CHILDREN LOVES COMPUTER GAMES MORE THAN THEIR BOOKS..... How do we direct them to their books?

Most parents try to get children reading and drag them away from computer screens. But now academic experts thinks he has found a way to turn any child into a full-time bookworm – by working out what type of readers they are. English teacher Andrew Barnard has devised a set of categories to help families understand and support young people’s relationship with books.

They believe there are eight types of readers – ranging from ‘relishers’, who consume up to 40 books a year, to ‘regretters’, who want to read but find it difficult due to problems such as dyslexia. Most worrying for parents is the ‘rechanneler’, a child who used to love books but has been diverted by devices and now spends more time online playing games and visiting social media sites. Children tend to fall into different categories when it comes to reading and identifying these can help parents encourage and support their children’s reading. The other categories are ‘regulars’ who read about ten to 15 books a year, ‘rushers’ who read in bursts, ‘relunctants’ who read five to six books a year, ‘realists’ who read only non-fiction and ‘rejecters’ who read only if they are forced to.