. Yep.
Cheryl New:Leslie,
Cheryl:Thank you so much for coming in. Yeah, you're welcome.
Cheryl (2):So parents, remember, hang in there, keep loving, keep persevering, because it's worth it.
Cheryl New:Sharing a story together, whether it's a bedtime picture book, an audio book on a road trip, or passing, a favorite novel between generations does more than entertain. It creates connection, builds memories, and invites conversation in ways few other things can. So keep making time for those moments, whatever your family's stage or season, and if you have a story, a win, a struggle, or a favorite book that's brought connection in your home, I'd love to hear from you At contact@theparentingpodcast.com or on our social channels. I look forward to being with you next time, and until then, keep making space for what lasts.
