If you read my “10 favourite pre-school story books” post, you’ll know I’m a big fan of reading Robert his bedtime story every night – it’s one of the few consistent times in our day-to-day activities, as well as being a great developmental aid for him.
So, I was very dismayed to read some recent research which seems to point towards parental bedtime stories being a bit of a dying art. According to research commissioned by TalkTalk:
- Only 52% of parents who were surveyed said they regularly read a bedtime story to their child.
- 85% of people surveyed agreed that reading was good for their child’s development
- Only 60% of people surveyed claim to have had stories read to them as a child
- The worst bedtime-story-readers are in Wales – just 34% regularly do it!
I know we’re living in a busy world with increasing pressures on our time, but surely reading a bedtime story to your child is a simple, easy and – best of all – FREE way of spending time with your child? Even if you can’t afford to buy tonnes of books, BookStart and public libraries can furnish you with at least half-a-dozen books to read.
Though I won’t even get started on what’s happening to our libraries now…!
Anyway, I for one pledge to do everything I can to encourage other new parents to read with their children. I’m not quite sure how that’ll happen yet, but I’m sure I’ll figure something out…!
TalkTalk are also running an interesting competition to go with the research – but I’m planning on entering myself, so I’ll probably do another post about that when I ask you to vote for me! :D