London - Bedtime stories are in decline, with a third of parents never reading to their young children, a study shows.
Only one in five parents (21 percent) get a book out every night, it found.
“Once upon a time” is not quite a thing of the past, as the average child hears three bedtime stories a week.
However, a quarter of a million children aged up to seven (four percent) do not own any books, the research by retailer Littlewoods.com found.
In contrast, 75 percent of parents surveyed – who all had children aged seven or under – said they were read stories every night as youngsters.
While the vast majority (87 percent) said the bedtime ritual was important, only 64 percent kept it up.
Thirteen percent blamed a lack of time, while nine percent said they were too stressed in the evenings. - Daily Mail