Tradition of Bedtime Stories Waning

A third of parents in the U.K. do not read bedtime stories to their children, a latest poll reveals.

The survey was conducted by Littlewood, a fashion and homeware retailer. The study, done on 2000 mothers of children aged between zero and seven, showed that the tradition of telling bedtime stories to children was waning. The results showed that nearly a quarter of a million children do not have any books and on an average parents read bedtime stories for just three days in a week.

The poll also showed that around 91 percent of the parents said that bedtime stories were read to them during childhood and now only 64 percent of parents follow the tradition for their children. Only 13 percent of those surveyed said they read a story to their children every night. However, 87 percent said they believed bedtime stories were essential for the development of children's learning ability.

The results showed that 13 percent of the parents said they did not have enough time to read stories to their children and another nine percent said they were "too stressed," reported the Daily Mail. Another major challenge for parent was to get their children interested in books.

Littlewoods.com also organised a story writing competition for children and singer Natasha Hamilton was one of the judges. "As a mum of three, I know just how enjoyable reading bedtime stories to my kids is. Alfie is only three, so he especially loves me putting on different silly voices when I'm telling him stories before bed. I'm really excited to see all the different story ideas and can't wait to see what the kids come up with. Choosing a winner's not going to be easy," she said.

"We appreciate how important it is for parents and kids to spend quality time together, and bedtime stories are a great way to do just this. The fact one in three parents feel they could and should spend more time reading with their kids felt like the perfect opportunity to launch this new campaign. The more excited we can get children and parents about writing and drawing, hopefully the more they will want to read together at home," Gary Kibble, Retail Brand Director at Littlewoods.com said.