ONE IN 20 BRITISH PARENTS HAVE NEVER READ TO THEIR CHILDREN AT BEDTIME

The number of parents admitting to having never read a bedtime story to their children is revealed to be 5%, according to new research carried out by Furniture Village. The bedroom experts investigated family reading habits of the UK while carrying out a study into bedtime stories with Clinical Physician, Linda Blair.

Reading to children has many recognised benefits. In a recent survey of 942 parents by Furniture Village, nine in ten of those who said they read to their children before bed cited spending quality time together as the primary reason. The same percentage agreed that it also helps to improve their child’s communication and language skills.

But reading is far from the only activity parents are taking part in with their children before bed. In fact, almost one in two parents also watch TV with their children (42%), and many even watch YouTube videos (23%) or play games on electronic devices (19%).

Who’s reading?

It was uncovered that younger parents are more likely to read to their kids at bedtime than older parents. Moreover, 11% of parents will read to their child, but only on weekends – suggesting at least five out of seven nights are spent without a bedtime story. But it’s not just the parents themselves who do the reading. According to the data, approximately 8,700 children in the UK are read to by their nannies (together with their siblings) – that’s enough children to fill 33 UK primary schools![1][2]

Why are some parents skipping the bedtime story?

One in ten parents ditch the bedtime story during the week for reasons now revealed. As many as one in five see bedtime reading as an ‘outdated activity’ and 17% state that they do not think it teaches their children any skills. This could be down to the increasing difficulty to engage children in an overstimulating environment, where one in five parents say their children find the activity ‘boring’.

What are we reading to our children?

According to the research, the classic bedtime story is still the most widely read, with 68% of parents reading these to their kids regularly. A lower percentage of parents (42%) would prefer the modern bedtime story. In fact, 9% confess to throwing in an adult fiction book into the bedtime routine and one in ten (10%) read their children a newspaper or a magazine article.

Memories of the bedtime story

Furniture Village asked parents what feelings they themselves associated with being read to as children, with the highest percentage of respondents (39%) choosing the feeling of safety, happiness and love, though not all of these parents have passed this on. 17% associated being read to as a child with negative feelings of boredom (6%), constraint (4%), frustration (4%) and anxiety (3%).

For further information, see the full findings: https://www.furniturevillage.co.uk/the-home-of-inspiration/bedroom/classic-childrens-bedtime-story/f2289870-f2a7-4486-a7ea-d370b4f2d41c.html