A nationwide study through the nonprofit Shared Reading found that the number of children ages 0-4 who are reading at grade level has dropped. Less than half of these young children—41 percent—are being read to on a regular basis, a dramatic drop from 64 percent in 2012. This troubling trend is an issue of utmost concern. A positive reading environment at home is one of the most important determinants of a child’s emotional and intellectual development.
Allison David, the study’s lead author and HarperCollins Children’s Books consumer insight director. Perhaps that’s one reason why on her website, she focuses on the importance of reading aloud to children. She laments how many families are losing the opportunity to make reading a fun and rewarding experience. This hands-on experience is critical to helping children develop a lifelong love of reading. When kids are read to, it helps make reading enjoyable and builds excitement about learning. So it’s extremely troubling that so few kids are growing up in a joyful reading environment at home,” David explained.
The increase in reading less often among parents has implications that are wider reaching. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) provides disturbing evidence of this trend. One in three of America’s students can’t read at the level they should be reading at for their age, grade level and background. This gap could be a result of the shrinking pool of parents who regularly read aloud to their children. The research shows that children who are read to daily are almost three times more likely to pick up a book independently compared with being read to just once a week.
The results point to an enormous generational change. Gen Z parents, who increasingly turn to digital entertainment for leisure, are skipping traditional books. This demographic is one of the first generations to have grown up completely immersed in technology. As they do so, they likely come to see reading as a less pleasurable experience. There’s the rub — here David meets Ignatius cross-country. David identifies a troubling pattern. For example, almost one-third of Gen Z parents today view reading only as an educational chore—not a pastime to be enjoyed.
Staff at HarperCollins UK warned of a ‘growing crisis’. They discovered the alarming fact that despite the strong evidence that reading aloud increases children’s desire to read, the share of parents reading aloud has hit an all-time low. This decline is coupled with rising academic pressures. Forty-nine percent of parents feel their children “have too much schoolwork to read books.” Instead, many of our kids start to develop subconscious connections between reading and compulsory education, not pleasure.
The effects of this trend are especially evident in boys. Just 12 percent of boys ages 12-13 indicated they read a book for pleasure. Such a sobering statistic illustrates a crisis in boys’ engagement with literature that begins as early as infancy and continues through teenage years. Almost a third of children ages 5 to 13 consider reading to be more about learning than having fun. Unfortunately, this perception might drive them even more away from establishing a positive reading practice.
The study surveyed approximately 2,000 adults across various age demographics, revealing a concerning disconnect between parental intentions and actions regarding reading practices. Half of parents wished they had time to read together with their kids—34 percent expressed this desire. These aspirations do not align with how they are actually reading.
The bright spot in all of this is that kids who are read to every day learn to love reading. This love soon drives them to read independently as well! David explained. She reassured parents that it is “never too late to start or resume reading with children,” encouraging families to prioritize this essential activity.
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