Encourage Teens to Read with Teenage Magazines
Parents Can Help Reluctant and Busy Readers Enjoy a Dose of Literacy
Jan 10, 2009
Everyone knows that encouraging children to read is as fundamental to parenting as teaching children to brush their teeth; reading is essential to navigate through the world of prescription bottles, job applications, and contracts with fine print.
Not everyone has mastered good reading habits. USA Today reporter Greg Toppo writes, in a hauntingly titled "One in Seven U.S. Adults Unable to Read this Story", that, "estimated 32 million adults in the USA – about one in seven – are saddled with such low literacy skills that it would be tough for them to read anything more challenging than a children's picture book." [Page 1A, January 9, 2009]
How Parents Can Support Reading Habits
Helping kids establish positive reading behaviors does not end once a child is able to manage a book alone. Parents need to continue to support reading for teenagers by:
- providing a library card and access to the library
- helping teens schedule time to read
- creating a quiet, well-lit environment that makes reading enjoyable
- offering an example of a love of reading by letting teens "catch" parents reading
- giving teenagers a quality reading material.
Not every teen can have a quiet bedroom with a bookshelf full of books, but every teen should be able to have a comfortable spot to curl up with a book and read without interruption.
Magazines for Teenagers
If there is a need, a corporation is usually willing to sell a solution. Not all teen magazines are simply published collections of celebrity culture. In addition to classic magazines such as Boys Life and Seventeen, there are many magazines that appeal to teens on deeper levels of their personalities. Some of the magazines that are available and popular with teens offer a variety of vicarious experiences through reading include:
- American Girl Magazine (ad-free magazine for young teen girls)
- Teen Vogue (fashion for teen girls)
- Cicada (fiction and non-fiction for all teens)
- Listen (focusing on positive life choices for all teens)
- Teen Strings (a magazine for teen musicians)
- Teen Ink, Teen Graffiti, and Teen Voices (articles written for teens, by teens)
- Clear Direction and Clear Horizon (Christian articles for young teens and older teens, respectively)
- Muse (Smithsonian's magazine that includes fascinating articles for all teens)
Benefits of Subscribing to Magazines
Parents might find that magazines are a great investment with huge rewards. Magazines are:
- inexpensive
- a nice, predictable surprise in the mail
- recyclable (to reduce clutter)
- timely and in touch with current trends
- offer a variety of reading, such as fiction, non-fiction, letters to the editor, and advice columns.
Subscriptions to magazines make them much less costly than buying magazines at bookstores and grocery stores; ordering online is easy and often less expensive than subscription cards. Magazines.com offers a wide range of magazines, and they have a contract with Upromise to deposit some of the subscription price into a college-savings account.
Time-strapped teenagers might find themselves slowing down to read some magazines that are designed specifically for teens, and parents might find that some magazine articles are good starting points for meaningful conversations with their teenagers.. The most important thing is that parents are willing and able to help teens keep reading, despite busy schedules.
 |
