Do you read aloud to your kids? This was a question being discussed in a group today–a group I’ve been part of for years, and where I’ve made good friends.
The reason it came up was that one of the members said she was unhappy with the way her daughter A was parenting her child. Apparently A didn’t read aloud to her two-year old, and found it a chore.
The discussion brought up many points, not the least of which was that we had fond memories of being read to as children. Some of us had great flashbacks of reading to children ourselves, our own kids, nephews and nieces.
It led me to find out more about reading to kids, and I stumbled on an article that, frankly, scared me a little:
“New research by HarperCollins Publishers in the U.K. reveals that parents, specifically Gen Z parents, no longer enjoy reading aloud to their children. In fact, many reported that they don’t even find reading to kids fun, instead they see reading as a “subject to learn.”1
New research reveals that parents are losing the love of reading aloud. HarperCollins Publishers. 2025.”
In the study, researchers found that fewer than half (or 41%) of 0–4-year-olds are frequently read to. These findings represent a steep decline from 64% in 2012.”
The entire article is worth a read, because it goes into the potential benefits of reading aloud to kids, and the reasons why a lot of parents find this challenging in our times. The article and the study are based in the UK, but my group, where the conversation originated, hails from Asia.
Giving the falling number of readers in general, I find it alarming that fewer kids are being introduced to reading aloud at a young age. This article speaks about the many benefits of reading aloud to a child:
Reading aloud to kids has clear cognitive benefits. For example, brain scans show that hearing stories strengthens the part of the brain associated with visual imagery, story comprehension, and word meaning. And the landmark Becoming a Nation of Readers report from 1985 concluded that “the single most important activity for building knowledge for their eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.”
But reading also strengthens children’s social, emotional, and character development. According to a recently published study, reading to very young children is linked to decreased levels of aggression, hyperactivity, and attention difficulties. The study’s lead author shared this insight with The New York Times, “When parents read with their children more . . . they learn to use words to describe feelings that are otherwise difficult and this enables them to better control their behavior when they have challenging feelings like anger or sadness.”
Given that reading aloud to a child can take our next generation further in so many ways, I wonder why there is such little awareness of the many boons of reading aloud to children. In Singapore, where I live, the government holds many programs in libraries so that harried parents can attend a storytelling session with their children, besides a barrage of other initiatives to foster reading amongst kids from less privileged homes. While this is by no means enough, it is absolutely a giant step in the right direction.
I hope more parents take this up for the beautiful bonding ritual it is, and try and read aloud to their children as often as they can.
What about you? Do/ did you read to your kids, or children in your family/ friend circle? Were you ever read to? What was that experience like? How do you think we can encourage young parents to read to kids? Does your government hold initiatives for reading to kids?
———————————————————————————————————
My Amazon-bestselling literary crime novels, The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon are on Kindle Unlimited now. Add to Goodreads or snag a copy to make my day ! And if you’d like to read a book outside the series, you can check out You Beneath Your Skin. Find all info about my books on my Amazon page or Linktree.
If you’re like me and love reading crime novels, enter this giveaway for a shot to win these lovely books!
————————————————————————–
If you liked this post, you can receive posts in your inbox, or keep updated on my writing by clicking on any or all of the following buttons:
GET CURATED PUBLISHING RESOURCES SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG JOIN DAILY(W)RITE ON FB FOLLOW ON BOOKBUB
Discover more from Damyanti Biswas
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Yes! We read to our kids, just as our parents read to us. Multiple generations of proud bookaholics here, Damyanti.
It’s lovely to hear that, Mitch! I don’t have any kids to pass my book obsession to, but my friends’ children get plenty of books for birthdays and Christmas presents.
Makes me think of a poem I read recently,
Reading to My Kids by Kevin Carey
Thanks for sharing, Sonia! Heading over to check it out.
