We have four children ranging in age from 16 down to 6. The youngest just finished one of her first bigger chapter books a few minutes ago, so I am assuming she will go down the same path as her brothers.
The three older ones read non-stop, which sounds like a great situation, and it is; we are very grateful that they love to read. HOWEVER, there are times I have had to pull the plug. For example, fantasy is a great genre, it is the genre for my book “Jak and the Scarlet Thread.” But when my boys are reading only fantasy, I have told them they need to dive into a different genre such as biography or history for awhile. They need to throw some reality and wisdom from the experiences of actual people into their heads too, not to mention the fact that it can be great reading.
Plus, reading only fantasy is kind of like if you only eat ice cream. Eventually your tongue freezes and you can’t enjoy it as much as you did before. They haven’t always wanted to switch genres, but it has been good for them to cleanse their brain-palate. And I think their horizons have been enlarged in the process.
Do you ever have to tell your kids to stop reading?




