More than eight out of ten of Britain’s fathers (89%) believe it is important for both parents to read bedtime stories with their children regularly, according to a new survey by The Children’s Society.
But when it comes to actually picking up a book it seems mums have the edge – and dads need some extra encouragement to take part in storytime. According to the survey for The Children’s Society’s National Bedtime Reading Month 50% of fathers say they read their children a bedtime story every night, compared to 7 out of 10 mums.
The survey suggests that many household tasks are not evenly shared out between the sexes, and bedtime reading is one of them. Some 74% of mothers said they alone washed the clothes, 61% said they alone did the cooking, 49% said they alone did the cleaning and 27% said they alone read to the children.
