According to the annual Understanding the Children’s Book Consumer survey, only half of preschoolers are being read every day in the UK. In 2013, 69% of toddlers were read daily, this percentage dropping to only 51% in 2017. A decrease of 20% in four years and a real danger to their good development. When asked why they don’t read to their three to four-year-olds, 19% of parents answered that they lack the energy needed at the end of the day, while 16% of them reported their preschool kids prefers to do something else.
The Publisher Egmont, co-founder of the study, stated that this drop is correlated with the increase of watching online videos daily by almost 20% of kids, warning that such a “steep decline” in reading at this age “signaled a significant threat to child development, with potential long-term social impact”. Of course, parents struggle to balance work and family. However, at a so crucial time of their children’s growth, it’s important they understand the many benefits that reading can bring to both themselves and their kids.
Picture: Mother Goose reading written fairy tales, by Gustave Doré (Wikimedia Commons)
