Most Canadian parents want to devote more time to helping educate their children, but many aren’t taking advantage of moments during routine tasks to share their knowledge, a new poll suggests.
The Ipsos Reid survey conducted on behalf of ABC Life Literacy Canada interviewed more than 1,000 parents between the ages of 18 and 55.
Findings revealed that 62 per cent of parents polled agreed that they don’t have as much time as they’d like to spend helping their kids learn.
The survey found 70 per cent of respondents agree that they are their child’s best teacher — a feeling even stronger among those with little ones at home. And 63 per cent disagree with the statement that the primary place for a child to learn is at school, not home.
Reading was the most common activity parents were likely to engage in with their children daily, followed by helping with homework, playing games, using a computer, writing stories or visiting a library.
Yet while many parents yearn for more time to devote to helping educate their kids, few are making use of opportunities during daily activities to engage youngsters in teachable moments.
For example, while 14 per cent said they always use paying their bills as a learning opportunity for their children, most never (27 per cent) or rarely (28 per cent) use the occasion as a teachable moment.
As for cooking or baking, 27 per cent of respondents say they always use the time while whipping up a dish as a learning moment for their kids — signifying that the majority do not.
Kids can learn about matching, measurement and colours while parents do laundry, but only 19 per cent of parents surveyed said they always use the household chore as a teachable moment.
“We know that people are pressed for time, so what we’re suggesting is take a look at the activities that you participate in with your families and see that there are inherent learning moments within those activities that you can engage with your child and enjoy,” said Margaret Eaton, president of ABC Life Literacy Canada.
Eaton said discussing the day’s news events or what was read online earlier in the day can help improve kids’ vocabulary and get them thinking about and sharing opinions on issues.
Getting children to look at a frozen pizza box for baking instructions encourages them to find information — another key literacy skill, she noted.
A possible factor in parents missing the chance to translate daily activities into teaching moments could be that some parents aren’t wholly confident when it comes to teaching their kids about particular subjects.
While 69 per cent of those polled said they were very confident in teaching their child to read, 26 per cent said they were only somewhat confident and five per cent said they weren’t confident.
In addition to reading at least two books before bed, Jill Amery also talks to her four and five-year-old boys about their day. But the learning doesn’t begin and end with storytime.
The Vancouver-based mom said that ever since her kids were young, she has been teaching them to recognize their names by writing letters in the sand at the beach.
During grocery store visits, she would encourage them to identify vegetables of a particular colour in the produce section.
The family also tries to use technology to their advantage, and says using a computer to access kid-friendly sites or an e-reader to download children’s books helps make life easier for parents.
“I think it’s actually been much more effective than when I’ve tried to use conventional methods, and it’s been much more fun for me as a parent,” said Amery, publisher of UrbanMommies Media who operates urbanmommies.com and urbandaddies.com.
“In cooking in the kitchen, in walking the dog, there are so many learning opportunities,” she added. “If you don’t use those as parents, I think not only are you going to be more unhappy because you feel guilt, you feel stress because you’re not reading x number of books every day or those simple things that we understand as the only learning opportunities.
“I really do feel like parents need to ... do what they love as human beings and as people with their kids and teach them through those activities so they’re happy and involved and excited about what they’re sharing with their children.”
The findings were released in advance of Family Literacy Day which is held each year on Jan. 27.
The day was developed by ABC Life Literacy Canada to celebrate adults and kids reading and learning together, and to encourage Canadians to spend at least 15 minutes enjoying a learning activity as a family every day.
The online survey of 1,002 adults was conducted between Nov. 17 and Nov. 22, 2011, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Online:
ABC Life Literacy Canada: www.abclifeliteracy.ca
Family Literacy Day: www.familyliteracyday.ca
Urban Mommies: www.urbanmommies.com