On Channel 7’s Sunrise this morning there was an article about The Death Of Books. Apparently in UK one in 5 or 6 children in primary school had never picked up and read a book !!! They read magazines and blogs, but didnt see the need for books and didnt see how reading books could help them in their careers later on! If they had books about the house as toddlers and pre-schoolers surely they would have developed a interest in the written word!! Apparently most 20 year olds there cant read, spell or write properly.
That is very sad. 
Who are these kids parents? Just goes to show why lower IQ parents produce lower IQ kids. Because they just dont make the effort. Because some parents dont know how, and are not aware of what they could be doing to help their children. Or they dont care.
I am surprised that this is happening in a developed country like UK.
I bet TV and 2 working parents have a lot to do with it.
I grew up in a country with no TV, a very poor country, so I had limited toys, but I read voraciously. The school had a library…it was a broom closet!! When you dont have much, you appreciate the little you are able to access. In a wealthy country, people dont appreciate the great opportunities they have (any wonder I spend so much on educational products… I had so little myself).
I personally can not fatham people who hate reading or can not see the need for books. I love reading and so does my husband and our bedroom bookcase is overflowing with books. Sophia’s bookcase is full of books, ( if only she liked to be read to) ((Talk about irony)).
I remember as a kid locking myself in my room for hours just to read, or being sent to my room for being naughty and it was never punishment because i always had a good book. It is so sad to see this happening although whats even worse is that it is not surprising.
I think Nikita you have a very valid point about having a parent at home either that be a mum/mom or dad. It is unfortunate in many situations that this is not a finacially viable option for many people. I think maybe its time as a society we put our foot down and demanded better working options for families.
Nikita, just a question… were you a Missionary kid, or where did you grow up? I suppose your parents liked to read… anyways, I am sure.
TO answer your question…I grew up in Vanuatu which is a fairly poor place. Not a missionary kid. My parents split up there when I was 4 and each got involved with a native. My father lived in a tin shed with his new wife and other daughters, no electricity, no toilet etc, just a dirt floor. I lived better than that, habitation-wise, but mum’s defacto was horrid, so I try to recapture the childhood I wished I’d had, by trying to ensure my own kids have the best opportunites and happy times. I enjoy listening to nursery rhymes and reading baby books, and buy way too many baby toys etc as an over-reaction to not having much myself, though I had more than the native people. I dont remember seeing my parents read come to think of it, but I’m sure they must’ve read something! And my mother went back to work full-time when I was 3 months old, and probably less than that with my brother. We had house-girls as there was no daycare, and I really barely knew my mother growing up. I’m a stay-at-home mum, which my mother finds appalling, a cop-out from the real world and a waste of my education. And I read a lot as a child, teaching myself to read, to escape my life situation. I am very aware of the difference between the haves and the have-nots, as the Vanuatu kids still would be limited in their learning opportunities and their parents dont have a welfare system to back them up… they struggle to survive. One day I’d like to go back and work with pre-school age kids there, to try to help them grow in intelligence and education, to escape the poverty cycle.
And I feel bad for Nadya suleiman when they say she’s an unemployed single mum (of 14!). How exactly is she unemployed?? With 14 kids how is she unemployed?? If she went out to work THAT would be utterly irresponsible and being a bad mum, yet the American press are crucifying her for not having a career, so much that she’s going to train to become a psychologist at UNI… how people can parent and do a uni course I dont know… the children have to be neglected. I did uni as a single person, there is NO WAY I could be a good mum and attend UNI. Why cant people congratulate her for wanting to be a full on mum?? My own mother said when I had my 4th “I hope you arent having any more” (in front of my kids)!! Well, yes I am mum. GOODBYE!!