When reading feels hard, it's easy for it to become the thing a child dreads most in the day. Small changes to how reading time is framed can shift that — starting with letting your child choose the book, even if it's below their "expected" level. Confidence and enjoyment matter more early on than difficulty.
Reading together, rather than only listening to your child read alone, takes pressure off. Taking turns by page or paragraph keeps the activity shared instead of feeling like a test.
Short, frequent sessions beat long, occasional ones. Ten focused minutes most days builds more real progress — and less resentment — than a single dragged-out 45-minute session once a week.
Celebrate finishing, not just accuracy. A sticker chart, a favourite show afterwards, or simply an enthusiastic "you got through the whole book!" reinforces that reading is worth doing, independent of how smoothly every word came out.
If a child seems to be working much harder than their effort should require — sounding out the same words repeatedly, losing their place often, or reading noticeably slower than peers — that's worth mentioning to a teacher, since it can be an early, useful sign worth a closer look.