3 in 10 children growing up in a house with no books...

[mummytigger]

...I'm sorry, but WHAT?!

This Morning on ITV reported that 3 in 10 children were growing up in a house with no books, and even mentioned an incident where the class was asked to bring in a book and one child brought in the Argos Catalogue!

I'm in absolute shock, I'll be honest with you. I could live on water and instant noodles if I had to, but just see how far you get when you take away my Terry Pratchett or my Stephen King! I'll happily read anything, any time, anywhere - even the back of the toilet roll packet! Even DS has his own books, and he hasn't even been born yet!

I realise that some parents just don't have the time to sit down and read a bedtime story, but to have no books in the house at all is a VERY serious oversight on the parents behalf, and it's going to end up being detrimental towards the childs' development.

What are MumsNet opinions on this?

A quick google reveals that the survey was carried out by a charity who work to improve literacy. So they have a vested interest, TBH.

And that the actual stat was this:

"Using new research from the National Literacy Trust, the campaign highlights the fact that one in three children in the UK do not own a book of their own."

Which is a very different story to how it has been reported. This does not exclude libraries and parents having books.

The original report is here and I have just glanced at it but I wonder how they chose which schools to take part in the survey. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

"Young people who have books of their own enjoyed reading more than young people who don?t
own books (see Figure 1). More specifically, young people who have books of their own are
twice as likely as those who don?t own books to enjoy reading very much. Conversely, young
people who don?t have their own books are three times more likely than those who do have
books of their own to say that they don?t enjoy reading at all. "

Average age of respondent was 11/12. You've got to wonder about cause and effect.

Sorry for multiple posts.

Skimming through the survey you've got to wonder how many parents would look at the results their children have given and say "What????? What on earth are you talking about that's a load of rubbish!!!!!!"

'At a crude brushstroke, young people who have books of their own are more likely to be girls, in KS2 or KS3, socio-economically better off, from White or Mixed ethnic backgrounds and without a special educational need. '

That is a very telling quote.
So if you are male, under 7 or over 14, socio-economically-deprived, from an ethnic minority and with a special educational need, you are least likely to own books of your own. Broadly speaking.

Thank you for the link SQ, I've bookmarked it to read later and think on.

That article is interesting, but the kinds of things it says really don't prove cause and effect. eg "young people who have books of their own are
twice as likely as those who don?t own books to enjoy reading very much" - well, that could prove that owning books increases reading enjoyment, but it could equally show that children who are known to like reading are more likely to be bought books. Same with many of their other figures - none of this proves that giving non-readers books is going to make a significant change in their interest in reading. Certainly once you get to age 9 and upwards, which this study was about - if you want to get children interested you have to start much earlier than that.

What about kids who do have books of their own, but don't like reading? My friend's DD is 13 and she hates reading. She can read very well, but felt pressurised to read at a young age even though her parents encouraged her but didn't force her. She confided in me that she only learned to read well because it would be needed in many areas of life. Apart from that, she'll not pick up a book or magazine etc simply because she's not interested .

I've got a ds like that, Cymar. At 11, he owns hundreds of books (some bought new for him, some second-hand, some presents, some hand-me-downs) and he hates reading. We didn't even have a telly or computer games when he was little, he's had a bedtime story every night since he was a few months old and loves hearing stories, but he hates the activity of reading.

Mind you, he'd be quite capable of stating in a survey that he didn't have any books at home.

Is this from the Evening Standard's literacy features?

It sort of doesn't surprise me that much tbh. There are children at my children's nursery who don't have many books at home, though do make good use of the nursery library etc. They tend to be living in cramped temporary accommodation and in poverty.

Some people don't like books. The fashion for squeaky-clean minimalist homes (think leather sofas, laminate flooring, twigs in chrome vases etc) does not lend itself to a wobbly bookshelf full of dusty, dog-eared books. The first time sil visited us she asked bluntly "Why have you got all those old books?"

Oh, and I recall another occasion when helping in the school library and a child told me that she wasn't allowed to borrow a book because her mum said books "cluttered up the place".

I know at least 3 family homes without a single book. There isn't even a magazine, newspaper or tv guide anywhere. And yes they all have consoles .

In one of those homes I have a hunch that the mother herself can't actually read. The kids dont stand a chance.

I think a bookless, no visits to the library ever kind of household is indeed a less than optimum environment for a child. Obviously books being prioritised over food would be v bad but no books at all will limit that child's attainment and life choices.

and yet we are closing libraries !?!?!

I have seen homes in poverty where the children (keen to read) would pick up an argos catalogue. They were friends of ours.

However it is right that the parents focused on food, clothes and shoes, paying the bills. But they were on a meter which meant they were paying the highest rates for their heating and electricity :( There was not much left over for anything else.

