March 2009
In conjunction with National Reading Month, a LeapFrog Enterprises-commissioned Harris Interactive survey reveals that nearly all (98 per cent) parents asked agree that reading to children from a young age is very important. That priority may get lost in the shuffle though as parents spend more time online or watching TV than reading with their kids.
Promoting the importance of families' bonding and learning through shared reading, LeapFrog, a pioneer in the learn-to-read category, has unveiled a reading program to inspire parents, teachers and kids to pledge to read one million hours during the month of March (leapfrog.com/readingmonth).
Balancing chaotic schedules is a challenge for most families, and nearly three-fourths (72 per cent) of parents said they wished they had more time to read to or with their child.
However, they also reported spending an average of about 59 minutes a day watching TV with their child, 83 minutes a day watching TV by themselves or with their partner and another 67 minutes per day browsing the Web for non-work-related purposes.
While the majority of parents (83 per cent) do read to their child daily, those who do spend an average of about 32 minutes reading, compared with a total of 209 minutes (approximately 31/2 hours) a day watching TV and browsing the Web.
"The good news is that parents value reading and enjoy that special time with their children," said Craig Hendrickson, SVP product marketing for LeapFrog.
"Shared reading sets the stage for kids to develop a lifelong love of books that will help them become fluent, independent readers. Although everyone today is busy, we encourage parents–all of us here at LeapFrog, included–to take a look at how they are spending their free time and use some of the minutes during which they may typically be online or watching TV to read with their children, sharing stories and books."
This Reading to Children survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of LeapFrog from March 3-5, 2009 among 2,235 adults ages 18 and older, of whom, 438 are parents or legal guardians of children (ages 0-12 years old) living at home with them. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
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