Parents' bedtime story problem

From The Guardian

The survey of 1,000 parents with children aged five to 10 in Britain, done by Learndierect, found that 30% of parents had problems helping their children with maths and that one in five had difficulties with English homework. According to the survey 12% of parents said they struggled to understand books they read to their children. It is estimated that there are 26 million adults, in UK, who struggle with English or maths.

The survey said one in 10 parents struggled even to understand the bedtime stories they read to their children, and 23% skipped passages they could not read or invented words to get to the end of a sentence.

And guess what: reading stories is, actually, enjoying a renaissance in the UK. 73% of families prefer reading it to playing in the park or watching TV.

Shocking as it sounds, is this really surprising? A recent University of Manchester study covering five developed countries showed reading in the Anglophone countries, UK and the US, to be the lowest. (Explains a lot, does it not?) The French spend three times as much as the Brits and the Americans reading books, and the Dutch and the Norwegians twice as much. But still, all is not lost. The situation is improving (unfortunately too slow for many.)

On a more positive note, the report says: Learndirect's research found that, on average, parents read to their children four times a week for 20 minutes, which Dr Spungin said was encouraging.

Full story: http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2133285,00.html

Wonder what the rate is in Malaysia. How many parents read at all? How many teachers (even those at tertiary level) read anything other than the prescribed text? How many employees of the various libraries (including the national library, starting with the Director General) read?

Generally, there are three types of parents who seek advice from us at Silverfish Books:

The first type is upset that their child spends all the time playing computer games or watching television. We normally advice them that they (the parents) should leave some of their own books lying around. Children do not like reading to be stuffed down their throats, they are curious animals and will normally want to read things their parents are reading (particularly if they think it is forbidden). Then we ask what books they themselves read. The answer comes back that they don't. And we feel like repeating the Malay proverb of a crab wanting to teach its kid to walk straight.

The second type is very honest. They don't read because they never had the opportunity when they were young. But they don't want their children to grow up like them. So they seek advice on the type of books their mini children's library should contain. (There is one lady with a two year old who already has his favourite books.)

The third type of parent reads, and had have children who devour books. They ask us for advice on developing that reading habit and pointing them in new directions.