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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Lifestyle
Alaina Demopoulos

‘It’s so boring’: gen Z parents don’t like reading to their kids – and educators are worried

A smiling boy in a yellow t-shirt is drawing in a notebook while a man in a green shirt, seated beside him, is focused on his smartphone
‘I don’t think we can divorce the role of technology influencing gen Z parents and their kids with the decline in reading out loud,’ said former elementary school teacher Spencer Russell. Photograph: Amr Bo Shanab/Getty Images/Connect Images

Last week, former elementary school teacher Spencer Russell posed a question to parents who follow his Instagram account, Toddlers Can Read: “Why aren’t you reading aloud to your kids?”

The responses, which Russell shared with the Guardian, ranged from embarrassed to annoyed to angry. “It’s so boring,” said one parent. “I don’t have time,” said another. One mother wrote in: “I don’t enjoy reading myself.”

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