| One in five parents do not see the point in reading to their children | | Print | |
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Research shows that almost one in five parents do not see the benefit of reading to a child before they are at an age when they can sit up or talk and one in four parents struggle with reading and so do not read to their children at all. A study commissioned by a leading online provider of educational and fiction books has revealed that one in five parents with children under five years of age do not think there is any benefit in reading to children before they can walk or talk. In addition, almost one in four parents either do not enjoy reading, or struggle with reading and so put no time aside to read with their child. www.alltopbooks.com surveyed over 640 UK parents, with children under five years of age, revealing the amount of time they spend reading with their children per week. The following results were found: 34.4% spent no time reading to their children at all. 50.5% of parents spent between half and one hour reading to their children each week. 11.2% spent two to three hours reading to their children each week. 3.9% spent three and a half and one hour more reading to their children each week. Therefore, over 50% of parents only spend a maximum of eight and a half minutes reading to their children each day and, more surprisingly, over 34% of parents spend no time reading to their children at all. Only 3.9% of parents spend the recommended minimum 3.5 hours reading to their children each week, an average of 30 minutes every day. “To discover that such a high percentage of parents don’t read to their children at all is really disappointing; reading to a child is like opening a door to a big and exciting world, allowing them to hear sounds and see pictures that they may not otherwise get to see.” Dilip continues: “I have known children as young as four months old to show an interest in books, and children who cannot yet talk to make a ‘moo’ noise when they see a picture of a cow; for so many parents to think it is pointless to read to a child before they can talk is very concerning.” The results highlight the factors preventing parents from spending more time reading to their children. Almost half (49.7%) are too busy with work and family commitments to read to their children any more than they already do, but all of the 49.7% of respondents wished they could spend more time reading to their children, with one participant commenting, “I finish work, pick up the kids, clean the house, cook the dinner, bath them and then they’re asleep; If I attempted to read to them after all that, I’d be asleep as well!” Despite proven statistics showing that parental involvement with reading from a very young age, could stimulate and develop a baby’s brain, 19.6% of parents do not see the point of reading to a small child, and 24.8% of parents do not like reading; 9.9% of which admitted to have difficulty reading, and so did not read to their children at all. More significantly, 18.9% of these children were three to four years of age and consequently should be preparing to cope with the demands of their formal literacy education; their peers are likely to already have a favourite book, a preference for certain pictures and an understanding of numbers, letters and colours. Only about one in 17 parents felt satisfied with the amount of time they spent reading with their children, all of which spent at least two hours per week, approximately 17 minutes reading with their children per day.
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