Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Family Reading Report and Kids Reading

A new study reveals that 75% of kids age 5-17 agree with the statement, “No matter what I can do online, I’ll always want to read books printed on paper,” and 62% of kids surveyed say they prefer to read books printed on paper rather than on a computer or a handheld device. The Kids & Family Reading Report, a national survey of children age 5-17 and their parents, also found that kids who go online to extend the reading experience – by going to book or author websites or connecting with other readers – are more likely to read books for fun every day.

The 2008 Kids & Family Reading Report, a follow up to a similar 2006 study, both of which were conducted by Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, and TSC, a division of Yankelovich, a leader in consumer trends research, again found that the time kids spend reading books for fun declines after age eight and continues to drop off through the teen years.

In US, more children above 8 years are having web experience with two thirds of children aged 9-17 years who go online have extended the reading experience via the Internet. These online reading extenders say they learn what other people think about a book, learn new things about an author and connect with other readers.

Parents are strong influence on kid's reading habits. They overwhelmingly view reading as the most important skill a child needs to develop, but only about half of all parents begin reading to their child before their first birthday. The percent of children who are read to every day drops from 38% among 5-8 year olds to 23% among 9-11 year olds. This is the same time that kids’ daily reading for fun starts to decline.

A video presentation of the results from The Kids & Family Reading Report is available at Scholastic.com.

Here's the Survey results in brief:

Kids and Reading:
>Kids overwhelming (89%) say “My favorite books are the ones I picked out myself.”
>Sixty-eight percent of kids say they love or like reading books for fun a lot (72% of girls/ 63% of boys).
>Half of all kids say there aren’t enough really good books for boys/girls their age.


Technology and Reading:
>Both boys and girls (age 9-17) say that they prefer to read books rather than read things on the Internet when they want to use their imagination (63% vs. 37%).
>Boys are more likely to say the Internet is better than books when they want to read for fun (54% vs. 46%). Girls choose books (63% vs. 37%).
>Two in three children believe that within the next 10 years, most books which are read for fun will be read digitally – either on a computer or on another kind of electronic device.

Parents’ Role:
>82% of parents say they wish kids would read books for fun more often.
>Parents who read books for fun daily are six times more likely than low frequency reading parents to have kids who also read for fun daily.
>Parents are a key source of book suggestions for their children, but nearly half of all parents say they have a hard time finding information about books their child would enjoy reading, and especially parents of teens age 15-17 (62%).

I believe, parents can be role models as they enhance their own Reading experience. Though kids like to choose their own books, helping children to select books for reading is a good idea. Reading need to be a routine, together with the family, in a cozy comfort of a Reading room or at a Library in the schools. Children need to be aware that if they are not a strong reader, they would face problems when in higher studies.

Over 41% Parents vs 55% kids say that there are not really enough books for children of their child's age and gender. Finding appropriate books is a problem. Children need to pick their choice with instincts or parents esp. mom is the source provider followed by friends, teachers and libraries, to pick the books.

Well, I agree, books are many but we need to read to guide our children to read. And, what better can we suggest than all Classics? There you find a list of websites in Kidsfreesouls Search to make your choice. Just put the keywords 'kids books' or classics for kids, best selling kids books, etc.

Btw, Problem with kids reading habits? Encourage children for reading and follow the some common troubleshooting signs here. Sit back as your child reads online on Kidsfreesouls Fairyland pages or even teach the child on How to write a story or a Poem. Parents and Teachers can encourage children to make scrap books to jot down Literature Profiles too. Enjoy!


- ilaxi patel
Editor, http://www.kidsfreesouls.com/
Newspaper for Kids

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