Reading with Adolescents | S.16 Ep.5

Reading for pleasure boosts cognitive development and improves literacy, yet interest often declines in the teen years. Explore how reading impacts adolescent thinking, empathy, and emotional growth.

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Welcome to The Science of Parenting Podcast, where we connect you with research-based information that fits your family. We'll talk about the realities of being a parent and how research can help guide our parenting decisions. I'm Mackenzie DeJong-Schelling, podcast co-host, and parenting educator. Hi everyone. Connie Beecher. I am a literacy researcher and educator at Iowa State University, and also, family well-being specialist. Yes, and we are back for our fifth episode in this season all around literacy. We've talked about the importance of reading as our infants and toddlers are developing. We've talked about those preschool years and how we can help introduce those learning those concepts at home in preschool years. We talked about last week, we talked about the elementary age. That shift from learning to read to reading to learn. And that really comes into play today, too, as we talk about our pre-teens and our teenagers. So we've often talked about, obviously, we've talked, three or four episodes about how important it is for our littles to read and have reading and literacy in those ages. But often, when we get to our pre-teens and our teenagers, sometimes we drop off, and we don't talk about it as often, but we know that it is still crucial for them to read. So why is that, Connie? So we are, you know, as you mentioned, that third grade milestone, we're hitting another milestone here. That's that's around middle school, where now, our kids are really reading a lot of more difficult materials. So they're reading for information, they're reading a lot of content, and that tends to cause them to read less for fun. So we do see reading for leisure reading really dropping off. And that's a concern because reading for fun or reading for pleasure really has a transformative effect on your life in the sense that really enhances your cognitive ability, your vocabulary. It, people who read a lot, you know, tend to have a lot of empathy, and they tend to be able to, imagine sort of different scenarios, right, because you really have read all of these different. It really, it fosters a lifelong love for learning. So anything you want to learn as an adult, you could you can read and find out about that. So we do see this kind of, big decline in in reading for fun that starts to happen around this age. Sure, and, you know, it is concerning to see that. And we know that there's several factors at play. I know that pre-teens and teenagers are so busy and so many of them are very involved, right? I know when I was in middle school and high school, I had about every minute scheduled in my day, for activities. And my niece was the same way in middle school. So they're really busy. Others can also be a reduction in parental encouragement. Maybe they think, oh, they've got this. You know, they can do it. They know to read. But we know that it is crucial for parents to continue to support and encourage that reading throughout their adolescent years. So how can parents counteract this idea that there's maybe that decline and effectively support their teens reading, and they're reading beyond just that idea that we're just doing it to get homework finished? Right. So, you know, the first thing is if you want your, you know, honestly, if you want your teen to be a reader, you're going to have to be a good model. So, and, you know, for adults here, I'm not here to make you feel bad about your reading habit. I'm here to warmly invite you to start one if you don't have one, to enhance yours if yours needs a little help. We really can't ask, you know, teens to do things that we're not willing to do. They're very aware of that. So, definitely model that. Yes. And think about, like, creating that community of readers in your home. Right? Like this is a family that reads. And do things like maybe a book club together. Be involved in the community in a book drive. Being involved in literacy-related events in your community. Just really think about how you can make reading, like, part of your family, and not just an occasional kind of thing. Absolutely. And I think as a you talk about modeling behavior and creating that community is doing it together. But also think about this episode as maybe an idea for you as an adult to also get ideas for how you can become a, you know, more of a reader if you want to engage that skill. This we kind of talks about that as we were preparing this was, well, this is how to get your teens involved. But it's also a way for, you know, tools for you. So, that goes on to the next idea is to be responsive to individual tastes. I'm sure even as adults, you don't want to be forced to read something you're not interested in. And we want to think about that for our pre-teens and teens too, right? Don't force specific books or genres on them. Encourage them to choose what they find interesting? And it is about finding that joy in reading and not just fulfilling an obligation. There might be books that we have to read, but finding books that we want to read. You know, you might find books that you think are good books and your teen might not agree there. Allowing your child to choose the books that they will actually read. And, Connie, I know we talked about about everything counts, right? It's not just about long chapters books, but things like magazines, graphic novels, those sorts of things, too. Right? Right, right. So, and you know, your point about things that you want to read. I, you know, let your teens