From Books as Coasters to Bedtime Stories: Family Literacy in Alberta's Next Generation

Reading behavior

Positive passive modeling includes activities such as reading or writing where children witness these behaviors. Positive passive modeling takes many forms; one of the most common is reading behavior. If children see their parents reading, this is a behavior that children are more likely to emulate.

Other passive modeling behavior may be considered negative. For example, children who do not see their parents involved in writing, rhyming, singing or reading may have less positive behaviors to emulate. Similarly, having the television always on and no interaction regarding programming may represent negative passive modeling.

In our research, 17 respondents said their children see one or both parents reading books or magazines. Nine people said their children see them reading the newspaper and another seven said the children see their parents reading information on the computer.

Table 22 shows the response distribution and comments.

Table 22. Reading behavior modeled
Reading behavior	Number of responses	Occupation	Comments
Child sees one or both parents reading books or magazines	17	0 n=5 A n=3 B n=4 C n=4 D n=1	My child sees me cooking using recipes in a cookbook. He sees me reading magazines and newspapers two or three times a week.
Child witnesses one or both parents reading newspaper	9	0 n=3 A n=2 B n=2 C n=2	I’m always reading, so he would have seen me reading the newspaper everyday.
Child sees one or both parents reading information on the computer/internet	7	A n=2 B n=5	She will see me reading on the internet. He occasionally sees me reading from the internet. They just see me reading off the computer.