82% of parents and caregivers are reading to their children under 10 at least once a week, this according to our National Reading Survey released this week.

Around a third reported their children under 10 years of age had a particular book they liked to be read repeatedly, while 55% said they wished they had more time to read to their kids.

What wonderful news. This tells us that parents and whānau understand the importance of reading for pleasure and the lifelong enrichment that creating a reading habit for life can bring, such as improved educational outcomes, health benefits such as reducing stress, increased empathy and cross-cultural understanding. And most importantly, reading is fun.

The survey also revealed that while most parents do read with their children, 39% of respondents who had children under 10 years of age living in their household made time for reading with them every day, while 82% read with their children at least once a week and 7% said they ‘never’ did.

As children get older, the incidence of adults reading with them drops. 41% still say they read with their teenagers, but for over half of them, that is less than once a week.

Overwhelmingly our research tells us that if parents and whānau had more time they would read more with their children. How can we carve out a little bit more time to read to and with our children when our days are filled with work, home and family commitments, and probably a little bit of anxiety too for the problems of the world?

Our survey told us that the two most common times to read with under 10's are at bedtime, and when their child asks them to. Are there other times you could slide a book in during the day?

Reading together doesn’t have to take a long time, as little as 10 minutes will help create a reading habit and is time out of a busy day to slow down and reconnect over a story.

It’s never too young to start growing a reader. Babies may not understand the words, but they hear the cadence and rhythm of your voice when you read.

Start where you are, find a cosy spot, a book you both love and carve out 10 minutes today to read with your child, rinse and repeat, and before you know it, you’ve grown a reader.

If you're looking for reading inspiration, you might like:

Try our fun quiz: find the perfect book for the small kids in your life

Check out our School Library book recommendations, reviewed by Kiwi teachers and librarians