maybe pick something, and you read something that they suggest. Oh, yeah. You know, so that feels different doesn’t it? So that's a really, and all of these different kinds of things. So my teens, for example, read like Japanese kind of books that are called manga. They're graphic novels. Right? Sure. So they really liked that. I had no idea what that was. So, but, you know, we had conversations about it as, okay, I will try this, right? I'm going to give that, I'm going to give that a try. And again, it doesn't have to be like, okay, we're going to sit down and read a serious novel and then write a paper about it. Like, they get enough of that at school. So, you know, things that are going to be fun, and of course, a major factor in any kind of motivation, like how are people motivated, is choice. Like choice is really just a big part of being motivated. Right Absolutely. So remember also, continue to provide access to books. So that could be, you know, again, your library habit going to the library on a regular basis or, you know, setting up accounts so that you can access digital books. Or providing, you know, if you like to purchase books, going to the bookstore. There's always used books, right? Or book drives or things like that. I just thought of also, like Little Free Libraries are a great resource. Have a lot of places that people switch books. So, just having those books available. The next one is make time for reading. So I kind of mentioned at the beginning that our pre-teens in our teens are very busy. And that every minute might be scheduled, and we have to help them to fit that reading in. Right? When's a time that maybe we could start to read? Could we do it before bedtime? Maybe we talk about limiting screen time, and that means parents and caregivers, too. Right. We set aside that time. But establishing a routine that can help create that regular habit with reading. Definitely also think about, and with the prior point to, having books around, right? So, just like with our littles, when we talked about having books around, like having easy access to the books means that when you have a few minutes, you could pick up a book. Yes. Right? So it doesn't have to be a necessarily like a super long chunk of time, but a few minutes at the end of the day to wind down. It's a lot better. It's a lot more relaxing to read at the end of the day than it is to be on your phone. So I think, and again, you know, this is where we have to be a good example. Yeah. Yeah. I know that I have recently started some painting, like paint by numbers, and it's kind of the same idea that it's there. It's sitting there. It's available. Where then maybe I have books by the couch and by my bed that I can just easily pick up. It's way easier to pick it up and read it if it's not downstairs or across the hall or at my office. Absolutely. We can also continue to offer recommendations for books or for ideas for challenges. Maybe sharing books that you're reading, suggesting books you think they might enjoy. Connecting with the reading, you know, connecting your reading recommendations to their particular interests. I think Connie, I think you mentioned maybe I'm getting our our talk through mixed up, but, reading what they're reading? Right? To challenge yourself. Yeah. So. Yeah. Yeah. Also, you know. Yeah. If they're going to, if they're going to want to read more, go ahead and let them suggest something. Yes. And this is again another place where you can, you know, use technology. Posting what you're reading or, you know, some people get it, get a, get a kick out of that. That's can be kind of motivating or keeping track on things like good reads or, you know, any kind of apps like that. Yeah, so, using that or like using, if you're not interested in the technological, wow, technology. There we go. That was it. The technology side of things, you know, using bullet journals. Maybe if they're artsy, you can tap into that with bullet journals. Maybe a challenge. How many books can we read by the end of the year or by the end of the month? I know my nephew's doing, through school, a book challenge. So they, you know, they're competing with other kids to, to see how many books they can read. But between each other, how many can we read? So definitely making it fun. Yeah, and I think finding that thing that you enjoy the most, some people are going to want to read on an e-reader. Some people are going to want to read those real books. You know, again, magazines count, how-to books. Some kids, some people really want to learn a new thing, right? And they want to read so that they can learn a new skill, like even painting. You could get a book, right, to become a better painter. There's all kinds of, different kinds of reading you can do. I think it's finding the thing that's going to make it the easiest for you, right? Like to build that habit. Yeah, something about, now I'm, like, thinking about all the ways I can look up what sorts of books are on painting and paint brushes and types of paint and those sorts of things. But do you want to talk to us a little bit more about e-reading? Yeah, so it is one of those things that, it's a delicate balance. You know, I do say, e-readers, reading on an e-reader is better than a phone because phones have other kinds of distractions on them. So sometimes. So my youngest daughter would say to me, oh, I'm reading on my phone. And I would say, okay, but honestly, you're not going to get as much out of that because, literally, there's other things always popping up on your phones that are distracting, right? Alerts and such. So, you know, a tablet or an e-reader is probably a better choice. Just again, if you know that you have a kiddo that's very distractible, they might be they