Show Notes

WHY READ WITH YOUR TEENS

If you’ve been with me a while, you KNOW that I’m a huge proponent of reading what your teens are reading – it’s kinda my thing. You’ve heard me talk about how reading what your teens read tells them you:

• are paying attention to who they are
• find value in the things they like
• are interested in knowing more about them
• can relate to what’s going on in this book, therefore you can relate to them
• you respect their opinions
• are willing to spend time on the things they like

WHAT IF YOUR TEENS WON’T READ WITH YOU?

AND I also want you to know, having said that, your teens will probably not want to read with you. That means you want to get really strategic because for some of our teens, telling them you “must” or “have” to read this book translates to “I will never, ever read this book. Instead of the direct approach, there are several things you can try.

1. You can figure out what they’re reading and quietly pick it up for yourself. (Notice I said figure out, not ask directly.) For example, you can get their school reading lists and read the books when they do.
2. You can stay up to date with the current Young Adult fiction that’s out there and read what you think might appeal to your teen. (The In The Middle of It podcast is a great resource, for instance.)
3. You can take a shortcut. (Check out the Meaningful Mentor Membership and Join the Waitlist!)

WHAT IF YOUR TEENS WON’T READ AT ALL?

For some of you, I’m betting that this thought ran through your head: “There’s no way I can read with my teens. They aren’t really readers.” I get it. No really, I do!

Here’s a strategy you might try instead:

Watch a movie or series based on a YA book. (There are tons of these on Netflix and Amazon.)

Use the same questions that you’d use if you were reading the book – I highly recommend downloading my free resource, Questions for Any Book.

And if you fall into one of those other two camps – where your teen won’t read with you or read at all, be sure to stay tuned in to my social media channels, where I’ll be sharing info on some of the YA adaptations out there on different streaming services.