Bedtime story-reading on the decline - do you read to your DC at night?

[KateMumsnet]

A new poll for the reading charity Booktrust has found that younger parents (aged 16-24) enjoy reading to their children at bedtime far less than previous generations did. Only 28% of younger parents say it's their favourite part of the day, compared to 42% of older parents (aged 55+) - and younger dads in particular lacked confidence in reading aloud to their children.

What do you think - is the bedtime story a vital element of your bedtime routine - the best bit of the day? Or a nice extra, but not an essential part of parenting?

We'd love to hear what you think - and if you're looking for a bit of inspiration, find out which bedtime books are most beloved by Mumsnetters, over here.

We do read bedtime stories in our house.

Am reading a book called "The Rooftoppers" to my 8 year old DS at the moment. I'm finding that he is at a really great age for us to be able to read and appreciate books together. He is perfectly capable of reading it to himself, but I want to read it to him.

I tend to read books to him that he wouldn't choose to read himself..the protagonist in this one is a girl, for example. He gravitates towards adventure / Diary of a Wimpy Kid type books with a male protagonist naturally, so this is a great way for me to widen his experience of books, and to ensure he gets a balance between fast paced and slower, more thoughtful books. It 's also important for me to ensure he comes into contact with some strong and inspirational female characters!

By reading to him, we can discuss the characters, and the nuances of the language, and how the author makes us feel about the characters. We only read about 5 pages a night, but the closeness and calm it brings s it a very special time.

I also read to my two DDs aged 6 and 4, or my DH does, every night. But these tend to be books I've read over and over again, so whilst the girls love them, they are not as enjoyable for me. Think we need a trip to the library!

we don 't read to dd (2) at bed at night as she gets too excited and doesn't sleep - but we have a house packed with books and we read to dd throughout the day, she reads to herself too and demands that we tell stories to each other. We are 23 and 24.

She is incredibly vocal and they get her to tell stories to the other children at nursery as they are hoping it will rub off.

We have done bed time stories since our DS was about 6 weeks old. He's 2.1yrs now and stories are very important to him and I don't think he could conceive of a bedtime that didn't have them.

Me and DH take turns although DH is a bit out out at the moment as DS often wants me to do them.

We are 42 and 52.

I'm 27, and dh is 33, we read to ds1 every night, usually he recites the books to us, before bed. But we also read a lot to him during the day. I love reading and it's important to me that my children do too

I'm under 20 years old and read 2-4 books a day to my 8 month old, he loves it and I love it

I loved it when mine were small. We didn't have 'horrors' of bedtime. It was one of the best times of the day and just routine, always a bath and always a story- the wind down before sleep.

Bedtime story is the only chance we have for a story some days. Already feel bit bad as DC 2 has not had as much storytime generally as DC1 (inevitable really, unless you can employ domestic staff) so we always do bedtime apart from very rare occasions when it's just far too late.

Interestingly, I can't ever remember being read to at all by my parents and I ended up a total bookworm!

Bedtime book time is sacred in our house, always has been. My two are 9 and 6 and a half and I read them 1-3 chapters (depending on length) of our current book each evening. The books are more pitched at dc1's level, though dc2 listens and enjoys them - if he wanted a different one I would read that to him too, but he likes it the way it is atm. I sometimes read a shorter picture-type book to him too.

Reading to both of them started during their first year. We did all the favourites, Julia Donaldson, Dr Seuss, the Ahlbergs, lots of poetry too. Now I am discovering and rediscovering old and new classics with them. It's fantastic and is one of my favourite bits of being a parent. And the other week my 9yo won a reading-aloud competition at school and has been recommended to take part in a region-wide contest [proud] so it is obviously doing some good.

Am 37. The reading is mainly my domain round here but my (38yo) dh will read to them too, or makes up stories for them.

When the dc were younger and we had a less packed daily routine, I used to sit with them on the sofa, sometimes for hours, and read to them. Now reading is largely confined to bedtime, but recently on a wet Saturday afternoon we all snuggled up on the kitchen sofa and I read them chapter after chapter, with them pleading for more at the end of each. :)

They love non-fiction and cartoons too, and thoroughly enjoy playing with words, making up jokes and silly stories and afvertising slogans etc. I get how smug this sounds, but I think a love of the written word is one of the best things I have given them.

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Should add (sorry for multiple posts) that when I say reading is largely confined to bedtime, I mean my reading to them - they are always to be found around the place with their noses in some book or other, or a children's magazine/comic book (which is what I meant when I said cartoons, Sunday morning brain).

Yes, every night. DS is 2.7. DH and I take turns with bedtime so it's part of his relationship with both of us. Plus he is being brought up bilingually so I think it's very important that he gets equal storytelling in English from me and Dutch from DH, especially since English will become his minority language as he grows up (we live in the Netherlands and DS will go to a Dutch school when he is 4).

I am 33 (and an English and Drama teacher - I love telling stories and doing all the voices!) and DH is 41.

Every night. It is part of her routine and there is no way she'd let me off with not doing it.

We don't read books at bedtime, but we do look through the family photograph albums. I find that much more personal and enjoyable. We try to read books during the day but DD seems to have an attention span shorter than the time it takes to read a book!

Both myself and my husband read to dd from when she was four months old and continued to read to her well after she was a confident reader. To be honest there were nights when I was too tired to get any enjoyment out of it but dd loved us reading to her. When she got older she would choose her own books, sometimes choosing the same book over and over again. Dh was amazing when it was his turn he would give all the characters different accents. I think whatever the material and regardless of how confident you feel reading (particularly with young children who just love listening to the sounds rather than understanding what is being said) is the greatest gift you can give to yourself and your child. It allows for a special connection between you and your child as well as giving them a lifelong love of reading.

I'm old and I still read to my DDs (11 and 13) every night. I read to them and then they read by themselves for 20 minutes until lights out, it winds them down for sleep.

I'm working my way through Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, it's lovely to read out loud. And it isn't just good for them, it's also good for me - reading out loud exercises parts of the brain that normal reading does not read, because you have to read ahead and process what is coming to produce it accurately and expressively.

I've read to my daughter since she was born. I love childrens books and had a collection before I even got pregnant. She loves books and has most of hers memorised to some extent (she's 2), she'll sit and 'read' to herself and to her dolls. If I try to interrupt and say do you want me to read that to you she says No Mommy I do it.

I read somewhere when I was pregnant that if you want your child to be smart and do well in school etc all you have to do is read to them. It really is that simple and something special. I almost feel sorry for any parent who doesn't do it.