Iphigenia-Irini is-not three years old. Seeing her grandfather reading before bed, in the last trimester she also asks, as her mother says, Mara Manzouranito take a book with him to bed. “Today they were told to take their favorite toy to kindergarten, and she chose a book. This is probably due to the fact that she sees a lot of books in our own house, in the houses of the grandparents, but also because we read to her a lot.” she says herself. As researches show, when children are young they learn (and want) to read, but along the way the combination of technology and increased educational demands takes them away from reading.
Talking to the professor of Sociology of the Department of Communication and Mass Media of the University of Athens Nikos Panagiotopoulos for the book he wrote in collaboration with Athena Karatza and Lila Papavasiliou“Learn my child letters,” about children’s relationship with reading, we realize that the story of Iphigenia-Irene is a tangible example of what the professor refers to as “embodying cultural capital”.
The research
After a large survey by OSDEL (Organization for the Collective Management of Language Projects) under the direction of Mr. Panagiotopoulos on the reading behavior of Greeks, but also from a supplementary survey of 500 families in Attica and from ethnographic surveys within the families, the team of professor investigated how the factors that make a child love reading work: “We focused on ages up to 12, because by eight-nine years 80% of who we are is formed” says Mr. Panagiotopoulos.
So a basic conclusion is: “The acquisition of the reading disposition, the impulse, the love, is an action upon the mind and body. The essentiality of reading apprenticeship is first inscribed on bodies in the form of ways of looking at the book, holding it, “sitting” with it, giving it your space and time. Just as someone grows up and learns their gender without realizing they are becoming a boy or a girl, just like a child learns to love football because his father talks to him about it all day. The main factor that creates the reading mood in children’s bodies is the family”.
The role of parents is crucial for them to love reading from a young age. The role of the school “is not to replace the role of the family but to expand the possibilities for more children to reach reading”
The role of the school, according to Mr. Panagiotopoulos, “it is not to replace the role of the family (this is not possible) but to expand the chances that more and more children will reach reading”. He expresses a series of proposals so that programs for the dissemination of reading, either by the school or by other agencies, can be effective. Because, as he says, as it is today “they mainly help those who are already reading. The question is how we will be able to bring as many as possible to this good».
According to the research, the most influential factor regarding the relationship between a child and reading was the educational level of the parents, followed by the occupation of the parents and then the age of the child. Older children (11-12 years old) usually read one to five books a year (62.9%). The corresponding percentage among the youngest (8-10 years old) is the majority (48.4%) but with a small difference from the readers of more than six books a year (45.2%). Finally, 55% of six-seven-year-old children read more than six books a year.
The lack of time
It sounds reasonable because of the children’s obligations after six years. As she says Elizabeth Provi, her 11.5-year-old daughter now reads five-six books a year, mostly in the summer. He doesn’t have much time – he’s divided between school, studying, English, French and dancing. “Until Monday and Tuesday of primary school, Melina would take her book, sit near us and read. I think that it helped that I read a lot when she was little, but also the fact that her father is a bookworm and always walks around with a book in his hand.”
- 25.4% of children whose parents have a higher education read more than 10 books a year, more children’s literature (46.1% vs. 40.6%), see their parents reading more (82.8% vs. 72.9%) and are less exposed to television and other screens.
- 48.4% of 8-10 year olds read one to five books a year.
- 45.2% of 8-10 year olds read more than six books a year.
- 80% of who we are is formed until the age of 8-9 years.
