Candy Jar Books is excited to support the new project from BookTrust, an organisation dedicated to encouraging and inspiring a love of reading.
BookTrust has launched its first ever Time to Read national campaign to encourage families to break out of their ‘bubbles’!
BookTrust has done research that reveals parents’ concern around lack of shared family time, as technology and time constraints cause family members to spend more time alone.
- Almost two thirds of parents are concerned that their family spend too much time in their individual ‘bubbles’ at home, rather than interacting with each other
- On average 86% of parents read with their 5 year old every night or every other night, compared to just 38% to 11 year olds
- More than half of parents with children age 11 feel they spend less time talking with their child as they get older
- Nine out of ten parents would like their family to do more shared activities together and increase quality family time
New research has been released this week by BookTrust, the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, to announce the launch of Time to Read, a national campaign which encourages families to read together more, even when children are ‘too old for a bedtime story’. Their research shows that parents of primary school children worry about family members increasingly living in their own ‘bubbles’ as their children get older. They want to spend more time doing things together but admit they read with their children less and less as they get older.
The study, which polled 2,000 parents of children 5-11, highlighted how these concerns appeared to grow as children get older, as just 53% of parents of 5 year olds said they were worried about their family ‘bubble’, compared to 72% of parents of 11 year olds. This is reflected in the amount of time parents spend reading with their children as they grow older; on average 86% of parents with a child age 5 read with them every day or every other day, but this falls to 38% of parents of 11 year olds.Families could be missing out on quality time spent together with books and the emotional benefits that go with this as their child gets older - and we at Candy Jar think that's not on!
Diana Gerald, BookTrust chief executive, comments: “When children get older and start to learn to read for themselves, it can be tempting for parents to step back and let them continue their reading adventures alone. However, research shows the enjoyment of reading, developed through shared reading time with parents or carers, has a significant positive impact on a wide range of life outcomes including social, personal, health & well-being and educational.
"It is the combination of skills and a love of reading that enables children to achieve academically
and in life. We know that this lifetime love of reading is sparked by reading together, and the
shared adventures that books can offer well beyond the nursery school years”.
As part of the first Time to Read campaign BookTrust will be giving a book to every reception age child across the country (that’s 700,000) – launching this year with Faber & Faber’s ‘Kitchen Disco’ by Clare Foges and Al Murphy. The BookTrust website will also host booklists for reluctant readers alongside tips on how to get your child loving books. These can be found at Book Trust's website.
Candy Jar Books has chosen to support this very important campaign and hopes to help encourage more families to find the time to read together!
Candy Jar Books offers both fiction and non-fiction children's titles to get your children and families reading, including:
- Book Worms, a story about the cleverest worms in the wormiverse! By Jane Cohen
- Keeping Clear of Paradise Street, the story of growing up by the seaside in Ramsgate in the 1950s. By Brian Moses
- Eileen's War, the incredible story of Eileen Younghusband's experiences in World War II, a 'legacy' book for children. By Eileen Younghusband,
- Space, Time, Machine, Monster. Full of fantastic sciences facts, Mark brake tells you how sci-fi helped build the world in which we live.
- The Liars and Fibbers Academy, after telling a small fib Danny Quinn is sent to The Liars and Fibbers Academy, where he only gets up to more lies and mischief!
