How would you solve the growing reading crisis?

[Unpaidviewer]

My toddler is napping and I've ended up watching Vanessa. They have had a segment about who should be teaching children to read. They glanced over multiple issues and didn't state which studies they were talking about. But it got me thinking about the what the solution actually is.

Rates of older children reading for enjoyment is at an all time low. Similar story with the number of parents who are reading regularly to their younger children. Children are starting school not know how to turn pages of books. Screen time is often cited as the problem and there are studies showing the amount of screen time children are receiving can be associated to socioeconomic status.

So how would you try and fix this? Or do we just accept it?

Take them to the local library. They have reading sessions for toddlers. Read to the children at bedtime or any time you need quiet x

Accept that there may be a generation of functionally illiterate adults in the future? I hope not.

Model reading for pleasure at home. This, in combination with being strict about screen time (delaying any screen time as long as possible) is what every parent should be doing.
I work with young families and I'm so shocked at how integral screens are (mostly iPads/phones) for very young children. Many mums tell me their babies/toddlers will not eat without a phone. It's not called the electronic babysitter for nothing.

screen time is cited as an issue and yet my children’s school - not unlike most others - sets reading books on Apps from Reception onwards - drives me nuts! all homework is generally on apps - reading maths and grammar in fact

my eldest has only really got into reading physical books at around age 9 - compared to myself I think I read lord of the rings around that age - so I think that’s incredibly late in age but it’s taken this long for her to find something that has caught her imagination

the other “issue” for me is there is far too much choice - and far too many dumbed down books - all the diary type ones with about half a dozen words per page in massive childlike font so there is no real way of a child really engaging with a character story as it’s over before it’s even started - and then “normal” books with actual sentences paragraphs and chapters feels too difficult for many children and puts them off

I certainly blame screen… when I was young I would get into bed and enjoy reading a few chapters of a Jacqueline Wilson book. Now, children want ‘one more episode’ ‘one more reel’ or similar on a screen.

I do think young parents who look for HV/development advice should be encouraged to instil more reading from a baby/toddler/young child age.

I also feel that parents could be an example, rather than unwinding at the end of the day with a quick check over socials/online shopping if the children noticed parents reading to relax, they may copy.

@shellyleppard I assume @Unpaidviewer means “how do we address it as a society?”, it’s all very well those of us who know to read to our kids and take them to the library doing that. They aren’t the ones losing out.

I think the loss of Children’s Centres has a lot to answer for. They were helpful to engaged parents who had good role models in their own parents, but where they really came into their own was for parents who wanted to do their best for their children and didn’t have positive role models to follow.

Who didn’t know that feeding your kids fresh fruit and vegetables is important and that reading to your children brings you closer and creates a lifelong love of books. The parents who weren’t parented in the way that they deserved but who were determined to do better for their kids.

My son, 14, is an avid reader. He had and still has at least a 100 books in his room. He’s never had a tablet, he’s never needed one and I’m not sure why any child does. He watched telly as a normal child does, but never a tablet. I think it’s a parents job to instil the skills and curiosity to read in a child from a young age. It’s a schools job to hone those skills but absolutely a parents job to begin them on the path.

I don't personally have any issues but mine is still a toddler. We go to the library once a week and take out 10 books. Its anecdotal but our local library toddler groups are full of well to do types. How do you improve outcomes for the kids whos parents don't take them to the library and sit them in front of screens for long periods?

There already is a generation of functionally illiterate adults

For any number of reasons, far too many adults can't read or comprehend what they're reading

They are now in charge of children

@Unpaidviewer that is a very good question. Unless you can personally intervene with every single case of parent's using an electronic babysitter not really much unfortunately

I'm sure i read somewhere that the average national reading age is between 9 and 11 years old. It is pretty horrifying.

@Underthemagnificentbeechtree children centres were few and far between when my sons were younger. Luckily the local library was next to the junior school so we used to pop in on the way home. But appreciate not everyone has the opportunity to do so.

I have no idea how we solve the problem societally but for individual families, start reading to your babies almost immediately.

My DC would sit in my lap at 4 months old and turn pages.

