Keeping the Confidence Growing

In partnership with

Welcome to Tiny Steps to Confident Readers.

Over the next six weeks, we’ll focus on helping your child build reading confidence, one small, achievable step at a time.

Before we dive in, here’s your Progress Tracker so you always know where you are:

Week-by-Week Progress Tracker

• Week 1: Tiny Moments. Big Confidence. (Past Issue)

• Week 2: The Right Book Matters More Than the Right Level (Past Issue)

• Week 3: Turning Reading Into Playtime (Past Issue)

• Week 4: Every Tiny Reading Win Counts (Past Issue)

• Week 5: How to Build a Gentle Reading Habit (Past Issue)

• Week 6: Keeping the Confidence Growing (You are here)

Week 6: Keeping the Confidence Growing

Confidence isn’t something we build once and then keep forever.
It’s something we tend, like a garden.

Some days, your child will race through stories.
On other days, even a single sentence will feel hard.

Both days are normal.
Both days are part of the journey.

The goal isn’t perfect reading.
The goal is a child who believes:

"I can find my way back whenever I need to."

This Week’s Tiny Step:

Stay steady. Trust the process.

Even if progress feels slow.
Even if some weeks feel harder than others.

Confidence doesn’t grow in a straight line.
It grows in spirals, forward, back, around, and through.

Every story shared.
Every moment of laughter over a silly page.
Every quiet celebration of a tiny win.

It all matters.

Practical Ways to Build a Gentle Routine

• Stay connected to joy. Keep stories light, playful, and based on your child’s interests.

• Normalise the wobbles. Tough days are part of building anything new.

• Protect the routine. Keep reading linked to calming parts of the day, but stay flexible.

Progress that feels safe is progress that lasts.

Reflection for Parents and Carers

• Can you trust the slow days as much as the fast ones?

• Can you celebrate effort, even when it doesn’t look like “progress”?

You’re not just building a reader.
You’re building resilience.

Thank you, 1440 Media, for sponsoring this week’s newsletter!

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This Week’s Gentle Challenge:

Reflect on how far your child has come and how far you’ve come, too.

Celebrate both journeys.

Because both of you have grown in ways you can’t always see.

Tiny steps today. Lifelong confidence tomorrow.

Closing Note

This is not the end of the journey.

It begins a new relationship between your child, books, and belief in themselves.

Keep going.
Keep trusting.
Keep making space for joy.

You’ve built something strong, and it will keep growing.

Next week, we’ll bring everything together and explore how to keep your child’s reading confidence growing long after this series ends.

The roots you’ve planted are stronger than you think.