Earlier this year, HarperCollins UK released a report showing a steep decline in the number of caregivers who read to their young children, according to an article in The 74.
The 2025 HarperCollins survey found less than half, around 41%, of children between the age of zero to four were read to every day or nearly every day, marking a decline of nine percentage points from 2019 and 15 percentage points in 2012.
About a third of parents read to their babies and toddlers weekly. Around one in five parents said they “rarely” or “never” read to their child between the ages of zero and two and 8% of parents said they “rarely” or “never” read to their child between the ages of three and four.
Many parents dismiss the importance of reading to their children or depend on online educational programs with limited benefits for learning. Early literacy researchers believe a common misconception exists that reading to a child when they’re babies or young toddlers is useless because the child doesn’t understand what’s going on.
Children who are not read to at home enter school unprepared compared to those who have been read to. There are also crucial repercussions on the youngest emerging students’ social-emotional health, cognitive development and future literacy skills.
A 2019 Ohio State University study found a 5-year-old child who is read to daily would be exposed to nearly 300,000 more words than one who isn’t read to regularly.
“I think we underestimate how large a gap we’re already seeing in kindergarten,” says Susan Neuman, professor of childhood and literacy education at New York University. She visited a New York City kindergarten classroom and saw some children who only knew two letters compared to others who were prepared to read phrases.
Early literacy experts suspect believe the decline in early literacy reading is even higher than reported.
“Frankly, parents … will often lie because they know it’s important to read, so they’ll exaggerate the amount of time they’re reading,” Neuman says. “I think the bottom line is reading is declining big time, not just for parents reading to children, but for all segments of our society.”
Some of the youngest parents, born between 1997 and 2012 –known as Gen-Z – are more likely than past generations to view reading as a school or work exercise – not a fun or beneficial routine, according to the HarperCollins survey and early literacy experts.
“Children are not seeing their caregivers actually reading books and that sends a really strong message,” says Theresa Bouley, an education professor at Eastern Connecticut State University. “I think it’s equally important … [for a] child’s understanding of the purpose and joy of reading to see their parent reading.”
The activity however, “is a lot more than just reading and reading books,” Bouley says. Reading aloud creates a foundation for literacy, she says.
Studies indicate it helps children develop communication, fine motor skills and oral language skills — strong predictors of success in school.
“Shared reading does predict child vocabulary prior to school entry, and vocabulary predicts later emerging literacy skills,” says Rebecca Parlakian, senior programs director at Zero to Three, an early childhood nonprofit. “We also find that the quantity or frequency of parent-child book reading predicted children’s receptive vocabulary, which is the words they understand, their reading comprehension skills and their desire to read.”
Books also support “social-emotional skills because children are being exposed to the feelings and motivations of characters other than themselves,” Parlakian says.
Reading aloud also develops a positive association with the activity. “There’s a lot of warm fuzziness and social emotional development that goes on. So now in kindergarten, if the teacher whips out a book, I remember my dad read me that book,” Bouley says.
Young children can understand the value and fun of reading if there is a positive association with books without the pressure of assessments or skill tests.
But instead, reading in schools has become performance-based activity or test preparation.
“I see a lot of skill and drill,” says Neuman.
Schools have been inundated with assessments and preparation,” Bouley says. “So first graders, second graders, they’re constantly getting these assessments that definitely take the purpose away from reading for enjoyment to reading as skill.”
Some parents argue their young children don’t have to read physical books because they’re benefiting from educational programs on tablets or phones. But early literacy experts say there is a difference between the two activities, both social-emotionally and academically.
Less reading time with a parent possibly means less bonding time. With a tablet, a parent can hand it off and walk away, Bouley says, but when it comes to reading a book, it demands a parent’s full presence.
Until the ages of 5 and 6, children “are incredibly inefficient at transferring learning that happens on a screen to real life,” and vice versa, Parlakian says.
Reading requires stamina — and educational programs on tablets or other devices offer instant gratification, Neuman says.
“Children aren’t developing comprehension, … even when they begin to learn the print, what we’re seeing is they don’t know the meaning of the print, and that’s a big problem,” says Neuman.
The 74
