I would think I am in the minority on this subject as a writer. Most will tell you about their love of reading and how it inspired them to start writing. It was different for me.
Growing up, I never liked reading. I liked it even less in elementary when they implemented the Accelerated Reader Program, which forced kids to read for points that would impact their overall grade.
I used to cheat. I would pick stories we read in class the year before and accumulate the points needed for the present year. It worked for a while until they cut short stories out of the mix for the later years in elementary and middle school.
I am a firm believer in no homework. Children need to decompress. They get so little time after school for that with homework, chores, dinner, and then bed. School is their work. They work it five times a week as a full-time job and then have to come home to do more classwork disguised as homework. Imagine coming home from your retail job and your boss tells you you must bring home a rolltainer's worth of items to finish cataloging for inventory off the clock.
That's what homework, especially reading, was like to me. It was like pulling teeth. I rarely brought home my school work. I would do it in class before the subject or sometimes stay in class during breaks. It wasn't a perfect system because sometimes I would forget about the homework, but I was an honor roll student so I could get away with half-done work.
This continued into high school where it became more difficult to get away with not reading source materials. Not only were we required to gather AR points, but we also had book reports and weekly tests on chapters. I failed a lot of those tests, partially because I am not a fast reader, but also because I had no interest in the subject matter.
My sophomore-senior years were better because I was free of the AR points. I also began reading in my spare time, but it was mostly just stories my friends were interested in so I understood all the references. It wasn't until I graduated from college that I began reading for pleasure. I am not as advent a reader as I would like to be, but I find a balance between reading and my other interests.
None of this impacted my love of writing though. I may not have liked reading, but I still loved to write. It confused many, especially my teachers. I do not really have an explanation for it other than I like creating universes and the people in them. Perhaps it is why I love to play simulation games and make custom content to go along with it?
Today I would encourage children to love reading. It will make things easier in the long run as far as school, but there were people who said the same thing to me as a child so I understand it does not always have the impact people want it to.
But at any rate, finding your love of reading is important, no matter what age you find it.
-MDP