*AD – unpaid post for charity
I’ve written before about how passionate I am about reading with my children everyday. Why I think story time is one of the best times of the day. I have also written for BritMums sharing how sad I think it is that only half of pre-schoolers are read to everyday. So I was interested to read a new report from the Book Trust that 65% of parents now give children tech at bedtime such as smartphones, Youtube, tablets or TV at bedtime and a quarter use home assistant to tell bedtime stories.
I get it, modern parenting is so different to how it was 20 or even 10 years ago. In most families now, both parents work and the juggle of childcare and work demands is massive. I am lucky to work from home, but for families where both parents work full time and commute, to be honest I take my hat off to you as I don’t know how you do it. It feels like the to-do list is never-ending as it is.
Research has shown that reading with your child at home is one of the most beneficial things that you can do for their development and education. Reading with children makes them happier, healthier, more empathetic and creative. So even if you can’t manage it every day, just ditching the tech for half of the week and sitting and reading with your child will really help them.
Join in with the Book Trust’s Pyjamarama on 7th June
If you’re looking for ways to support reading within your family life, then why not join in the Book Trust’s Pyjamamara on the 7th June? On the 7th June they are challenged everyone to wear their pyjamas for a whole day, and to use this time to celebrate the bedtime story. You can register your child’s school, class or nursery or even your office and receive a fundraising pack. Then get everyone to come in dressed in their pyjamas and donate £1.
All monies raised will go towards funding BookTrust’s work in supporting more families. For just £25, BookTrust could provide 15 pre-school children living in women’s refuge centres with their own book pack.
Giveaway
Getting into the spirit of sharing books and the love of books, I have a giveaway for you. One winner can win Ben and Holly 5 Figure Pack & Fairy Tale Sticker Activity Book. Enter your details below to be in with a chance of winning. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway*Terms and conditions: Entries are open to UK and Ireland residents. The competition closes on the the 7th June 2019. Winners will be announced on social media and contacted via email. If the winner does not respond to the email in two weeks, a new winner will be randomly chosen.
No, all tech is switched off half an hour before bedtime – for us all!
no not at all
The only tech I use is a white noise sheep which my twins still love at 2! Other than that, it’s just a plain old story.
no we dont here x
No.
No
Yes we use a tablet to read a story on its the same as a book, but because its tech they dont realise and its easy to get them up the stairs to bed
No
no not for his bedtime, he sometimes has my phone for half an hour in the morning
no I dont
No I don’t and I wouldn’t
No definately not, no tech at bedtime
No we don’t have any tech before bedtimes
No we don’t use tech but they do have a story cd on to go to sleep (after they have read)
I personally don’t use tech as part of the bedtime routine
No we don’t use tech at bedtime.
Not at bedtime at all and thankfully as it’s never been a part of her bedtime routine she doesn’t expect it. However, I have to admit some weekends when I’m exhausted I do give her my phone for 20 minutes so I can have some much needed extra snooze time!
No tech is used for at leadt 1 hours before bedtime
No tech at bedtime ever!!!! or me
Just a bit of TV before the bedtime routine.
We read a story before bedtime, no technology involved as it would disrupt him and he wouldn’t want to sleep x
No
Absolutely not!
No, not at our house, I’m the grandma though
Not at the moment. We try to keep things simple with bath, bed and book.
definately not!
we don’t, no, as screens are bad for calming at bedtime!
No! We have no tech after dinner so the kids can settle properly before bed x
No i dont
Tech at bed is a no no no
no, just good old fashioned books
No we have stories and songs x
No we dont
No never
No, I won’t let them use tech about an hour before bedtime
No – we read to them and it has made them love reading and books in general.
i do not use tech as a part of bedtime routine, i use reading and talking
No, wont have that.
NOooooooooo we have never used tech as part of bedtime. Even tvs have been turned off before reading.
Yes we do. I’m not sure why it’s so demonised, as long as it is used in the correct way. My son uses his tablet to listen to a book on tape whilst he falls asleep as he finds it a comfort. This doesn’t mean that we don’t read together in the traditional way too. I had music on to fall asleep every night when I was a kid and I grew up in the 80s! I can’t see the difference, in fact, it’s increased his vocabulary dramatically as the book he listens to is intended for older kids. Obviously I’m not going to allow him to play games or anything like that at bedtime, but technology can be involved in family life as an aid without replacing everything that came before it!
No tech at bedtime, just a story from an old fashioned book – I enjoy this time myself as well as him!
Only recently we have started letting our daughter watch a cartoon movie before bed as she was refusing to sleep in her own bed and this encouraged her to go to bed….. my partners idea not mine I didn’t really want to put a TV in her bedroom as my 2 eldest who are now 21 and 19 were glued to theirs at night
No, we read stories after bathtime.
Only to put on classical music until the girls are asleep after story time
No.
We let our Son watch 1 show before bed
I don’t use tech as a bedtime routine no, we have reading time with print books before bed but I don’t mind my daughter using tech in the day as there are a lot of apps now that encourage learning and they are growing up in a technological world.
We use a teeth brushing app on the iPad which makes brushing the teerth fun for our son.
No
no we dont xx
No we didn’t just books x
No we have always read, although we do sometimes listen to audio books x
No always books with happy stories!
Yes, but only to play relaxing music on our tablet.