might do better with just a regular book, you know, just a concrete book. A paper. Might be might be better. One thing about e-readers that I was thinking about recently, I was talking about sleep and how our brains are, our brains learn the patterns of light and dark, and our brains can't tell the difference between sunlight and blue light. And e-readers don't have that blue light. So not only is there the benefit of not having all those pop-ups, but our brains are actually not being told like, oh, it's time to be awake and be up and be moving. Our brains aren't getting that message. They, so it's easier for you to relax while you're reading. And if it's late at night, you start to turn off and start to get in that sleep routine, too. So, some benefits of the e-reading if you're using the e-readers as well. So there's a lot of things that can be involved in talking to pre-teens and teens about reading. And we've talked a lot about what we can do. There's a few things that we maybe want to avoid or look out for. What would those things be? So again, that idea of withdrawing encouragement too soon, you know, so make sure that you're still encouraging reading and sort of don't just assume that they don't need your encouragement anymore. You know, as you all know, adolescents really still need that connection and encouragement from their parents, from their, you know, trusted caregivers I would say to not just parents, and, you know, that sort of leads into our next point that we've sort of touched on is not making it all about school. Right. Yeah. Don't force reading. Don't make it only about academics. Make it a little more fun. I am sorry, I should say here, too. You know, if your child is a reluctant reader, you might think about, like, sometimes that's because they're struggling with some reading, and it's never too late to get help with that. So if that's the reason, you know, do be checking in with teachers and counselors at school because there are, you know, there are things that help. There's a really good, in fact, computer programs that can help increase reading skills. So if that the reason there are some, you know, there's stuff you can do for that. Yeah. One of the things that we talked about is there's, you know, maybe the step before that is making sure you're not focusing on just the skill of reading. Like. you need to read to learn how to read. You need to learn to push yourself, that sort of thing. But still finding ways to make it fun for them. But if you do get to that point, I love that piece of advice. I feel that sometimes also, parents might get to the point where they're like, oh, they're, you know, middle schoolers, high schoolers. They, you know, they'll talk to their teachers. But that's also not always the case, right? So to be asking for some help on their behalf, too. Right. Do you want to talk a little bit about the eighth-grade cliff? So that's where, again, we start to see the reading really drops off, you know? So they're just reading for school, and it's such a, you know, it's such a loss because we can probably all think of a book that we have read where we had such a connection with a character, or something happened that was so meaningful to us, and that power of reading a book that changes your life, you know, you don't want that to, you don't want your kiddo to give that up. So, again, in that transition period, really just be encouraging and checking in. And it doesn't have to be again, it doesn't have to be, don't make it a battle. Like, don't make it, right, a power struggle. Make it something that you're encouraging, and start small. You know, the truth is that small changes make can make big differences in your life. Yeah, those, I mean, I think we've talked about those bite-size, bite-size changes are huge. And it's again, it's true for not only helping our pre-teens and our teens, but it's true for us as the adults as well. Right? That we don't have to just get up off the couch and run a marathon. We can get up and walk a block. Same can be true for reading. Yeah, it's the same. Has huge results. Absolutely. All right, so that leads us into our reality section of the day. And we figured since there was tons of tips and ideas throughout the episode, that we just wanted to give you some information on the okay, but what ifs. At least, that's what I'm going to call it. If you have more questions or you want to dig more deeply into learning about some areas of your pre-teens and teens that maybe we haven't talked about within this episode, we have quite a few resources within Iowa State Extension and Outreach. We have programs. One of our programs is the Strengthening Families Program for parents and teens Parents and youth 10-14. Great program might have that in your area. If you're looking for other resources, our Science of Parenting website under the teens section, has some information on emotional changes, changes in thinking. I have it written on a little sticky note here, so I didn't have to go to the website. But, changes and thinking physical changes and changing parent-child relationships. So you might be interested in reading those if maybe you're thinking, oh, I'm listening to this, I want to go find something else to listen to. Within your favorite podcast platform you can find these podcast episodes. Otherwise, if you want to search and figure out what we do have all available for teens and those preteens, you go to thescienceofparenting.buzzsprout.com. That's kind of our landing page for all of our podcasts. You click on the episode, at the top of the page, there's an episode tab, and they have added a search bar, which, for me, is amazing. It was so easy for me to look this up, and it should be so easy for our listeners to look this up. But