[btilly]

Read to him when he is young, with him when older. It is the most stupidly effective academic intervention I'm aware of.

Actually evidence suggests that this is not true. Energy spent reading to kids helps a bit, but what makes a long-term difference is to be seen frequently reading for yourself. Otherwise you wind up in the trap that the kid learns that reading is for babies.

[robryan]

Yeah I have parents who, like all good parents would say that it's good to read, but didn't do a lot of reading themselves.

[wwortiz]

You are right that that is how you get a child to like reading when they are older but reading to them and with them is also a great way for them to learn especially since they are interacting with a parent, while picking up language cues and other such things.