Hi Damyanti – I know we were read to as kids, and albeit I don’t have any … I’m happy to read with any child that comes along for that necessary educational process … I’m sure things will work out for that child – cheers Hilary
That’s so kind of you, Hilary! I’m in the same boat as you but, like I was telling Mitch, I love giving books as gifts to my friends’ children. I’m lucky that most of them are bookaholics, too — a trait they probably inherited from their parents!
It is nice to read about so many people around the world who enjoy reading to their children, all of our children are adults now and what sweet memories of reading to them when they were young and so little, and would lay/sit there with rapt attention, I have been blessed.
Absolutely, thank you for sharing! I’m lucky enough to have some wonderful memories of being read to as a child and of spending hours simply browsing in a library, admiring the collections and falling deeper and deeper into my lifelong book obsession. It’s so wonderful that you created such a great experience and reading environment for your children.
We always read to our kids and then to our grandkids. It’s such a special thing to share the stories and the cuddles. After reading your post, I asked myFB friends who enthusiastically responded “yes”. All is not yet lost. 🤞
Thank goodness for that! Crossing my fingers as tightly as I can.
Fortunately my children were brought up in India and in those days there was limited TV to watch but loads of books I bought for them second hand from the bookstore in Pune. They could read remarkably fast and I was suspicious they were not really reading them so quizzed them a couple of times to find out if they were absorbing what they read. To my surprise they were. We would sell the read books back to the bookstore and take more for them. I think that reading was very important for their development along with playing sports with the kids outside. I was running the school finances and its industries as well as teaching and taking further studies in the local university but their bedtime was reserved specifically for father children bonding amd reading together. Those memories are precious.
Beautiful memories, Ian. I so admire how much care and dedication you invested into making sure your children understood the value of books in shaping their minds, and to being there for them, no matter how busy you might have been. I laughed out loud when you mentioned having to quiz them to check how much they really understood of what they were reading. My parents did the same to me a couple of times, and I have to admit that I was occasionally guilty of simply skimming through a book just to be able to say that I’d finished it. Over the years, I forced myself to slow down.
I was always amazed at the amount of informtion my children were able to take in from their reading when I quizzed them. Reading does expand the mind. I remember when they were very small and just learning to read I’d spend time reading to them before they went to sleep from their children’s books and they’d lie there and repeat what was in those books from memory while I read. They loved those children’s books and their illustration pictures.
I’ve read to both my kids and grandkids. Very important.
Extremely. It makes such a huge difference.
I read to my kids and I wrote a kids’ book. Committed!
I love that! There’s so much joy in passing along the things which have had a positive impact on our lives.
My parents read to me even though they did not have a good education (stopping at seventh grade). It was a country side north Swedish working class neighborhood where education was not common. I read to my children and I sang to them too, and my wife read to them. We are awaiting our first grandchild and hopefully they will read to him too. I did not know that this has become less popular. I agree with you. I’ve also read in various places about the benefit of reading to your children.
It’s strange to think that reading to one’s children — something I once took for granted — has become a declining practice. But on a more positive note, congratulations on your first grandchild! That’s so exciting.
If I had children I would definitely read to them. Our parents did to us – and there are some books that I can still recite great slabs of even decades later. A love of reading was one of the best gifts my parents gave me.
That’s so lovely! My favorite books from childhood are still firmly embedded into my memory, too. I don’t think I could get rid of them if I tried!
My mom read to me. And my parents were always reading on their own. So I grew up loving to read.
Same here! My family and environment shaped my reading habits, and I’m so grateful that they set the foundation for the rest of my life.
I used to read to my children when they were small, they loved it, so did I.
It’s a magical experience. Hearing the words of a treasured story retold in a loved one’s voice is unforgettable — the memories from my childhood are still so vivid in my mind, and it’s sad to think that the next generation may never have those memories.
That really is such a shame. It’s so important to read to our children.
Storytelling is an art, and such a precious commodity nowadays.
What an eye opener. That makes me sad.
I’m happy to say that most of my friends share my love of reading and have passed that on to their kids, but the global trend in the opposite direction is an eye-opener.