How would you solve the growing reading crisis?

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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?

I don't know how you make someone like or love reading to be honest.

I've read to mine since she was little before bed. But she was never one to snuggle down and cuddle in. Fairly active. She's 12 and I'm reading her The Tulip Touch now. So I still read to her, less than before obviously.

And me, I'm a big reader. Always got a book on the go. Always bring a book with me. But then my mum says I've always been like that since I was really little even.

She's is not a fan of reading though. She'd only read the Lottie Brooks books and Diary of a Wimpy Kid and 13 Storey Treehouse books. Which of course are very quick and easy to read books.
Reading also involves sitting still and is a quiet activity which are never her favourite activities and not the kind of thing she excels at anyway.

It's so hard.

i read to my three DC every night at bedtime (and during the day too) until they were at secondary school. I bought them loads of books. I'm an avid reader so they've always seen me reading. They never had their own tablet (we share a family iPad) and didn't get phones until they were 11yo. They were all good early readers in primary school. And yet.... as teens, none of them read for pleasure.

I know this isn't really the kind of thing you're talking about OP. My kids are literate and are doing well at school. But it still makes me sad.

This is a societal problem. It may be overcome in certain households, but broadly speaking;

Kids in nursery / after school club til 6pm. Barely any time for decent dinner and family time before bed.

2 FT working parents are knackered by 7pm, cranky kids due to childcare over stimulation. Little engagement in a bed timestory.

Adults with low reading age themselves, growth of anxiety and MH issues make them reluctant to read out loud (yes, even to their kids).

Screens used as babysitters. Lowering of attention span due to reliance on fast paced videos.

Closure of libraries. Books are £6 a pop these days, out of reach for many families.

English as a 2nd language - generational hurdles to overcome.

Children need to experience the joy of being read to which then leads to independent reading. My dd (14) read independently at night from age 8. She stopped about age 12/13 which coinciding with getting a phone. I noticed the pattern and restricted access. She now loves books again and reads a book a week/ fortnight. So removing the screens (all screens) and giving them the choice of books/ toys or boredom.

Properly fund and resource Libraries. People don’t realise how much the public library service was decimated during Austerity, as whist a number of libraries were closed even more background support staff, resource budgets and professionalism was cut without the public realising. This is only increasing with the increasing pressures on local council budgets.

Give them some decent books to study for GCSE? Something that has at least a teeny tiny bit of relevance to their lives.

To be fair, while I agree with you, we’ve lost them as readers long before GCSE.

I agree, if there must be Shakespeare then choose carefully, for example.

And I really hope the thread doesn’t just become a pile on of parents MN disapproves of; the poor, the full time workers, and so on.

It’s more complex than that. I do agree phones are part of the problem but they aren’t going anywhere.

We already have this, many of those adults are now parents, parents with a low reading age I would imagine are less likely to read to their children as they may have a negative of their own ability, or may be needlessly embarassed. The reading version of “I can’t do maths”.

Perhaps see JK Rowling as someone not only standing up for women but an author whose books engaged children, especially boys who have traditionally been less inclined to read.

DH and I didn't have children. We now have great nephews and nieces aged between 1 and 7. They all get book tokens for birthdays and Christmas. It's an easy win for us and they love showing us what they have bought. It helps that all the parents read to them.

No, not at all, just revert back to what worked. Giving a young child a tablet has nothing to do with technological advancement and everything to do with being parentally lazy.

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.

This is often trotted out, but the parents that were bothered to go there weren't the problem. It's honestly not that difficult to open a damn book and it's hardly a left field concept that reading to your child is beneficial to their development.

My child didn't have a tablet
I read to her
I read myself
She still doesn't like reading

It isn’t difficult but the damn child doesn’t always agree

Reading with toddlers often isn’t perfect. I’m sure some are enthralled by The Gruffalo but a lot of the time it’s fraught with difficulties. I had a book called On The Farm I used to read to ds and we never got past the first page as it had a tractor on it and when I tried to turn the page he’d go mad! DD is two and she only tolerates two books - out of a huge choice, and even that’s hit and miss.

A big part of this should focus on the fact it doesn’t have to be perfect, the toddler snuggled in your arms quietly reading The Tiger Who Came To Tea may not exist. But it will come in time if you just persevere with it and make books part of daily life.

What's not decent about the books on offer? Most Shakespeare plays, for example, have central themes that are very relevant to teenagers.

Literature is supposed to broaden the mind.

Screen use is bonkers. People on here will say about everything in moderation and it has its place etc but that's just thick adults ruining their kid's chances of success. End of.

It has to start with the parents turning off/putting down their own devices. I don’t know if parents to be need parenting courses, but some seem clueless that they need to teach a child to talk, read, know their colours, catch/throw a ball etc all starts at home, that babies don’t come out of the birth canal with these abilities.

I don’t have a problem with Shakespeare but honestly, Christmas Carol is a snore fest (and it is May when they do the exam) and I don’t think many relate to Inspector Calls or Lord of the Flies

To put it another way, what is on offer is all written by white men pre 1960 bar a tiny selection of poems.

There's actually a bit more choice now, but teachers whether due to laziness, fear or funding seem to teach the same texts. (90% plus of kids will study the 'holy trinity' - Macbeth, Inspector Calls, Christmas Carol.

It's boring. We teach Leave Taking, which is much more contemporary, but I'm not sure it's timeless.

I saw a great suggestion in an article last week - extend the 19th century section up to 1960 and rethink the choices!

My son hated reading until we hit on comics when he was 6. He is 9 now and Bunny and Monkey, Dogman etc have paved the way for chapter books.
7-8.30pm in our house is reading time for me DS and DH. No screens, just reading.
He isn't allowed a tablet or YouTube, but I am probably too lenient with the TV.

They are literally virtually never taught, though. Marking exams last summer I came across maybe three or four that weren’t Inspector (overwhelming majority) or less frequently Lord of the Flies.

Fund primary schools properly, so along with the books that follow a teaching scheme, there are books for enjoyment.

Don't make kids read the same book three times if they don't want too.

Seriously overhaul the secondary school book choices. Yes, Shakespeare and Dickens and classics like that have their place. But not in the education of a 16 year old who will struggle to get a 4 at gcse English. Secondary school Seriously put me off reading for years because of the (lack of) speed and dire choices in books.

Completely pie in the sky, I know, but I'd bring in a Charlotte Mason/PNEU style curriculum for schools. I'd also not teach reading or start formal lessons until a child is aged 6. Instead, they'd have lots of excellent quality 'living books' read to them, plenty of nature studies outside, crafts, art, music & sports.
These schools used to be very successful in this country, especially for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Unfortunately, they were lost along the way due to 'progress'.

Pushing children to learn how to decode books from a very young age puts them off reading longterm. Plus libraries are full of twaddle and if you can find a classic book, often it's abridged. That's without going anywhere near the screen issue!