I think Bookstart was great too but you can get books cheaply. I go to the library and at the Poundland shop (and others like it) you can get cheap books, as well as charity shops and school fairs. i have always encouraged my kids to read both for enjoyment, relaxation and education. My parents drummed it into us too. I have many happy memories of escapism into book stories as a child! It also helps with English skills.

I think the issue it that people have to want to encourage reading and some people just don't, maybe because they themselves never did it or they don't see the point in it? It's not always about poverty. I was a single teenage mum with no money at all and still encouraged DC to read.

Last time we were house hunting we were puzzled by how many people didn't have books or only a few books. Granted, they could have packed them away when tidying for house viewings, but it was odd just the same.

I think it's a real shame for children not to have at least a few books at home. But like others have said, food and heating is sometimes the priority.

Libraries are a (sadly disappearing) resource, but if parents aren't into books themselves they probably won't take their kids there. Don't know what the solution is really.

As for the Argos catalogue...embarrassing for the child but not entirely wasted. They have words in them and pictures to link them with. Reading ANYTHING to a child is worth it imo (obviously not Stephen King though!).

Sadly, this is so true. I taught a secondary school pupil once whose mother returned the novel sent home (the homework was to read one chapter). She sent in a note saying she did not WANT her son reading at home!!

We have an xbox and a wii and we all read loads (apart from ds who loathes it) I have piles of books everywhere, 8 yr old dd1 is an avid reader and dp is almost illiterate but over the years is slowly reading more and improving his reading skills.

But ds is another matter. The oxford reading tree and biff, chip and sodding kipper have a lot to answer for as they put him off reading.

I agree with much of what's been said, .i.e. yes it's shocking, but for reasons far more complex than apathetic parenting.

Re Goblinchild's call for ideas to reduce these statistics, there is alot that is in place to try and break the cycle of parents passing their poverty of aspiration or illiteracy etc on to their children. The holy grail is how to reach hard-to-reach parents without meeting the resistance to middle class meddling.

Schools and pre-schools, particularly in areas of socio-economic deprivation, work hard to try and engage 'target' parents in their child's education, through things like Family Learning - which takes many forms and also works with e.g.Sure Start centres. Schools also invite parents to informal sessions on areas such as phonics, reading with your child etc etc. Sadly it's usually the parents who least need it that turn up.

Libraries (those that still exist) are more child friendly and welcoming than they've ever been and regularly hold storytelling or book sharing sessions.

Literacy (and numeracy) classes are free for for those with few/no qualifications and are held in a range of accessible places.

For parents who don't read themselves or with their children because they lack the literacy confidence to do so, there are plenty of opportunities to work on that; the other reasons parents might not read are far too varied and complex for my tired brain to even contemplate right now. But for parents that simply can't be arsed I have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever and think they should all have their plasma screen tellies confiscated forthwith.

Yup - nothing new - my df told me similar stats when I was growing up in the '70s/'80s.

Less about owning books as libraries were big then but rather kids not reading as they never see their parents read.

I'd like to volunteer for that get London reading scheme (is it London or UK?) but I can't get the time off needed to do it. I might apply asking if they have vacancies for people who can do only one session.

Can't even imagine a house without any books, I'd hate it! You can't move for books in this house - both ds' have their own bookcase crammed with books, from old classics to more modern tales.
Me and dh have a great big bookcase full of books and another smaller bookcase in our bedroom.
Oh and a couple of storage boxes under bed stuffed with books too
I regularly send some to charity shop/stick on amazon so I'm able to make room to buy more!
As you can tell I love to read!

Our neighbours, growing up, had no books in the house, not that I ever saw, and I babysat a lot for them as a teen.

When their kids got older they used to come round to ours for dictionaries and atlases and so on to help with homework, but I never remember them asking to borrow a reading book. And we had hundreds.

That was in an affluent part of a nice town, the kids both went to private schools.

But their dad was probably only just functionally literate (he'd done very well for himself workwise though) and their mum died quite young. There was no-one in the household who valued reading, certainly no-one who would have prioritised it.

Neither child went on to education past 16, although the older is perfectly capable and bright.

There's so much going on about teaching your children to value education (or not) that is symbolised by books for me.

Hi due to video games/tv/single working parents/bad parenting etc lots if kids never read at home, many homes have no books just the take away menu's they get odd meal from. At my daughters school , the younger children are assigned older children as reading partners and this is who they read too.The reason is two-fold it encourages older kids to relate to younger kids a couple years younger, hence less bullying likely, helps bonding. Secondly, the learner reader will get regular practice someone who is listening and helping them. (mum at home is too busy on facebook)

I agree 3 out of 10 sounds very high. My kids read in their teens which is no mean feat with computers and their allure so available. They also devoured Roald Dahl at a young age - it definately boosts their educational development.

However, methinks, families are hard pressed and weren't read to themselves as children - takes a lot of dedication to break that cycle. If it can be done so much benefit could be gained. A moral compass is often explored in books.