Bill Linnane: I've turned my son into a voracious reader - he even does chores for books. So what's my secret?

"I have made him mow lawns, trim hedges, erect fences and do all the things I don't want to - just so he can get a book"

"It has never been harder to encourage your child to read. When I was growing up in the 1980s, we read because there wasn't much else to keep us entertained."

"The only screen most homes had was a giant cathode ray TV and the family would gather round its warming glow and argue to the death about which of the two channels they would watch of an evening."

Encouraging a child to read is described as difficult. In earlier decades, reading was more common because fewer entertainment options existed. Homes had limited screen access, with a large cathode ray TV serving as the main device. Families gathered around it and debated which of two channels to watch. The contrast suggests that modern children face many more distractions, making reading harder to motivate. The example of doing unwanted chores to obtain a book shows one approach to incentivizing reading. Overall, the shift in available entertainment contributes to the challenge of getting children to read.

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