if into that search bar, you just type teens. I got a handful of episodes that popped up for teens, pre-teens, talking to teens, all sorts of things. I would suggest focusing on starting with season five. We talked just kind of the basics of different ages. Season five, episode six is pre-teens and seven is teens. So that was a lot of information kind of all in there. Maybe you get that if you're watching, you'll get some of that information up on the screen. But scienceofparenting.org or thescienceofparenting.bruzzsprout.com for those podcast episodes. And I can't help but think that all those things that you're saying are literacy skills. So. Right. Like looking things up, you're going to read all these things like, these are lifelong skills read that enhance your life. So. Yes. So, hopefully, that can be helpful for our parents, caregivers and community listening. Speaking of community, it is time to bring our community member colleague, friend Hailey to join us. Hailey is a parenting educator and well-being specialist, just like we are as well an educator within Iowa State Extension Outreach. Hi, Hailey. Hello. Hi, team. Hello. Do you have a question for us today, Hailey? Yeah. So earlier, you mentioned an app that might be fun for teens to use, and I want to go back to that. And I want to ask you, what are some of your favorite apps that could be helpful for teenagers and maybe also for their parents? So I always start with, you know, check Common Sense Media, that website Common Sense Media. They have ratings of websites. They ratings of apps. They have ratings of software. So that's always a good place to start. There's so many out there, right? And some can be good, but some can be questionable. And so you definitely want to I just happened to be looking up something, and I noticed there was an app that it looked like it was a literacy app, but it was actually kind of a story about war. And so just as an example of something to be aware of, you might not know if you just saw, oh, this is literacy app, you might not have been aware that about the content. And if you wanted to have that for you for your kiddo or not. So, but then really common ones are from the library. There is an app called Libby. So, Libby, you can read, and that you can download to a phone or a tablet. It has videos and it has audiobooks too. Beanstack is another one that some libraries have. And what's fun about that is you can scan the barcode of your books, your physical books, and it's like a tracker. So it tracks not only how many books you read but how many minutes. And there's challenges in the app so that, you know, kids kind of think that's really fun. That sounds fun. Yeah. We mentioned Goodreads. So that's one of those where you can have a book clip, you can have, like a group that's reading together, or you can have your own individual challenges. And I know there's other apps too, that kind of do that book challenge, book club kind of thing that you can probably find on common sense. Goodreads is just kind of the biggest one that you can you can probably see. And then I will say to that, some people get into, like the art, the making part of books and they, they have, they take pictures and put them on like Tumblr or Instagram. They're called like book bentos, which is kind of cool. So they take the, they take the cover of the book and they just make like a collage of different things, you know. So there's just all kinds of ways to have books in your life that are really fun, fun and interesting. That does sound fun. I need to go check out those book bentos. That sounds [cool]. Yeah. A really cool way to get teenagers engaged as well. Yeah, they're pretty neat. I feel like I've seen, like Instagram pages where they talk about books and review books too, but I'm interested in the art side of that. That's fun. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you for that question, Hailey. Kind of gets you thinking about different ways. I definitely will say that the idea of picking up a book and reading feels intimidating to me, at least. And thinking about it in a different way of, how can we make it fun and challenging and finding things that are interesting. Like again, it's for us, but it's also how we can engage our pre-teens and our teens and reading. So, I will say, I will admit, that you've changed my perspective a little bit too on ways to engage in reading. So I'm grateful for all the information that we've shared today. So thank you, Dr. Beecher, for all of the information sharing with us today. And we look forward to another episode. Next time we will kind of shift focus and find a different way that we'll continue on ways that we help our children thrive through the... Wow. Words are hard, aren't they? Maybe that's why I need to pick up a book and read it. Yeah, well, if you read more, you'll get more word. Anyway, we are looking at different ways to help our children thrive, that was the word I was looking for, through the power of reading. Yes. Thank you, Connie. And thank you to our listeners for joining us today on the Science of Parenting podcast. Remember, I already mentioned it, but that you can find other parenting resources on scienceofparenting.org. And come along as we tackle the ups and downs, the ins and outs, the research and reality all around The Science of Parenting. The Science of Parenting is a research-based education program hosted by Mackenzie DeJong-Schelling, produced and edited by Brock Beirman, with contributions from Barbara Dunn-Swanson, Dr. Connie Beecher, Hailey Walker, and Morgan Newell. Send in questions and comments to parenting@iastate.edu and connect with us on Facebook. This program is brought to you by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.