42 | February 2012 | woman this month Campaign In an age where adults and children tend to spend more time in front of a screen, rather than with a book, it gets increasingly difficult to inspire a reading habit among the young ones. Recent research in Bahrain has shown that less than 41 per cent of mothers and less than 1 per cent of fathers read to their pre-school children (aged below six) on a weekly basis! The numbers remain nearly the same for mothers and fathers who tell stories to their young children. Conducted by child psychologist and early child developmental specialist Dr Julie Hadeed in December 2010, the study on Bahraini families found that when someone else in the family participated — be it siblings, grandmothers or other relatives — the reading percentage in homes went up substantially from 41 per cent to 79 per cent. Not surprisingly, mothers not only read significantly more than their husbands to their children, they also tended to inflate the reported time their husbands spent reading to children. In comparison, around 41 to 57 per cent of mothers in the US have been found to read to their children on a regular basis, whereas between 26 to 29 per cent of fathers reported reading regularly to their pre-school kids. The percentage of parents who read to their children rose significantly when family income was higher (above the poverty line) and remains less than 40 per cent when family income was below the poverty line. Disadvantaged families often reported having unequal access to books and related materials. Learning starts at home The importance of reading as a gateway to building early literacy development in children has been universally acknowledged. Well documented research shows that reading aloud to children is not only one of the best ways to stimulate language and cognitive skills, but it also builds motivation, curiosity and memory. Children who are read to earlier and more often at home perform better at school all around. They have higher outcomes in reading and mathematics as well as social and emotional behaviours. Their attitudes toward learning and relationships improve as well. “Equally important to early reading in the home is the quality and style of book reading. What happens during the adult-child book reading interaction is paramount in understanding how early literacy is developed,” notes Dr Igniting the Fire of a Young Mind Often, it’s the earliest books that children own that really shape their young minds. A crusade is underway in Bahrain to revive the lost habit of reading.
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