Dads Missing Out on Bedtime Stories

Who reads the stories at bedtime on your house? One of the plus points of flexible work is that you can be there at the end of the day. A new survey has found that just 3% of fathers read to their children, compared with 89% of mothers – and it is work that is stopping dads from being there for bedtime. 73% of parents think work commitments prevent them from spending time reading to their children.

Bookaboo is a world famous drumming rock puppy who “just can’t play without a story a day”. Each episode, a famous face goes back stage to share a story with Bookaboo on his Bookabus. Bojo restored, this puppy can play and cheered on by his celebrity guests, he takes to the stage to give us the best canine drum solo ever heard.

The nationwide survey commissioned by Happy Films/ CITV to promote Bookaboo, asked 2,000 parents about the reading activities they conduct with their children. The research shows that 87% of dads claim work commitments prevent them from finding the time to share a book with their children, with over a third (34%) expressing they are just too tired.

One of the celebrities featuring in Bookaboo is ex-England Goalkeeper David Seaman and of a dad of two he believes more dads should be reading to their children “I think it’s important that fathers do read to their children because it’s a special time, I have two children, and I read to them both, sometimes they’ll come and both listen to the same book – it’s a magical moment and I advise fathers just to try it”.

Watch out for Bookaboo on ITV from2nd March. You can hear stories read by Meatloaf, Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden, Al Murray, Julian Clary, Mel C and more.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 27th, 2009 at 9:47 am and is filed under time management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.