rebellious 15 year old girl, GRRRRR!

[beard]

How do you get a kid to read when they refuse. I've tried to educate this kid for over 5 years and she is so stubborn.

Anybody have the same problem?

Maybe, you were that kind of kid?

Just needing to vent. We've adopted 4 kids and this one takes the cake on being miss innocent to my face and sneaky behind my back.

[Shane]

Find her a book on something that interest her . . . whether it is music, skateboarding, whatever . . . she will read it. It is a start!

[guitarbug]

Going through this with my 8 year old right now! We have tried everything and the only thing that seems to work is taking his bribery and taking away his Wii, lol..

[CaptainTom]

I'm certainly no expert, but I am a contrary personality. The harder you push on me the harder I push back.
Love, tenderness, kindness are the best persuader.

[Shelby Lane]

My youngest brother was a lot like that. I used to be a librarian and my mom and I had a discussion about "banned" books. I left a list for her, and he found it and could not resist looking some of them up. There was nothing too bad on the list. Books like Tom Sawyer are on the ALA Most Banned Books list.

He might have read some of the books on the list, just because he had to know what made them so scary, but that still did not make him read things that he HAD to read for school.

[lhdvies]

LOL, You missed your chance. I went through 4 boys (actually they went through Me) and I found out too late that you should freeze them at 13 and thaw them out at 21.

[beard]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

I'm certainly no expert, but I am a contrary personality. The harder you push on me the harder I push back.
Love, tenderness, kindness are the best persuader.

Yeah, easy to say when she hasn't pulled a prank on you.

[CaptainTom]

They pull the pranks to get your attention and to get a reaction.

Plenty of positive attention and no reaction to the pranks might help.

Easier said than done of course.

[beard]

Originally Posted by Shane

Find her a book on something that interest her . . . whether it is music, skateboarding, whatever . . . she will read it. It is a start!

That's a great idea. I think I'll have her give me a book report on the Jonas Brothers.

[beard]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

They pull the pranks to get your attention and to get a reaction.

Plenty of positive attention and no reaction to the pranks might help.

Easier said than done of course.

I didn't take you for the sensitive type. LOL

[ka5txl]

Originally Posted by lhdvies

LOL, You missed your chance. I went through 4 boys (actually they went through Me) and I found out too late that you should freeze them at 13 and thaw them out at 21.

Actually you can thaw us out at 18 if we are going into the service

[CaptainTom]

Originally Posted by beard

I didn't take you for the sensitive type. LOL

Just because I'm a smart ass doesn't mean I'm not sensitive Dammit !!!

[carrbowl]

Kim, I know you're your just venting...so please feel free...but ya know in a way, if not reading is the worst thing they do...that might be ok. Now on the other hand, the innocent to my face and sneaky behind my back, would get under my skin. My daughter went thru a spell last year...she got stabbed in the back by a "friend" and got hurt really bad. It really made her take a look at some things. I also watch shows, like The Biggest Loser, The Amazing Race, Kid Nation, and as a family talk about how people work together, how people do things behind each others backs and how it makes you feel, I've even been know to tape Dr. Phil to have the kids watch it to see how other kids behave or how other parents behave. I want them to see how other families function. Kids have never seen outside of their world...they haven't seen what we have...on the other hand, they just want to be loved like we do. And some of them go about it all the wrong ways. Good luck, it sounds like you have one who has a hard time being loved. I wish you the best.

[Lexie]

My daughter is dyslexic. She would walk around the library and never pick up a book. I talked to her reading teacher and she suggested some Hank the Cowdog books..........(ok, so she was 9, quite a bit younger than your daughter is now) but I started reading them to her and then purchased the books on tape. Any book that she was interested in, I bought it and tape. She would listen and read along with the tape. John R. Erickson was in Wichita Falls around the time we were going through the 'not reading stage' and I took her to see him. One never knows what kids will say at times and while there she insisted on sitting on the front row. He would ask questions about several of his books and her hand was always popping up waving in the air to give the answer. She had a blast and we still have the book that he autographed for her. Her reading skills improved as listening to the tapes helped her learn to read/pronounce words she struggled with because of her dyslexia. She was in an after school dyslexia program which helped a great deal too. This may not help you at all, but I thought I would share my experience.

[Rox74]

I hated to read when I was younger and have recently gone through it with my 9-year old step-daughter. Bribery worked, but what does that teach them? Here is what we tried and it worked. AND, while yes it is bribery... she didn't realize that it was a mind game of our own!! First of all, we didn't play into her "I don't want to read" attitude. We told her plain and simple, reading is important and we will work together to make sure you do it. SO, my husband encouraged her to read and said that if she would read 3 chapter books and write a report on each of them (in a given amount of time) that he would give her a $25 gift card to half price books. It worked great because she read to get what she didn't realize at the time was more books. Now, she loves to read.

My biggest advice, let her pick out her own book. Lindsey's teacher told us magazines were also good. Anything that will stimulate her brain.

When I was young and hated to read, the harder I was pushed the less I wanted to do it. You really have to play mind games on them... it's crazy but it works! Make them think it's what they want to do, not what they are being forced to do. Just my 2 cents worth!