We read every morning and every night before bedtime.

We went to the library every week for story time and had lots of books at home.

We have a family rule that if you ask for a book we’ll always say yes. And gifts of books were always a feature of birthday and Christmas presents.

Both my DC (late teens) read.

Read to them as much as possible for as long as possible. My 10 year old son doesn't love reading but he loves being read to so we still do nightly story time and I'll keep it going until he asks me to stop.

Encourage them to read anything they want. Same son really only likes dog man and
Tom Gates type books. Brilliant. They are probably 'below' his reading level now but we encourage them and make a big thing of the latest one. Any book they enjoy is great.

Model reading as a normal part of life. I'm a big reader and I'm always reading, and books are all over the house.

Support the school's attempts. He doesn't love the books he has to read for homework but he has to do it anyway!

Support active reading (or hearing). Encourage questions 'what do you think happens next? Why? Did you find that bit funny? Why? How do you think the character feels? Why?'

Limit screen time (hard!) if there is nothing else do in bed besides read for 15 minutes or just go to sleep, my son will usually chose to read.

Bring books out as something to do while you wait, or on a train, or while grown ups or doing something boring - don't default to letting them always use screens to help kill time. This is also hard!

Did you not buy them books?

Stopping the defunding and closing of libraries would be a good start. Many families can’t buy books, so libraries are critical to get young children to read for fun.

Health visitors very much give this advice, as does Sure Start. The WHO states children aged 0-2 should have zero screen time. Sorry but a parent should not need to be recommended not to give their young children screens, that's common sense.

See between having my 14 year old and my 11 year old they all closed and it was such a shame (I had several I could walk to for different activities & they also did veg bags etc). I live in quite a mixed area with both wealthy people and those who are in poverty & it was a lovely non-stigmatising way to help some of the (mainly Mums) who didn’t know where to start. I have recently been back in touch with one of them who was about 19 with a 2 year old when I was going to the Children’s Centres with my first and helped her to guide her son to Uni open days as he’s the first in the family to even consider going! There’s nothing wrong with her intelligence or her desire to do right by her children but when you haven’t had your own parents show you how to do things it’s just not part of your sphere of experience.

Yes to all of this. We have the same rule re books. No is never an answer. The joy of reading is one of the best gifts my DM passed on, I remember we used to go shopping for holiday books, but never clothes.

Read to young children every night before they go to bed?

We used to do a bath, story and bed every night until secondary school 😊

screen time is cited as an issue and yet my children’s school - not unlike most others - sets reading books on Apps from Reception onwards - drives me nuts! all homework is generally on apps - reading maths and grammar in fact

Yes, I find the same & it really doesn’t help!

Both are mine were avid readers but then stopped, but then I have also stopped. There are forums, the internet in general, whatever TV show i want on demand, podcasts etc so many more things competing with a book.

Many closed because they didn't have the footfall to justify being open, and this was particularly in the poorest areas. Books for babies/toddlers can be very cheap and this is when the reading habits starts.

I don't know really. I don't have kids myself yet but have always been a big reader. My niece and nephew are 12 and 7 respectively and neither of their parents read much but I've always tried to encourage a love of books and reading trying to choose books tailored to their interests, taking them to the library or out to choose their own books at a book shop. I also given them access to audiobooks in various ways. My niece gets really excited about the books and says she wants to read them but that she'd busy on her phone or ipad and then its too late to read or that she can't read for more than a page or two. My nephew only really loves being read to which I do as much as I can for them,

To be honest the biggest thing that influenced me to read was my mum reading a lot and talking about the books she read both then and had read as a child it made me want to read Enid Blyton books and the classics she had loved as a child. I think if the parents read often and the children see them then they will be interested and want to read too. The issue is that so many adults no longer read these days either.

I am surprised it’s that old, have you seen some of the comprehension on this site?!

It makes me sad how many children don’t even have a bedtime story. It’s those simple uses of books as a connection and a comforting thing that help build a love of books and reading.

Things like Toni boxes are great but they shouldn’t replace the snuggling up with a parent aspect.