{"id":538,"date":"2026-07-07T13:40:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prorelocationteam.com\/?p=538"},"modified":"2026-07-07T13:40:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:40:04","slug":"reading-for-pleasure-builds-empathy-in-children-but-fewer-kids-are-picking-up-books-just-for-the-fun-of-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prorelocationteam.com\/?p=538","title":{"rendered":"Reading for pleasure builds empathy in children, but fewer kids are picking up books just for the fun of\u00a0it"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Reading allows children to live in a vibrant world, surrounded by fairies, elves and talking animals, transporting them to places where the impossible becomes real. But reading for pleasure also helps children learn more effectively and broadens how they view, interpret and interact with the world. It gives them a form of expression that fuels their imagination and empathy for themselves and others. <\/p>\n

Read more Florida\u2019s school choice program offers universal vouchers but cannot show systemwide academic improvement<\/a><\/p>\n

But the percentage of children who read for fun is declining. <\/p>\n

Just 37% of 9-year-olds and 14% of 13-year-olds read for fun almost every day in 2025, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. By middle school, just 1 in 7 kids say they read for pleasure each day. <\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Education\u2019s National Center for Education Statistics has also tracked declines in kids and teens who read for fun, finding that in 2023, 14% of 13-year-olds read for fun each day, down from 27% who said they did so in 2012. <\/p>\n

Slightly younger kids tend to read for pleasure a bit more. Approximately 39% of 9-year-olds said they read for fun in 2022, down from 53% of 9-year-olds who said they did so in 2012, according to the Department of Education.<\/p>\n

This trend is showing up alongside another concern: stagnant reading scores, especially among teenagers. It\u2019s tempting to treat those as separate problems. But as scholars of literacy, we don\u2019t think they are.<\/p>\n

Reading for fun isn\u2019t just about fun<\/h2>\n

Outside of schoolwork, a child can read anywhere from as few as 100,000 words per year to 10 million or more for the most voracious readers. <\/p>\n

This gap can why some children\u2019s vocabularies grow so much faster than others. <\/p>\n

Kids absorb words from context, over and over, across thousands of pages. One of us, for example, has a son named Andrew, who, at the age of 2, once absorbed and correctly used the word \u201cviaduct,\u201d without anyone defining it for him, after he encountered it in a book about trains. <\/p>\n

Older kids and teenagers who describe themselves as committed readers tend to have families that read to them since they were young, kept books around as their interests changed and made reading together a genuine priority. <\/p>\n

A well-selected book, in particular, has the ability to enhance a child\u2019s reading pleasure and reading ability, allowing them to see and feel the world with fresh insight. <\/p>\n

Research shows a connection between teenagers who read for pleasure as young children: They tend to score higher on cognitive tests that measure verbal learning, memory and speech development. <\/p>\n

Reading for pleasure can also help build vocabulary and reading fluency while enhancing focus. <\/p>\n

Reading to develop empathy<\/h2>\n

There are other benefits to reading that won\u2019t show up on a reading assessment. <\/p>\n

We believe that reading is empathy operating in its simplest form: imagining your way into someone else\u2019s experience and understanding the ripple effects of their actions. <\/p>\n

Reading for pleasure, especially the kind that starts on a parent\u2019s or caregiver\u2019s lap, is one of the earliest and most reliable places kids get repeated practice doing that complex work. <\/p>\n

Reading with a caregiver often progresses into children reading on their own, whether with a flashlight in bed or in the middle of the day on the couch. <\/p>\n

When children become immersed in a book series on their own, in particular, it can help them develop connections with characters they grow to know, love or scorn. They inhabit a character who isn\u2019t them. They sit with an idea long enough to understand why someone acts the way they do. <\/p>\n

Read more 1776\u2019s Declaration of Independence inspired Washington\u2019s troops to fight against the odds \u2013 and also helped bring in powerful\u00a0allies<\/a><\/p>\n

Feeling emotionally invested in a character\u2019s decisions can also influence how young readers decide how to engage with others and treat people with civility and kindness in real life. <\/p>\n

This skill doesn\u2019t arrive automatically with age. It is built through practice, and recreational reading in childhood is the main training ground for it. <\/p>\n

Implications for school and home<\/h2>\n

Within the past 10 years, many schools have invested in evidence-based reading instruction, with a renewed emphasis in phonics instruction to improve students\u2019 reading proficiency. <\/p>\n

This shift has been an important and necessary step in helping students develop the foundational skills they need to become successful readers. At the same time, some classrooms have had fewer opportunities for independent reading and reading simply for enjoyment.<\/p>\n

In 2024, literacy researcher Chase Young recalled asking a second grader whether a classroom reading activity had made him a better reader. The child responded, \u201cNo, because it\u2019s fun.\u201d <\/p>\n

Already, that young student senses that fun and learning have been filed into separate categories at school. This highlights the real cost of letting effective instruction and engaging instruction drift apart, as though a teacher must choose between them.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t mean abandoning structured reading instruction, which matters enormously for students who are learning to decode written language by connecting sounds and symbols. It means reading a book that a child actually chose, rereading an old favorite, and allotting time for a teacher to read aloud purely because it brings joy to the class. <\/p>\n

This effort extends outside of a classroom. When children live in homes where they see books around, where their parents and siblings read together, and where their caregivers also read for fun, they are likely to see reading as enjoyable and not an item on a to-do list.<\/p>\n

People who enjoyed reading as children are more likely to read books every day as an adult.<\/p>\n

We each read to our children from when they were young and watched as they grew and developed their own love of books, ranging from the \u201cFantastic Four\u201d comic series to the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d and \u201cThe Hunger Games\u201d series.<\/p>\n

Another one of us, Dee, has a daughter named Addie who remains an avid reader in her early 20s. She is currently reading the \u201cCourt of Thorns and Roses\u201d fantasy series, among others. <\/p>\n

And Andrew, the 2-year-old who once learned the word \u201cviaduct\u201d from a book, is still an avid reader. At 18, his shelves are now filled with manga and comic books, including a special section for \u201cJoJo\u2019s Bizarre Adventure.\u201d His choice of genre and formats has evolved over the years, but his joy of getting lost in a story has not.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the version of reading we\u2019d like more kids to fall in love with \u2013 before school, however well meaning, might convince them that fun and learning have to live in different places.<\/p>\n

Read more Does the World Cup favor democratic or autocratic nations? I did some number crunching to find\u00a0out<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As schools focus more on evidence-based reading instruction, less time is available for children to practice reading for pleasure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1684,1680,1678,1683,1677,268,302,158,148,149,1682,1679,1685,1686,975,1681,43],"class_list":["post-538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-adult-literacy","tag-childrens-books","tag-cognitive-ability","tag-cognitive-health","tag-creativity","tag-empathy","tag-k-12-schools","tag-kids-reading","tag-literacy","tag-reading","tag-reading-aloud","tag-reading-for-pleasure","tag-reading-levels","tag-reading-scores","tag-reading-skill","tag-reading-to-children","tag-us-schools"],"yoast_head":"\nReading for pleasure builds empathy in children, but fewer kids are picking up books just for the fun of\u00a0it - 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