Jenna Bush Hager's 3-Step Plan to Get Her Kids to Read More Books This Summer

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a day ago

Jenna Bush Hager is determined to keep her kids — Mila, 12, Poppy, 9, and Hal, 5 — reading this summer.
'I have a reading challenge going on in my house,' Jenna tells TODAY.com. 'Summer slide is a real thing, and that happens when your kids are not in school for months at a time.'
Because she allowed her kids to do whatever they want as part of a self-described 'brat summer' last year, one of her children ('who will remain nameless') had a reading score that declined so severely that a teacher approached Jenna about it. She doesn't intend for the same thing to happen this year.
Jenna's first order of business is to ban iPads during the week. The second part is a bit more involved: For every minute of screentime they want, they will have to read for that same amount of time first.
'So if they're going to watch 30 minutes of television, they have to read for 30,' Jenna explains.
'Poppy was like, 'But what if I want to watch 8 hours?'' says Jenna. 'Well that's never going to happen, but get to reading, queen!'
Every time the kids finish a book, Jenna plans to remind them of their accomplishment by taking a picture with them and the book and adding the photo to a bulletin board in their room.
'And they get special treats and such for every book they finish,' she says. 'It can be something simple like, 'I'm going to take you and me to go get a lemonade,' ... and just give them that one-on-one time.'
There is one exception to the rule.
'Hal doesn't know how to read yet,' Jenna says and pauses. 'We've got to figure that out.'
In all, Jenna is hoping for a relaxing summer with her family.
'Summer as a working mom can be hectic, but I've just decided this summer I want to slow things down,' she shares. 'I want to try to get home earlier. I want to do simple things with my kids, and also implement learning that's fun.'
This article was originally published on TODAY.com