Speed Reading is a Bigger Myth than the Stories You Read to Your Child

There’s no bigger myth in reading than speeding through it.

Sure, it sounds tempting. Who wouldn’t want to flip through pages at lightning speed? There’s something undeniably satisfying about watching a bookmark glide from cover to cover, or seeing the progress bar on your Kindle hit 100%.

And yes, there are countless books, courses, and YouTube videos promising to teach you how to read faster, with tricks such as subvocalization, and limiting eye movement. But the real truth is that reading was never meant to be rushed. And for children, whose growing minds will absorb everything that pops in front of them, speed can quietly undermine the critical experience of reading, which is learning life lessons and developing into a functioning human

Why Speed Reading is So Appealing?

Wanting to read faster usually comes from being overwhelmed. There are so many books being published, and if we want to be productive, according to society, BookTok and literary influencers we should finish 50, 75, or even 100 books in a year. But reading isn’t a race. And it’s not a productivity metric. Furthermore, when we impose this philosophy on our children, we are hurting not helping them.

Literary critic Harold Bloom famously said, “There is nothing more profoundly healing than the act of solitary reading.” That healing doesn’t come from skimming, but from attention, reflection, and time, things speed actively works against.

Here are some tips to help your children become better, slower readers, in this fast-paced environment.

Children don’t need to read thousands of words per minute, they just need the stamina to read at their current pace for long periods of time. When I was assisting a 6th grade English teacher, I noticed she would motivate students by reminding them of how long they had read their SSR (Silent Sustained Reading) books without using the bathroom or looking at their Chromebooks, and then would ask them to go a little bit longer. At the beginning of the semester they started at 10 minutes, and right before the holiday break they could go 25 minutes uninterrupted. Of course, your reading speed will pick up as you spend more time doing it. But this should be a natural process, not something forced.

Reading isn’t just words passing through a child’s head. They’re involved in an active conversation. When children read, they’re engaging with some of the smartest people who have ever lived: historians, scientists, and philosophers.  You wouldn’t rush through a meaningful conversation with someone you admire. Reading deserves the same respect. It requires pauses, questions, thinking, and reflection.  

It shouldn’t be a surprise that most authors don’t want you to skim their work, and as a reader, you’re not getting your money’s worth if you tear through a book like it's Man v. Food challenge.
Reading slowly allows ideas to settle. It lets characters linger. It gives children space to imagine, question, and reflect on their own lives.

That’s where growth happens.

So the next time your child picks up a book, encourage them to read for as long as they need to.