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It may be a very obvious part of raising a child but surprisingly many parents are neglecting reading stories to their children at bedtime. Experts say that the benefits to the child are easily underestimated as it not only boosts literacy but is also great fun. The schools secretary Ed Balls, as well as launching the first ever “national year of reading” in a decade, is also encouraging all parents to share a bedtime story with children daily as this could be one of the most important parts of their childhood.

Balls has said that the dropping literacy standards in the UK compared to other countries in Europe is partly because children have been brought up to enjoy reading less. But he argues that a ten-minute read before bed every night would be enough to kickstart their enthusiasm, and it should be as routine as “brushing their teeth or having a bath”. Indeed the success of such activities may be clearer when we see that many leading authors have sworn by their own experiences of bedtime reading as an essential part of growing up and forming their careers in later life. For example, the poet laureate Andrew Motion says:

“[I loved] the Mary Plain books, which my mum read herself as a child, and one book called Tim Minds the Shop. She started when I was very young. I went to bed, said my prayers and had a story. It went on 15 minutes and my brother and I always begged for it to go one longer. Perfect, really.”

Similarly the best-selling author Philip Pullman, famous for his His Dark Materials trilogy has said that he was always read to by his Mother, favourites including Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. He said:

“Children don’t need simple language, they need beautiful, rich language,”

He also warned that parents shouldn’t get excited about using the stories as a way of teaching their children phonetics at the expense of the actual story:

“Reading is not about phonics, it is about fun. It is about the jolly japes the cat in the hat gets up to, not about CAT.”

Parents should take note that reading is essential as a way of encouraging children to use their imagination and have some fun as well as become more proficient at language. In today’s busy world where parents don’t seem to have much time for their children, it is also something that brings family members together, and it doesn’t matter what age you are, for being able to enjoy a story can be appreciated at all ages.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 7th, 2008 at 2:27 am and is filed under Lifestyle, Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.