The answer to my friend's question is: yes, my son does love to read and yes, we are paying him to read books. How did this come about you might ask. Let me explain.
A few weeks ago my husband caught our soon-to-be nine-year-old son's attention and made a deal with him. He promised to pay our son $35 if he could read the entire Harry Potter series before school starts in August, which is basically $5 a book.
My son had been reluctant to read Harry Potter despite loving to read books in general and loving the whole Harry Potter idea. He told us that he didn't want to read about the large snake in book two because it was scary. But for $5 a book my son's fears soon disappeared.
It has been less than three weeks and my son is already on Book 6 of the seven books. I'm pretty sure that he'll finish before school starts...well before school starts. We have also made a similar deal with our younger daughter with books that are more on her reading level and she is also feverishly pounding away at her stack of books.
So why have we chosen to pay our children to read, especially when they already really enjoy reading? Simply put, because we think that it is something truly valuable. Some people pay their children to take out the trash or sweep the kitchen. And we pay our children for chores like these as well. But why not pay your children for doing something that will truly benefit them?
Maybe you think that reading isn't really that important. Well, it is. Not only does it give your children a wider view of the world and allows them to learn about and immerse themselves in different cultures, history, scientific exploration, moral dilemmas, etc., but it also gives them an incredible leg up in life in whatever they happen to pursue.
