This Middle School Teacher Is Begging Parents To Read To Their Kids After Noticing Huge Gaps In Skill

A middle school teacher on Reddit is begging parents to read to their kids after noticing a huge decline in skill with her students. They posted in the Mommit subreddit as a last-ditch effort to get parents to pay attention to their kids' literacy skills.

“Please for the love of anything READ TO YOUR CHILD DAILY!!!” they begged.

“I’m not talking dozens of books or chapters but seriously 5-10 minutes of reading to your child is not only great for your relationship but also great for their brains! And when they become old enough to read, also have them read to you!!”

They continued, “I’m a middle school teacher and I’m SO burnt out with kids that can’t read for sh*t. I’m not talking one or two or 5 or 10 a grade level or a couple of grade levels behind in their reading, I’m talking dozens and dozens over 5 grade levels behind. Please. If you love your child, take a couple minutes to wind down and ready. You and your child need it. End rant.”

The post quickly gained traction with over 3k upvotes and comments from parents with varying opinions.

“To add to your point, children who are read to often are able to soak in way more vocabulary! My daughter’s drs office have commented how clear speaking she is and when they heard we read to her, they advised how reading makes such a huge difference in clarity of children’s speech. And it’s such a lovely bonding experience. They pick up on inflection and how to put sentences together correctly too. It is so enriching for them. I don’t understand why so many don’t. It doesn’t take a lot of time out of the day to do it either,” one user wrote.

Another joked, “And you get to sit or lie down while you do it! As a parent, big fan of sitting and/or lying down.”

One mom shared, “i have a coworker who said kids need to be kids and they can read at school…. so she doesn’t read to her kids…. i haven’t looked at her the same since for real. and she’s a big reader herself! i don’t get it”

One user pointed out an opinion that a lot of parents have these days: reading to kids is a teacher’s job.

“My BILs girlfriend couldn't believe my 6 year old can read almost anything while hers can barely read at all, let alone at a 1st grade level. And she's pretty pissed that the school hasn't taught her daughter better because it's ‘their job to teach the kids to read.’ I'm just like.... No it's definitely your job,” they wrote.

One Reddit user noted that there is a happy medium to all of this discourse about reading to kids.

“Reading books every day together is essential for vocabulary, sound formation, comprehension, and background knowledge. Do it!” they began.

“It won’t, however, teach 75% of them to read. Most kids need explicit instruction on how the symbols sound and blend together to make words. Sight words will come with lots of that too. Most middle schoolers right now are products of elementary education that was not including a lot of explicit decoding instruction and teachers who mean well but weren’t trained on a high level to teach specific reading skills. that’s a huge reason for what op is seeing I would bet.”

So, why are parents not reading to their kids? Of course, so many of us are spread insanely thin and have no villages. Reading at the end of the day can feel like a huge mountain to move, and apparently a lot of parents just don’t like doing it!

A survey of almost 2,000 people, conducted by HarperCollins UK and Nielsen, revealed a troubling downturn in family reading from a similar survey conducted in 2012.

Just 41% of parents with children between the ages of 0 to 4 report reading to their children frequently — a steep decline, the survey notes, from 64% 13 years ago. That could be because only 40% of parents with children aged 0 to 13 find reading books to their children fun.

If anything, this is a very good reminder to read to your kids, even if it’s just for some quiet bonding!