OPINIE

ALISON FLOOD

The Guardian, 18 september 2008

Reading to children losing out to TV and dinner
Booktrust survey finds that reading to children has fallen again in recent years

Fresh evidence has shown that the decline in parents reading aloud to their children has deepened over the past two years, with busy lives, dinner and TV all getting in the way of a story at bedtime.

A survey of more than 1,500 parents by books charity Booktrust found that only one in three parents are reading to their children daily, down from 43% two years ago. The average four to five-year-old spends twice as long watching TV every week as they do reading with their parents, while secondary school starters spend more time doing their chores (46 minutes) than reading with their parents (41 minutes). The average 11 to 12-year-old is in front of the television for 8 and a half hours a week, surfing the internet for four hours 14 minutes and reading alone for only three hours 19 minutes, Booktrust found.

Parents blamed their busy lives, fatigue and having to cook dinner, but Booktrust director Viv Bird stressed the importance of reading together at a young age to prepare children for later life. "I think that modern life is more stressful - people are working harder and longer hours, and also there is more competition amongst the leisure activities children can do such as playing on the computer, and watching television or DVDs. Time just gets squeezed," she said. "That's why reading before bedtime is such an important routine to get into – it's a time for children to talk to parents about their day, an opportunity to touch base at the end of a long day.

"Encouraging pleasure and enjoyment of reading needs the support of parents - just spending that time helps children have fun with books," she continued. "Ultimately we know that if young people are reading in their leisure time they are more likely to go on and achieve."

Booktrust will be giving away more than two million books to children this school term, with every reception-aged pupil and Year 7 pupil in the UK to receive a free book over the next few weeks. Four to five-year-olds will be given a copy of Harry and the Dinosaurs Go to School by Ian Whybrow, illustrated by Adrian Reynolds, while older children will be able to select a book from a list of 12 titles, including Mitchell Symons' Why Eating Bogeys Is Good For You and Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant. The initiative is supported by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and publisher Pearson.