Dear Readers
Ten years ago, parents were not as involved with their young children as they are today. Research has shown that the parental involvement could boost a child's academic career later in life.
American parents and children are spending more time together by playing, reading, education and eating dinner. Parents are becoming more aware of how important parental involvement and reading with children are to school readiness and success.
Research also shows that quality time between parents and children can have a big effect on development and academic progress.
The Census Bureau found:
• Parents overwhelmingly reported that they not only want, but expect, their children to graduate from high school and college. While fewer than half of low-income parents in 1998 expected their children to graduate from college, 54 percent of that group expected their children to earn a college degree in 2009.
• Among children in poverty, 45 percent of 1- and 2-year-olds and 40 percent of children ages 3 to 5 had parents who read to them at least seven times a week in 2009; by contrast, in 1998, among families in poverty, only 37 percent of the toddlers and 34 percent of the preschoolers read with their families as often. The proportion of low-income children being read to by their families increased faster than for their wealthier peers.
• Low-income parents were 10 percent more likely in 2009 than in 1998 to have frequent conversations with their preschool or elementary-age children “just for fun” throughout the day, with more than half doing so.
• Parents in general were far more likely in 2009 to play and eat dinner with their children, and to praise their children at least three times a day, though younger children got more positive reinforcement than did teenagers.
Source: Education Week
