Reading Rainbow

By Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser

Isn’t it true that sometimes the obvious is just so, well, obvious? A study reported upon in the New York Times found that test scores are declining because kids are spending less time reading for pleasure.

Oh, you mean the whole teaching to the test might not be the right approach to obtaining better test scores? Really?

I think this is worth writing about for a few reasons: one, we’re so revved up, so filled with buttons and gadgets that do things we can do without buttons and gadgets that we forget—old-fashioned or just plain old as I may sound—the beauty of the simpler, quieter, more time-consuming ways. Why do we have games and movies on telephones anyway? But more to the point, why do we give our kids unfettered access to these gadgets and then wonder why they aren’t reading more? We could be giving them more books!

Think I’m just being paranoid? Here are some stats from a Henry J.Kaiser Foundation study: “Children six and under spend an average of two hours a day using screen media (1:58), about the same amount of time they spend playing outside (2:01), and well over the amount they spend reading or being read to (39 minutes). Forty-three percent of those under two watch TV every day, and 26% have a TV in their bedroom (the American Academy of Pediatrics “urges parents to avoid television for children under 2 years old”). In any given day, two-thirds (68%) of children under two will use a screen media, for an average of just over two hours (2:05) According to the study, children who have a TV in their bedroom or who live in “heavy” TV households spend significantly more time watching than other children do, and less time reading or playing outside. Those with a TV in their room spend an average of 22 minutes more a day watching TV and videos than other children do. Those living in “heavy” TV households are more likely to watch every day (77% v. 56%), and to watch for longer when they do watch (an average of 34 minutes more a day). They are also less likely to read every day (59% v. 68%), and spend less time reading when they do read (6 minutes less a day). In fact, they are less likely than other children to be able to read at all (34% of children ages 4-6 from “heavy” TV households can read, compared to 56% of other children that age).”

Reassuringly, reading does continue to factor into young children’s lives significantly, the study finds, with nearly eight in ten children six and under reading or being read to in a given day; those, who read spend an average of 49 minutes doing so (although 83% will use screen media, for an average of 2 hours 22 minutes).

There is nothing better than having your child not want to put a book down. Okay, when it’s bedtime, that’s not always so fun. But in general, it’s a great thing to love to read. Maybe, these studies just remind us that we want to encourage—assist, seduce, provide models for—our children to become deliciously lost in books on a regular basis and we want to demand that our schools, day care centers, after school programs pay attention to the power of reading.