Parents spent less time reading, chatting and playing with their children during the pandemic, according to new research by the National Literacy Trust. A quarter said they did not chat with their child every day in 2021, compared with just 10% in 2019, and only half (53%) of parents said they were reading to their child daily, compared with two-thirds in 2019.
And the proportion of parents who said they played with their child at least once a day in the previous week also fell from 76% in 2019 to 72% in 2021. The Trust surveyed more than 1,500 parents with children under five.