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Literacy is more than reading, says ABC Life Literacy Canada.
The group that created Family Literacy Day, a national awareness initiative held annually on Jan. 27, recently had Ipsos Reid conduct a survey on ABC’s behalf. The findings revealed that 62 per cent of the 1,000 parents between the ages of 18 and 55 polled agreed that they don’t have as much time as they’d like to spend helping their kids learn. That comes as 70 per cent of respondents agree that they are their child’s best teacher.
Time-crunched parents, do not despair. There are easy ways to bump up the time spent teaching your children.
Reading was the most common activity parents were likely to engage in with their children daily, followed by helping with homework, playing games, using a computer, writing stories or visiting a library.
“We know that people are pressed for time, so what we’re suggesting is take a look at the activities that you participate in with your families and see that there are inherent learning moments within those activities that you can engage with your child and enjoy,” Margaret Eaton, president of ABC Life Literacy Canada, said in a news release.
Those learning moments come in every-day activities.
For example, while 14 per cent said they always use paying their bills as a learning opportunity for their children, most never (27 cent) or rarely (28 per cent) use the occasion as a teachable moment.
As for cooking or baking, 27 per cent of respondents say they always use the time while whipping up a dish as a learning moment for their kids — signifying that the majority do not.
Kids can learn about matching, measurement and colours while parents do laundry, but only 19 per cent of parents surveyed said they always use the household chore as a teachable moment.
Along the same idea, during grocery store visits encourage children to identify fruits or vegetables of a particular colour in the product section.
Eaton said discussing the day’s news events or what was read online earlier in the day can help improve kids’ vocabulary and get them thinking about and sharing opinions on issues.
The whole idea behind Family Literacy Day is to celebrate adults and kids reading and learning together, and to encourage Canadians to spend at least 15 minutes enjoying a learning activity as a family every day. The group says just 15 minutes a day can improve a child’s literacy skills dramatically, and can help a parent improve their skills as well.
Literacy is more than reading and learning is a lifelong journey, says ABC Life Literacy Canada. While reading books to children is beneficial, it can’t be ignored that daily life, such as cooking supper, filling the washing machine and grocery shopping, presents its own learning opportunities. The benefit to parents who use those opportunities to teach and learn is the easing of the stress of not reading x number of books every day, and for their children, they pave the way to lifelong success.
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