Most respondents said they read daily with their children. There were no occupational differences in the frequency of reading to children.

As children get older, parents have their children read to them also. Three respondents said they read to their children until the children could read by themselves, usually when the children were five or six years old. One person said she stopped reading to her child when he turned 8 years old, and two parents of teenagers stopped reading to their children when they were around 12 years of age.

All of the respondents said they have “lots of books” at home. Some children have their own bookshelves and magazine subscriptions. Parents of school age children said their children purchase books from book clubs such as Scholastic, Elf or Lucky and borrow books from the school library.

Four parents said their children were involved in mandatory reading programs at their schools which required children to read to their parents every night (Read a Book Program) or to bring books home and have parents sign a form saying the child has read the book (Home Reading Program and Balanced Literacy Program).

Table 24. Reading behavior with children
Reading behavior
with children		 Number of
responses		 Occupation Comments
One or both parents read everyday to their child 17 0 n=5
A n=3
B n=3
C n=4
D n=2		 We read at least one book a day.
My son loves books. I read to him as much as I can; at least once a day.
I read to them every night or they read to me every night.
Parents stopped reading to child once child could read on his/her own 3 0 n=1
B n=1
D n=1		 We read to them every night until they could read by themselves (when they were about five or six).
There are many books and/or magazines for child to read at home 22 0 n=5
A n=5
B n=5
C n=5
D n=2		 The kids have their own bookshelves packed with books and one child has his own magazine subscription.
There are over 900 books in our library at home.

Not all comments were positive. One person said she reads to her son once or twice a week and, despite a large number of books at home, "he hates reading." Another person said her 14 year old daughter "used to like books", even attending a summer reading program when she was in Grade 2 or 3, but now she does not enjoy reading and her mother did not know "when she stopped liking books." Another person with older teenagers said when her children were younger, they used to go to the library "all the time", but now neither of them likes to read.

One person with two boys aged 8 and 10 said the children are required to read a minimum of 20 minutes each day for school. It is a "forced activity and neither likes to read." She echoed another respondent who said, "The kids are really into sports and they have lots of time for that."