Last month an article in The Guardian reported that the number of parent reporting that they enjoy reading aloud to their kids 0-4 has dropped from 64% in 2012 to 41% for the same age group in December 2024.
Among the things I found most concerning is that there appears to be a degree of gender discrimination in terms of who gets read to as well as a difference in how different generations perceive reading aloud as enjoyable.
A significant gender disparity was identified, with 29% of 0- to two-year-old boys being read to every day or nearly every day compared with 44% of girls of the same age.
[…]
Gen Z parents are more likely than millennial or Gen X parents to say that children’s reading is “more a subject to learn than a fun thing to do”. HarperCollins said that parents in this age group grew up with technology themselves, so may think “fun comes more from digital entertainment than from books”.
The survey was conducted by publisher HarperCollins and book data company Neilsen so there may be a degree of biased self-interest involved. However, I don’t think they are off-base in their concern that children may grow up seeing reading as an academic subject you are tested on and can either succeed or fail at rather than a pleasurable pursuit.
The survey findings suggest that though it is less than a majority, many adults still do find reading with their kids to be enjoyable. Research has shown that reading with and to children increases the likelihood they will find reading an enjoyable lifetime pursuit. HarperCollins and Neilsen encourage parents to continue reading with their children even after they appear to have mastered the skill.
Some parents stop reading to their children once they can read by themselves, assuming that their children will choose to continue reading, or that if they continue to read to their child who can already read, “it will make them lazy and less likely to read independently”, reads a report accompanying the survey. “None of these beliefs are true.”
I would have liked to know more about why those beliefs about negative impact of reading to children after they mastered the skill were incorrect but I didn’t see a link to the study in the article.
