‘It’s so boring’: Gen Z parents don’t like reading to their kids – and educators are worried | Parents and parenting

Last week, the former primary school teacher Spencel Russell asked a question to his parents who follow his Instagram accountYoung children can read: “Why don’t you read loudly for your children?”

The responses, which Russell shared with the Guardian, ranged from embarrassment to anger. One of the parents said: “It is very boring.” Another said: “I have no time.” One of the mother wrote: “I do not enjoy reading myself.”

Others have been difficult to make their children sit for a long time enough to get a full dose of Goodnight Moon or Mother Goose: “He always interrupts”, or “My son just wants to skip all pages.” Notice the monotony of the story at the time of the story, as one of them said: “I love reading with my children, but they are asking the same book over and over.”

Parents who struggle to read their children tend to be younger, according to another reconnaissance From Harpercolls UK. Less than half of the parents of General Z called on their children “pleasure for me”, and one out of three people read as “more than one topic to learn” more than something that must be enjoyed – much more than their counterparts in Gen X.

There is no doubt that this mentality flows to their children: The poll also found that a third of children between the ages of only five years reads often for fun, compared to more than half in 2012. This may be because their parents are less likely to read before they reach five: 41 % of parents of all ages who were informed, with a severe decrease of 64 % in 2012.

“Question of Reading”

If parents read loudly to their children, then teachers can say. Russell, who offers courses to teach literacy skills for children who are not more than 18 months old, regularly get inquiries from parents of older children – some of whom are 14 years old – who are still struggling to break a book. There are other signs. “We see children who can sit in a static and focus for hours on YouTube or Miss Rachel, but when you sit on them with a book, they move, wrote, crying and running away,” said Russell, who lives in Houston.

Parents in the general inherited an economy with inequality and instability, which makes raising children more tired. The cost of childcare in the United States – about $ 11,000 on average on average – Raised Since the nineties. No wonder that they may be very tired or tense from reading their children at night, even if they realize it is important to do so.

At the same time, The screens are inevitable – It is worth noting that the fathers of General Z were the first generation to grow with them. “I don’t think we can launch the role of technology that affects the parents of General Zi and their children with a loud reading lower,” Russell said. “Screen time is to replace individual quality reactions between parents and child.”

A lot of evidence He appears Which – which Excessive screen time Cognitive, linguistic, social and emotional growth can harm doctors Recommend This reduces “non -educational screen time” for children between the ages of 2 to five hours per week, and three on weekends. But you are trying to get a young child settling at the time of the story without giving up on her demands to watch Bluey. Most parents see the iPad as a The necessary evil.

The so -called American “literacy crises” is well documented; Atlantic Ocean a report From last fall, I found that many elite college students fail to complete the tasks of the English language, as they have never had to read a full book in high school. Epidemic Chaos Performing students in both mathematics and reading, with grades decreased in both topics to the lowest margin in more than 30 years. On Tiktok, Teachers Ownership taken To publish PSAS urges parents to read their children with an illustrative designation: “I bet that I cannot tell who Formula’s breastfeed, but I can tell you who is growing up to them every night.”

Children who do not have a start at home often face difficulty in catching up with those who do it, says Donna Duff, a professor of participation in language pathology at New York State University at New York State University. She said: “The books are a really rich source to learn new words, and if children do not have this experience in reading at home, they are likely to come to school and they know the vocabulary less – and this makes a big difference in how you succeed in school.”

But children are not only learning to read at school. Becky Calzada, head of the American Association of Library Secretaries, stresses the importance of parents as “reading models”. Caldza says that reading loudly for children not only helps them to learn vocabulary, but builds emotional intelligence, such as the ability to sympathize and communicate.

According to the Harpercolllins report, more than one in five boys between the ages of zero to two rare or not read, while 44 % of girls are read in that age group every day. This comes at a time when boys continue to leave girls at school – they are probably To enter the kindergarten behind girls, earn fewer cumulators, not graduating from high school.

Expand the back screen time

Russell admits that the books “will never compete with YouTube”, and that the pressure of paternity in 2025 is enormous. As one of the parents told him: “I do not have the energy to read it for my child. My wife and I do not have a village, so it is difficult.” But there are ways to smooth children away from their phones. “You only need to expand its range a little, as far as you can at first.”

Kalzada encourages parents who do not like to read their children slowly. She said, “You don’t have to sit there for 20 minutes to an hour.” “Two -year -old has a lot of ability to read, but you can read something that may have five pages, and it is mostly.” The cow says Moo, The Pink Oink, “and you gradually accumulate from there.”

Parents should not surrender if their children do not pay fully attention during the story of the story. According to Daf, “You should not feel that you need to read every word on the page, or even any words on the page.” Talking about the pictures of the book, or asking children to tell the story with their own words as well.

“We know one of the most useful ways to read books is to have a conversation with children about what they care about,” she added. “Follow their progress.”