Reading Buddies, the Perfect Program

At the Westwood Library we will soon be resuming another session of our Reading Buddies program, a weekly one on one reading time pairing a beginning or struggling reader with an older teen. 

It’s a perfect program really, it’s effective, rewarding, fun and free. A winning combination for everyone involved.    

For beginning or struggling readers, having a teen's attention is one of the best motivators ever; better than candy, better than money. Why?  Little kids love attention, and especially from someone cool.  The young student you find frustratingly distracted or fussy or resistant can be surprisingly, maybe even shockingly, devoted, enthusiastic and hard working with their teen buddy.  Sorry Mom and Dad, your child loves you to bits, but cool you are not.

For the teens, the program meets a very real need for community service hours and they feel good knowing they are providing a service of real value. The added win is how much these little kids come to mean to them.  While little kids love a teens attention, teens, it turns out, love the adoration right back.  Many a “too cool for school” teen has found himself wanting to reward his young buddy's adoration with more animation and enthusiasm than he can ever display to his friends or, God forbid, his parents!

And Reading Buddies without question is a win for parents.  Your child is engaged in a positive learning experience and you get time on your own to sit and read.  Enough said. 

The Westwood Library's Reading Buddies program will be held on Wednesday afternoon from 3:30-4:30 from October 10th through November 14th and is open to children in pre-k and up.  Please register your child by calling the Library at (201)664-0583.