Sending some happy sats to @anniedustan because her comments remind me that I may have some useful tips for fellow frustrated parents out there.

—- Our children are digital natives, so they are less attuned to sitting down quietly with a book and using their imagination to get into the characters’ lives. They are bombarded so much by visual and auditory stimuli that they find reading boring.

Are there ways to counter this reluctance? I have several suggestions in mind because I work as an English teacher. Maybe they will work, maybe they won’t, but the idea is to keep trying. After all, Albert Einstein himself exhorted us to “try one more time”.

Storyline Online features actors reading aloud children’s books. It could be the right carrot to entice your child to read a book read by his/her favourite actor/actress. Oprah Winfrey, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, Viola Davis, Terry Crews, Connie Britton, John Lithgow, Jennifer Garner, Betty White, among others, have served on this worthwhile project.

Epic! houses a great collection of fiction and non-fiction books in English, Spanish, French and Chinese. I just used it this morning so that my children could sit on my lap and listen to the audio while looking at the pictures of elephants. (My son wanted an elephant book. 🐘) Not all books have audio versions, but every book comes with a quiz that your child can attempt to check his/her understanding. There are also fun badges up for grabs, which may be useful in helping your child build good reading habits.

Why not write your own book with your children? Book Creator has an intuitive template for you to leverage. Just follow the steps and Ta-da! You and your children have churned out a book that you can truly call your own. You can even insert your photos or illustrations to personalise your book further. I wrote “Happy the Hippo” for my boy since he is crazy about hippopotamuses.

I will be interested to know how these methods work out for you and your child(ren). Never give up!