I'm a Bookworm Mom with Kids Who Don't Like Reading 😭

Where did I go wrong?! Just kidding. Sort of.

My kids 3 years ago, reading stuff for homeschool

I’ve been a bookworm my whole life. I don’t even remember a time when I didn’t love books. Books kept me company when I was lonely, cheered me up when I was sad, introduced me to far away lands when I was stuck in my room. Books are magical!

I knew when I became a mom that I wanted to share that magic with my kids. I had grand dreams of reading books together and discussing them and sharing our favorite parts. And when my kids were little, we made so many trips to the library for story time and we read bedtime stories and all that jazz. I thought I was well on my way to having 2 reading sidekicks for life because they enjoyed reading so much.

My boys at the library when they were little

But as they got older, and they’re now 15 and 13 years old, reading just isn’t a priority for them. Don’t get me wrong, we read for homeschool. We do a read-aloud book together every morning and we do discuss the story. And I ask that they read a personal book of their choosing every day as well. I make suggestions for books that I think they’d enjoy, but I don’t assign books or force them to read anything for personal reading time that they don’t want to read.

And it’s a fight every single day. “Do I have to read today, Mom? Can I just skip it and read extra chapters another time?” Or the one that makes me so sad: “Reading is boring.” 😭 Dagger to the heart!

It’s hard not to take it personally. I know that they are their own people and they do not have to love reading just because I do. They have their own interests - Dom loves cooking, William loves everything to do with science and nature - and that’s wonderful. We incorporate those interests into our homeschool days and I try to find books for read aloud time on these topics that will capture their attention as well. But I still yearn for that little book club of my motherly dreams sometimes.

William reading a copy of Sarah’s magazine a few years ago

But I’ll just keep leading by example. I read every day. There’s always a book or a Kindle in my hand. And I listen to audiobooks at night. I share funny moments from my books or interesting things I’ve learned with the boys every so often. If we read a book that’s been adapted into a movie, we’ll watch it, and I’ll try to make connections for them that everything they’re seeing is based on something an author or screenwriter has written. It all comes back to books!

But even if they never love reading as much as I do, I’m OK with it. I might jokingly cry about it, but I know they have other passions that light them up the way reading does for me. And I guess that’s why I’ve been so happy with our Reading Through Life community - that’s YOU, by the way. I get to share what I love with Sarah, my best friend, and also other bookworms who love it too. And that’s the greatest feeling ever.

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Do the kiddos in your life love to read? Any tips for me to get teenage boys to enjoy reading like they used to when they were little? Tell me all the things in the comments!