Have you got books or DVDs on your children’s bookcase?
Your kid’s reading is something we are very interested in, and certainly, in many cases, hope that their bookcase, is our children’s bookcase too.
A report, we first read on the BBC website grabbed our attention this week.
The education news story was based on a report commissioned by the Booktrust, as part of their Booktime and Booked Up initiatives.
It is an annual report that surveys 3,000 parents, carers and children, aiming to find out about the part books play in each of their lives.
The idea behind both of the Booktrust’s programmes is to generate a real love of reading amongst children, and the report is one way for them to monitor if their work is having the positive effect they intend it to have.
Some of the positives they should take from this year’s survey are that, indeed, reading has become more popular amongst the people quizzed. They also found a 40% increase in the number of dads reading with their children, compared to the 2008 figures.
Negatives the survey highlighted are that while flexible working practices are supposed to enable a better work-life balance, technology and home entertainment are increasingly eating in to the time allocated for reading.
To that end, children’s bookcases are under threat, especially in households with older children.
Books are losing out to DVDs and computer games, with 34% of parents and carers saying that this is true of their households. This figure rises to 41% in the homes of 11 to 12 year-olds.
This is a trend that the Booktrust is looking to reverse, and through its Booktime and Booked Up programmes it will be distributing 2 million free books to children, hoping ‘to encourage a life-long love of reading’.
Every 4 to 5 year–old in reception classes all over the country will be receiving a free book through the Booktime this term, and for children in Year 7, aged 11 to 12, Booked Up is gifting 670,000 books. Children of this age will get to choose a book from a carefully selected dozen.
We hope to see many of these books on your children’s, and our kid’s bookcases.
If you want to read the BBC report we did, you can find it here.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Similar childrens storage news:
