I received promotional items in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own. 

Let’s talk about reading , as in reading for leisure. Do you have a book you’re reading right now? Up until recently, I’ll admit that I did not. With the start of a new year, one of the things I’m trying to do more of is leisure reading. I now make a conscious effort to carry a book in my purse so I can just pull it out to read whenever I have a little bit of down time.One of the main reasons I want to read more this year is because I’ve noticed a big decline in the amount of reading my own daughter has been choosing to do “for fun”. As a teacher and a mom, this was starting to concern me. After doing a little bit of research about teens and how much they actually read for pleasure, I  found one study that says:

Less than 20 percent of U.S. teens report reading a book, magazine or newspaper daily for pleasure.

That is an eye-opening statistic. Digital media and technology have a lot of influence on kids (and adults as well) and they almost seem to be reducing in the amount they’re reading for pleasure (or at all). So, I decided that I was going to try my hardest to continue fostering that love of reading in my own daughter.I put together a list of useful tips for helping to further a child’s love of reading and I want to share it with you.

• Model what leisurely reading looks like – This is a big one. If you’re not reading for fun, your child won’t have that modeling and may not realize just how important it is to be doing so.
• Have a “book chat” – I’ve always tried to stay current on the subjects my daughter is studying in school, including the assigned novels she reads for her classes. I also try to have knowledge of books she’s reading on her own. I feel like my showing interest in what she’s reading and even having little “book chats” keeps her more motivated to read independently. It also helps strengthen our mother-daughter bond.
• Spend time together at your public library or local bookstore – My daughter and I love to visit our public library together but also find ourselves sitting for hours in a local bookstore. It’s so much fun to get lost in books while sitting side by side.
• Set up a cozy reading corner or reading nook at home – When my daughter was really young, she used to have a “reading tent” set up in our family room that she would spend hours at a time inside of, just reading books. She outgrew the tent a few years ago but it’s fun to have an inviting area set up at home, such as a corner with big pillows or a sunny windowseat where you can sit and read comfortably.
• Make it fun with some thematic snacks – I feel like having snacks on hand always makes reading better. Thematic ones are even better. We made some adorable dog bone-shaped
• Make connections between literature and film – One of my most favorite things to do with my daughter is to find a book we both enjoy, that is being made into a film, and read it together because the film comes out in theaters. After we watched the trailer for “A Dog’s Way Home” a few months ago, I knew this book, written by W. Bruce Cameron, was next on our “to read” list. It’s such a heartwarming story and because we’re big animal lovers in our home, it was a story that made us very emotional. Now that we’ve both read it, we’ll be ready to see it when it hits theaters on January 11th!

“A Dog’s Way Home” chronicles the heartwarming adventure of Bella, a dog who embarks on an epic 400-mile journey home after she is separated from her beloved human. Oh my heart!

You can watch the official trailer here: 

This film has an all-star voice cast featuring Ashley Judd, Jonah Hauer-King,
Edward James Olmos, Alexandra Shipp, Wes Studi and Bryce Dallas Howard and will be in theaters in just a couple more days. Will you be heading out to see it? After reading the book, I know we will!

For the latest updates on the film, please visit HERE.

Some images and trailer are property of Sony Picture and used with permission.