Raising a family of readers is not rocket science. Kids will automatically love books if you love books. Family literacy starts at home and all it takes to teach reading skills is good reading habits. And the way to do that is with children’s literature. Here are other ways to raise family literacy rates, teach reading skills and develop good reading habits. Celebrate children’s literature with these daily reading habits.

Read and talk about what you read. Everywhere you hear how important reading skills are. You hear how reading skills are falling off. People watch television programs that teach reading. But do they actually read? Not as often as they watch TV, play on phones, computers and video games. Like Nike says, to raise a family literacy, you have to “just do it”. Read to kids, read with kids and read yourself, that is. Your kids should grow up seeing you read in your spare time. Read for education and for pleasure to show your kids you love books.

Fill your home with books. We have shelves and shelves of books. Many of them are tattered from use. To build family literacy, invest in books. You don’t have to spend a lot of money. Buy secondhand books. Comb through used books at thrift stores, Goodwill, garage sales, library book sales and used book stores. Check out discount books at Barnes & Noble. Order from Scholastic and get bargain prices. Get starter books from kids book clubs and cancel.

Minimize movies and maximize books. To build family literacy, your home should have five books for every one movie. Keep movies out of sight and books readily available. Put little ones’ books on the bottom shelf so that can access them. Put baskets of books in every room. Take a minute and read to kids when they ask. Even toddlers will love books if they are surrounded with them.

Encourage reading habits by placing books, magazines and reading material on your coffee table, end tables and in your bathroom. Our living room decor consists primarily of books. And they are not for decoration. They are for educational and entertainment purposes. I fully expect people to read and enjoy them. I love seeing kids’ friends curled up in a chair perusing our books while they wait. I keep several good reads in the bathroom magazine rack. Calvin and Hobbes and Far Side treasuries are the favorites.

Read to kids before they go to bed at night. Begin with picture books and progress to chapter books. Our kids loved bedtime because we got to find out what happened next in our story. My stylist once confided that her son was wild before bed. I shared how bedtime stories helped. She said books “riled” her son up so they let him watch TV to fall asleep. And therein lies the problem. Read to kids to calm them down. Let them watch TV if you want wild, sleepless kids. Choose calming children’s literature selections that help emotional development.

To get kids to love books. don’t censure your children’s literature selections, unless what they are reading frightens them. Our oldest son tested at second-year college level reading skills at age 12 and loved Stephen King. We were afraid it would be too mature reading. But we read a few with him and he felt trusted we learned to broaden our horizons. Censoring stifles curiosity. Prohibiting fantasy books for example, takes the fun out. Forcing books and disallowing others makes reading a chore. Expose kids to the best in children’s literature: the classics, Nobel prize winners, Pulitzer prize winners, New York Times best-sellers, Edgar Winners, Newbery and Caldecott books.

Get kids to love books by giving books as birthday party prizes, Halloween giveaways and stocking stuffers. Celebrate the joy of good reading habits with your family.