Saturday, March 09, 2013

World Book Day 2013: Parents still find time to read to their children, despite leading increasingly busy lives


World Book Day 2013: almost three quarters of parents read to their children

Row of old books
Old habits die hard: the majority of parents still read to their children Photo: Alamy
Parents still find time to read to their children, despite leading increasingly busy lives and the distractions of television and the internet, according to a new survey.
To mark World Book Day today, high street supermarket Sainsbury’s surveyed 2,000 parents and found that 71 per cent – 10 million families – make time to read regularly to their children.
The positive findings, which suggest the temptations of the digital age are being kept at bay, also found that 67 per cent of children are encouraged to catch up on their favourite books during long car journeys, on public transport and in between activities at sports centres.
“I cannot express how important reading to your children is,” says Emma Kenny, a child psychologist. “The book world is a world of make believe, which invites the imagination to embark on creative and magical journeys.”

It’s not all good news for parents, however. Last month, a poll carried out by Opinium for Booktrust found that only 13 per cent of fathers are the main reader. A quarter of them blamed late working hours, but further research from the Institute of Education suggested that many fathers perceive reading as being a typically female domain. When they do read to their children, fathers tend to favour their daughters over their sons by reading to them for longer and more often.
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