A sad chapter in modern life: Bedtime-story tradition is fading

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Blame it on working parents who are too tired. Or on the potent tug of TV and computer.

Whatever the cause, it seems the bedtime story — and the ritual of parents reading to their children regardless of the hour — may be losing its hold on American family life.

If so, it's more than just the loss of a quaint custom. Researchers and child-development specialists say reduced rates of shared reading time can hurt family cohesion, stymie creative development in younger children and drag down academic achievement.

"Reading Across the Nation," a recently released study, found that just under half of the parents surveyed said that they or other family members read every day to their children, from newborns to 5-year-olds.

"If we take as an ideal that every family reads to children every day, we have a ways to go," said Shirley Russ, associate clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of California-Los Angeles. She is one of the study's lead authors. Boston University and Reach Out and Read also contributed to the study.

Russ was intrigued by the variations from state to state. Bedtime stories were biggest in Vermont, where 67 percent of respondents claimed to read to children daily. Mississippi ranked last, with a score of 38 percent.

Reading habits vary with the age of the children. Survey respondents indicated that they read least to children younger than 1, most often to 3-year-olds, then cut back a bit as their children turn 4 and 5.

"Maybe some children at 5 are starting to read themselves," Russ said. "I'd encourage parents to keep up the reading at ages 4 and 5." One reason, she said, is that "parents can read to children with much richer language than children are initially capable of reading to themselves."

In the 20 years he and his wife, Debbie Pettid, have operated their Kansas City, Mo., bookstore, Pete Cowdin said, he's noticed that parents quit reading to their children at a younger age.

"I think after the age of 8, the majority have disengaged from their kids' reading schedule. It's pretty much their own thing, as long as they keep reading."

One result of that, he said, is that kids "get stuck" reading the same types of books.

Beth Gresham's daughters are 6 and 8, and are as excited as ever about their bedtime reading. "It's a form of relaxation," Gresham said.

"It's us sitting close together. We switch off reading in each of the kids' rooms. We allow them each to choose several books."

Sharing books that she relished as a child is a powerful experience for Gresham as well as her children, she said.

"Reading a story like 'James and the Giant Peach,' and recalling as a child where that transported me, and seeing that in my own children, is just an amazing experience," she said. "I wish people could put down their cellphones and stop with the computer and see what a gift it is to share that world with children."