3 Things Your Child Should NOT Do When Reading

As a parent, you share the same ultimate goal that fuels every lesson at Harbour Tutoring: seeing your child thrive. We want them to excel not just in school, but to become the type of lifelong learner who approaches the world with curiosity and confidence.

But here is the simple, honest truth: the path to reading mastery is often paved with good intentions that can, inadvertently, become roadblocks.

I remember my own time in elementary school clearly. I loved the idea of books—the illustrations, the smell of the pages—but the painful reality was that I was struggling with reading and in intervention by the start of Kindergarten. That personal struggle—that feeling of being "behind"—is the fuel for everything we do here.

It’s why our approach is dedicated to clarity and evidence-based practice.

We often observe struggling readers unintentionally adopting counterproductive habits that mimic reading but sabotage true skill development. These are often learned strategies developed to cope with a foundational gap.

As a professional educator who has seen these patterns countless times, I want to clearly outline three critical things your child should NOT do when reading, and, more importantly, what we must teach them to do instead.

These are all tips that you can do at home and they're completely free.

1. Do NOT Play the Guessing Game or Rely on Context

This is, perhaps, the most common mistake we see in developing readers.

I call it the "Three Cueing System" trap, where a student is encouraged to "figure out" an unknown word by looking at the picture, thinking about what makes sense (semantics), or checking the first letter (syntax/structure), rather than actually decoding the word sound-by-sound.

Why This is a Roadblock

For decades, many reading programs taught children that if they came to a word they didn't know, they should use the picture or context to guess. This might work perfectly for words like dog or cat in a simple book. If a child sees a picture of a kitten and reads: "The cat is [BLANK]," they might successfully guess "sleeping."

But what happens when the text becomes more complex? When the text says, "The feline predator was lurking behind the shrubbery"? There are no pictures, and the semantic cues are far too vague.

The child who was taught to guess is now stuck. They never built the automatic process (the decoding circuit) required to systematically sound out unfamiliar words. They are trying to use a memory strategy (remembering a word) or a prediction strategy (guessing) for what should be a phonological skill (sounding out).

What to Do Instead: Prioritize Phonics

We must teach children that the letters on the page are codes for the sounds in our language. When your child encounters an unknown word, the rule is simple: Sound it out. Encourage them to put their finger on the word and articulate each sound, then blend those sounds together. This systematic approach, rooted in the Science of Reading, is the only way to build a reliable reading foundation. If the word they sounded out doesn't match a word they know in their spoken vocabulary, that's when they can pause and consider if they read the sounds correctly.

2. Do NOT Read Without a Purpose

Have you ever finished reading a page, realized you have no idea what you just read, and had to start over? That is a perfect example of passive reading.

For children, this usually manifests as them successfully reading the words aloud—demonstrating strong fluency and decoding—but being unable to answer even the most basic questions about the text’s content. They are prioritizing word retrieval over meaning-making.

Why This is a Roadblock

Reading is a complex cognitive process that requires simultaneous processing of sounds, letter patterns, and meaning. If the primary focus is merely moving their eyes across the page and calling out words, the child’s cognitive bandwidth is completely consumed by the mechanical act. They are failing to engage in metacognition—thinking about their thinking.

Reading without purpose results in poor comprehension, which is the ultimate goal. If a student can read every single word but doesn't retain information, make predictions, ask questions, or connect the new information to their prior knowledge, they aren't truly reading; they are performing a verbal exercise.

What to Do Instead: Activate and Interact

At Harbour Tutoring, we teach students to be active readers. They need a purpose before they even open the book.

1. Before Reading: Ask your child, "What do you already know about this topic (activating prior knowledge)? What do you hope to learn (setting a purpose)?"

   
   

2. During Reading: Teach them to self-monitor. Give them simple cues like, “Stop and visualize what you just read.” Or, “Ask the text a question.” If they can't visualize or ask a relevant question, their comprehension is likely breaking down, and they need to backtrack.

   
   

3. After Reading: Never skip the retelling. Can they summarize the key events, characters, or main ideas in their own words? This is the clearest indicator of true understanding.

   
   

3. Do NOT Confuse Reading Practice for Reading Instruction

Many parents believe the solution to reading difficulty is simply to "read more." While volume is certainly important for fluency, the type of reading matters just as much as the amount.

If your child is only reading texts that are either way too easy or way too hard, they are missing out on the optimal learning environment—their instructional level (or their "Just Right Zone").

Why This is a Roadblock

• Reading Too Easy: If a child reads a book with 100% accuracy, they are practicing skills they already own. This boosts confidence, which is great, but it doesn't teach new skills. It’s the equivalent of a basketball player only practicing layups. They never develop their jump shot.

  
  

• Reading Too Hard: If a child is reading a book where they encounter more than one unknown word per sentence, they spend all their energy struggling with decoding. This introduces high levels of frustration and anxiety, which shuts down the cognitive capacity needed for comprehension. They end up relying on the guessing game (Mistake #1), which we know is unproductive.

  
  

What to Do Instead: Balance and Target Practice

The most effective reading routine balances two crucial types of reading:

1. Practice Reading (The "Easy" Read): This should be a book they can read with high accuracy (95%+) and good expression. This builds fluency and reading stamina, allowing them to focus purely on enjoying the story and internalizing the rhythm of language.

   
   

2. Instructional Reading (The "Just Right" Read): This should be slightly challenging. This is where a tutor or parent guides them through a book that has new vocabulary and specific phonetic patterns or comprehension strategies to learn. This targeted practice is where the most significant growth happens. It requires support, patience, and direct instruction.

   
   

The goal is not just to get through the pages; it is to master the underlying skills. As educators, we understand that true progress requires carefully selected text, systematic instruction, and focused practice.

The Path to Reading Confidence

If you recognize any of these habits in your child’s reading, please know that you haven't failed, and neither has your child.

They have simply adopted coping strategies that need to be replaced with stronger, evidence-based tools.

The foundational work of reading—decoding, fluency, and deep comprehension—is too important to be left to chance. By actively steering your child away from the guessing game, passive reading, and mismatched texts, you are putting them firmly on the path to becoming a confident, engaged, and successful lifelong learner.

If your child is experiencing frustration or avoidance, or if those nightly reading battles are draining your family’s energy, please know that we are here to help. At Harbour Tutoring, we specialize in identifying those hidden roadblocks and providing the high-impact, individualized instruction needed to transform your child’s learning journey.