Reading for the sake of reading

There were a number of comments left on my post called "Daddy, I want a book buck!" where I detailed how the school's reading incentive plan was distracting my daughter from her love for reading.

Here is a comment left by anonymous:

As a parent to an 8 year old boy who LOVES to read, I find this heartbreaking. When my son was 4, I knew so many parents who were sending their children to reading programs to ensure they learned to read early so they could be competitive with other kids when school started. I remember my husband being concerned that maybe we should be doing the same for our son, to ensure he didn't get behind. As someone who loves to read, I knew if we could capture our son's curiosity and desire to learn through reading, all the drive he needed would come from within. Whenever he expressed an interest in anything, I found a book for him on that topic. As he gets older and has more and more questions about things, we seek out the answers in books. He will sit and read for hours sometimes because he loves to read and loves what he can learn from books. Instead of reward programs for how much kids read, I would love to see a program that helps kids find books that tap into their individual interests. That is what creates a love of reading.