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?

The library closures during COVID were a pain as well tbh. At the time we went into lockdown my daughter was 4, and we had previously visited the library weekly. By the time libraries re-opened, we were obviously out of the habit and it's been tough to get back into it as she's older and has different interests (our library was also refurbished so closed for 4 years in total). I'll always be sad about that break in our little routine. Then when she started school after that summer everything was on a goddamn app. She still had her books at home but the normal avenues of support in reading just weren't there so I don't doubt more than a few children fell through the cracks.

… you can’t. Unless the person has enough money for books, the government will have to step in. you’re going to have mandatory activities, like government-run toddler reading groups (so… a library. You need library funding like mad, but people who might not naturally go also need “encouragement”) and the government needs to decide it’s worth throwing money at, because they’ve determined that without more money, they’re going to end up with some part of the population as functionally illiterate. The Chinese government and stable African governments must be absolutely laughing their heads off - I would be if the countries that originally thought they were white saviors (UK and US) are now training up the most stupid generation I’ve ever seen (I recently met a 15 year old who thought the sun and the moon were the same thing; no, they weren’t trolling, and seemed a bit humiliated when I pointed out the mistake). I imagine other countries that are more militant and involved about child-rearing will start passing laws about allowing babies to use screens, and actively start punishing parents.

I only know one friend who managed to completely keep her child off any screens, but she’s also my wealthiest friend - I don’t think her child has been left with anyone but trusted family staff or family, and she takes him on a several-hour journey, involving a ferry, to see family all the time, with no screens to entertain him (she doesn’t have a nanny either).

I'm just struggling to see why you're going off on a tangent? Of course there are people who cannot read well enough to find it enjoyable. I have family members who are in that category. I mentioned in a PP that I come from a family of non readers who don't value education. A few generations back most of my family worked down the mines. Today its manual labour or theyre out of work. They don't have the same job opportunities as me, in part due to poor literacy levels. If you can't read well you can't do well in any other subject in school. Most jobs require some basic qualifications. Its a domino effect. And as I said in my OP, if screens are to blame then there is a link between screentime and socioeconomic status. It just widens the gap. If I had been born later would I have turned to SM instead of reading? Maybe and my life would be completely different.

I didn't think it was a tangent? It seems really important to me.

It seems that what we are basically looking at is a study comparing roughly a decade of literacy attainments - the latter end of which is obviously skewed by the pandemic - and a study which, though very interesting, is about what people think about enjoyment and reading.

To jump from that to saying that we're looking at an unprecedented crisis, and to leap into talking about poor literacy and the struggle for employment, seems like scaremongering.

You say that if screens are to blame (for children claiming not to enjoy reading?) then there is a link between screentime and socioeconomic status.

There may well be, but it's a huge leap, and people on this thread have offered what I think are pretty compelling explanations for why it's more complicated than that. Screens may well be a symptom of a wider issue, not a cause - we need to take that seriously, surely? Otherwise we're just going to end up shaming people for, effectively, being poor and/or time-poor. It genuinely worries me.

I read to my two from day one, we go to the library regularly and have a lot of books. They read to us at primary school (youngest still does, although he refuses to do more than 10 minutes and sees it as a chore). We read them bedtime stories until around 9.

They rarely read books for fun now (10 and 12). They occasionally get a book from the library and definitely do as gifts or even if they just spot one they like the look of, I'll buy it happily. The only ones that get read are the graphic/comic style ones. The eldest likes audiobooks at bedtime.

I don't know what to do. We've modelled reading for pleasure all their lives. We read books around them. We have screen free time. I just hope they might get into reading later.

Same 😕

Our library is in the same leisure centre with our swimming pool and is really popular. When you have two DC swimming at different times you can take one whilst the other is swimming and they always have colouring sheets out on tables. Or if swimming is on a Saturday it is a free activity afterwards. I think location and accessibility can make a massive difference.

I've just had another thought, when my eldest was born we were given a library card for him from the HV. When my youngest was born you were given a form to apply for one that needed to be taken into the library. This can feel like one more job on a long to do list. Or how about issuing new ones to DC when they start school incase they got lost as babies?

I think the argument that some books don’t appeal just lacks imagination. My husband as a child didn’t enjoy reading books, it was a constant fight for my MIL to sit with him to read. He just wanted to play, watch and absorb football! He’s still the same. You know what she discovered that he would read? The Sheffield Wednesday match day program magazine. Every child has an interest. You’ve just got to find it and adapt the reading materials to that interest.

If you think it's too much hassle to fill in a form and go into the library then it means books/reading is not important to you. A HV physically giving out cards isn't suddenly going to incentivize these parents, they'd still have to go into the library to get the books.

Or maybe they just find form filling more overwhelming or have less free time than you do? To take the form into our library you need to go in when advisers are there to help (working hours Mon to Fri) then queue with every one else wanting to use customer services as the library doubles as a LA service centre and sit down with someone. Whereas once you have your library card you just drop in, grab what you need and go to the machine and leave. Convincing parents that they are inadequate isn't going to help. I find empathy and critical thinking are great parenting skills too.

