Fewer parents reading aloud to children

More parents today are reporting burnout, while the number of families in which both parents work full-time has increased to 73 per cent in 2024.

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Cox says reading to children is a privilege shaped by families’ socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. But for those who do it, she calls reading a “superpower”, “because it is something really easy that parents can [do], top up school learning by reading aloud at home.”

Child and adolescent psychologist Deirdre Brandner says modern parents are dealing with competing demands and pressures, alongside waning attention spans.

“It can be hard for parents to read with kids because kids are used to being entertained in different ways nowadays,” she says. “And reading or sharing time together or listening to stories together is very passive.”

Both Cox and Brandner also think a shift around 20 years ago in how reading is taught in schools, from a pleasure-based understanding to a scientific one, has played a part.

“I’m wondering if that has made parents subconsciously say, ‘OK, the teaching of reading belongs in school now, so I can step back a little because I know it’s under control’,” says Cox.

Brandner says reading that happens in schools should be separate to reading at home, since both serve different – yet equally important – purposes.

The importance of reading aloud

The practice of bedtime stories is important for two main reasons: literacy skills and strengthening the parent-child bond. Research on reading skills shows it builds two kinds of skills: constrained skills, such as learning the alphabet, and unconstrained skills, which are those we keep building on throughout life, such as vocabulary, fluency and comprehension, explains Cox.

But beyond literacy, it builds emotional connection, says Brandner.

“It is about that moment of being with them and sharing a story, and then that is a banked memory … It also sends a message to your child that at the end of a busy day, [they] are the most important thing,” she says.

Children who are read to are also more likely to become adults who read for pleasure, and read to their own children if they become parents.

Downtime for parents and kids

For Trotman, who works full-time, a nightly bedtime story routine offers reprieve from long works hours, and a chance to stop and connect with her daughter.

Like Trotman, Sydney mum Ailish Woodhill, 27, grew up loving books. “I remember being read to by my mum pretty much every night, and I think it just created a nice bond for us,” she says.

She’s carried on the tradition with her six-month-old son Mackenzie, re-experiencing old favourites like The Very Hungry Caterpillar and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.

“It’s nice to read to him books that I always read when I was little,” she says.

While Woodhill acknowledges the time pressures that can make squeezing in bedtime stories difficult for some parents, she says she and her husband – who share the responsibility of reading equally – have made it a priority.

“We just made it part of the bedtime routine every night. So it’s a set time off, he has his bath and then we read three to four books to wind down.

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“I do find it [parenting] is quite ‘go, go, go’, so it’s nice to just relax with him.”

Digital technology on the rise

As fewer parents report reading to their children, or enjoying doing so, digital technologies that fill this gap are on the rise. YouTube is full of children’s books being read aloud, while audiobooks and podcasts designed for children are becoming increasingly common.

Audio players designed specifically for children, such as Yoto and Toniebox, which pitch themselves as “screen-free” alternatives to other devices, are also growing in popularity.

Brandner thinks some digital technologies can play a role in aiding children’s reading.

“I’m a big fan of any exposure to literature, whether it’s in an audiobook, in a written form, a child reading to themselves or being read to,” she says.

Still, she says they should not be a replacement for one-on-one time spent with a child.

If you do choose to use technology as a reading aid, Cox recommends generating conversation around it.

“Say, ‘Mummy’s busy, I’ve got to do the dishes, I’m going to put on the YouTube video of Possum Magic. And when it’s over, let’s talk about it.’”

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