Nobody actually knows when speed reading was first used, but it may well have been a long while ago. For centuries, reading was the privilege of a minority of the most highly-educated individuals in the world, the overwhelming majority of whom were monks and priests. This tiny, select group of men guarded their privilege and were loathe to instruct the general public to read. Moreover, throughout those hundreds of years there were relatively few books to read compared with nowadays. Books were also very expensive as they all had to be copied out by hand. Perhaps the only fact that has not altered is that the Bible was the most widespread book in existence and even now the Bible is the most prevalent book.

The world is fast devolving into a place where individuals are slowly but surely turning their backs on books and becoming fixed in front of monitors or television screens. In such a world, parents should not fail to notice the importance of developing a passion for reading in themselves and their children. Reading is a habit that should be established when the child is relatively young, so what can you do to foster this habit?

Well, there are a number of strategies you can employ, although one of the best to lead by example. Read with your child every day, even if its only for 10-15 minutes. Permit your child to see you reading. By this I mean, don’t only read in bed before you go to sleep, but in place of watching television from time to time and read your children a bed-time story. Encourage them to read too. You could also:

Register your child for reading classes, if you really don’t have much time or your child is a little slow at reading. There are many well-structured after school reading classes that aim to make books more attractive to children. They help children with articulation, sayings and metaphors. These classes can be fun with animated characters and pictures, especially for young children,. They often make use of picture books, nursery rhymes, comical songs and short stories to fire up the imagination of younger children.

You will have to learn how to kindle your child’s interest. If your child has a favorite character, pick a series of books that include this character. Attempt to encourage your children to read real books not comics. The style in comics typically leaves a great deal to be desired with its slapdash English and street slang. As an alternative, go for series of books like Harry Potter or Tarzan.

You should build yourself a library of your own books. This may sound a little grand, but after all, a library is only a collection of books. Start with a good-looking bookshelf that you can easily add to. A skill like reading cannot be learned in only one place, so you cannot afford to leave all the difficult work to the day-school or even the after school curricula. You have to pick up books that you believe your child will enjoy too. Use the Internet as a source for learning about the modern reading games that will attract young children to the superior and ancient art of reading,

When you child is engrossed in reading for its own sake, you could read up on speed reading. Speed reading is best suited for educational learning and background reading. It’s greatly suited to cramming or studying for exams. It is perfect for school and university. Nevertheless, the first task, before you can think about speed reading, is to get your child reading in the first place.