I’d put out guidance on hugely limiting or banning screen time for u3/u5. In the same way they say for example don’t give an under 1 honey.

Once a child gets hooked on that dopamine hit of constant silly YouTube videos etc you’re screwed IMO and I’m saying that as an adult with the same issue!

I think you'd have to live under a rock not to have seen all the guidance on banning and limiting screen time, though - it's far, far, far more prevalent than the advice about honey for babies.

It's really convenient to make out that the issue here is lazy parents, or uninformed parents. But it doesn't solve the bigger problem that we live in an increasingly unequal society, and this idea of screen time as evil and literacy in crisis has become one of the ways people make tacit justifications for that inequality. It's much easier to imagine hordes of feckless, ignorant parents deliberately not bothering with their children, stunting their educational chances and creating a huge, chaotic 'crisis' in reading, than it is to accept that, actually, we're looking at fairly minor fluctuations in how many people seem to read for pleasure and a much larger socio-economic inequality, which is not primarily related to children growing up without enough literacy to secure good jobs.

It took me months to be able to comfortably walk the distance to the library but I guess books just weren't that important to me or I would have crawled on my hand and knees.

You have to be strict about screen time. Of course they would rather game than read if given an option. We are grown adults sat on mumsnet instead of reading a book right now.
I forced mine to read to me every night from when they started primary school. That makes a big difference

It's all well and good us on MN talking about this. And about we read to our children etc.

Of course we do, we're on a forum about being a parent, we are likely to be engaged and reading to our kids regularly.

It's the kids who don't have this who need support. 'take them to library' okay great, yes, but who? Schools take kids to libraries around me, still doesn't mean that child will read when at home.

My son is PDA Autistic. Refused to read, because we were pushing books he wasn't interested in. Now at 14 he reads all the time. Because he reads books he is interested in. That he finds fun to read (dogman is a firm favourite, and I would recommend it for reluctant readers).

So, I believe that we should start with letting them read what they want from a young age in school. Let them be guided by their interests, instead of reading boring books about biff, chip and kipper.

A kid wants to read a comic, let him! Wants to read a magazine, let her. Wants to read Homer? Hell go ahead if you can! You saw that Spiderman film and see there is a book about Spiderman!? GO READ IT KID!

I genuinely think the way we teach children to read in this country is stifling.

My daughter's school takes them to the library in a disorganised way and they were encouraged to take a book home the last time. My daughter brought a Percy Jackson book because it's all there was in the pile they could take, and she absolutely didn't read it. She's not interested in that kind of book, so it was pointless. Even stranger was that there was no clear path to return the books. The teachers didn't collect them and there was no return to the library last year. I took it back but how many are lost to the system now that weren't even read.

But I don't really agree with always and only letting children read only what they want in school. There needs to be an element of kids reading the same thing for things related to reading and literacy that aren't just reading words on a page. Some of the reading has to for education and learning, it can't only be about enjoyment.

What does it matter if children in society stop reading books? They still learn to read at school, might mean they won’t get fluent till a later age than they did in the past but they’ll still be able to read by the time they get to secondary, they’re just reading in a different way. If books are important to you then make sure you encourage them in your own kids, but I don’t think this is a particularly important issue for the future of society

It's not just about physically reading a book, it's about the other skills you learn through reading. What else teaches critical thinking to same scale reading does? It's fundamental. Unless the goal is a population that never learns the skills associated with reading how can it not be an issue.

I see lots of kids in our local library, but the vast majority are playing on a computer instead of reading books. Always makes me want to scream at their parents that just taking them to the building isn't actually going to help. And it's always the kids who clearly really need the help whose parents just seem to dump them in front of the computers.

I don't know the answer, but hope that I am part of the solution! I run the village library & we open 6 days a week, some of which is with volunteers. I try to have every class (14 in total) of the local Infant & Junior school visit at least once a year & I go to them once a year too. Ditto the 3 village nurseries.

We also run numerous events aimed at all ages & always have toys, drinks & biscuits to make our library a welcoming place to be. I firmly believe that children should see books as fun.

My own DC all read keenly & love to read in bed! As do I. I do think they learn by example.

The books that my 8 year old DGD is given from school are absolutely shockingly boring. One was about fish and chips looked 30 years old and was promoting frying in animal fat!
Any reading is better than none, but finding interesting books in schools would be a start.
I work in FE not being able to read well holds ppl back from doing well in all subjects, they maybe quite good at maths but can't read the questions correctly.
Screens have taken over but the immediate hit that ppl get from screens makes ppl too lazy to read and reduces concentration.
Even my son at uni says he hasn't the concentration to read a novel. Very 😔.

Exactly. There is a difference between being able to read, and being able to read well. The latter is being able to read between the lines, decipher what the words mean and use that literacy for functions, such as following instructions.

This is the crux of most issues that affect children. Your childhood potential is limited by what your parents can/are willing to offer.