Do You Read Bedtime Stories to Your Kids, Novi?

A new study finds only one in three parents reads bedtime stories with their children every night.

The statistic was among the data released last month from a survey commissioned by Reading Is Fundamental and Macy's to launch the annual Be Book Smart campaign from June 21 to July 21 to support children's literacy.

The response to a query on the Novi Patch Facebook page about whether parents read to their kids on a nightly basis was a resounding yes.

"The night time routine here is 2 books, 3 songs!" wrote Patch reader Leah Gilbert.

Julie Brown McIntosh said she read to her kids when they were younger.

"From birth up to about age seven or eight, then they wanted to read on their own at night," she said.

Patch reader Susan Motley Vanderwill said she reads to her kids because these are the times to remember. Erica Karcher agreed and said that her daughter has learned new words, spelling and manner from reading together. 

"It's so important to help boost their little brains," she wrote.

The nationwide survey of more than 1,000 parents with children age 8 or younger conducted in April by Harris Interactive for RIF and Macy's also found the following.

• Eighty-seven percent of parents read bedtime stories to their children, although not necessarily on a nightly basis.
• Fifty percent of parents say their children spend more time with television or video games than with books.
• Twice as many children prefer a printed book (20 percent) over an e-book (9 percent), say parents who read both types of books to their children.
• Children who don't read well by the end of the third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school than proficient readers, according to a report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Click here for more information about the Be Book Smart campaign.