Author Says Bedtime Story Is Key to Developing Love of Reading Among Children

Among kids aged 6-11 whose parents stopped reading books to them at home, nearly one-third of them did not want the reading time to stop, claims a survey by Scholastic.

Parents who stopped reading said that they ended reading books aloud at home because their children were old enough to read on their own.

As technology is luring children farther and farther away from old traditions, the bedtime story routine is in even more danger of being forgotten.

"The joy of a bedtime story is the key to developing a love of reading in children," Frank Cottrell Boyce, children's ficition writer, told The Guardian.

According to the same survey by Scholastic, about 75 percent of parents who read to their children start the routine at a very early time -- before the child reaches one year old.

However, a disturbing fact discovered is that there are parents who never read stories to their children at all.

Another study supports this fact, claiming that 34 percent of 1,000 parents admit that they never read a bedtime story to their children. The main reasons are late working and daily commute.

Boyce believes this may lead to children getting a "negative experience" when they encounter books in classrooms for the first time, as they have no idea that books can bring pleasure and not merely acts as educational tools.

The author said, "They're being taught to read before anyone has shared with them the pleasure of reading -- so what motivation have they got to learn?"

For children, the routine of being read to at home is more than just a tool for developing literacy, but a precious experience.

As indicated in the Scholastic survey, they love reading time because it serves a special time with their parents, reading together is more fun, it is more relaxing to hear a story before sleeping and they get to talk about the books with the person reading to them.

Children's book author Michael Rosen once wrote that one way of showing children care is reading books to them.

He wrote: "When we do it at bedtime, we also give our children the strong message that we care for them. At the moment of 'detachment' (saying 'goodnight') we are saying that we are 'attached' (we're there for them)."

As of today, only one in three children claim to be frequent readers. Also, more than six in 10 kids aged 15 to 17 would rather visit their social media accounts, watch videos on Youtube or use a smartphone to play games or use apps.

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