DISNEY RESEARCH SHOWS THAT BUSY PARENTS ARE STRUGGLING TO FIND THE TIME FOR STORYTELLING
- Busy lifestyles and long working hours are seen to present obstacles to storytelling
- Dads need the most help from the Winnie the Pooh Storytelling Academy; research shows they need a confidence boost when it comes to storytelling
- Zoe Ball leads the charge, launching the Winnie the Pooh Storytelling Academy, to give parents hints and tips on how to tell stories to their children
Disney has launched the Winnie the Pooh Storytelling Academy, as new research reveals that only a third (30%) of the UK parenting population read to their children every day, despite 51% of parents surveyed saying storytelling time enables them to spend quality time with their children, and 47% know their children enjoy having stories read to them. Offering tips, tricks and guidance designed to help modern parents create shared family story time experiences, Disney has brought together a panel of storytelling experts to form the Winnie the Pooh Storytelling Academy which includes broadcaster and mum of two, Zoe Ball, child psychologist Emma Kenny, and Disney’s Justine Finch.
Winnie the Pooh Storytelling Academy
Disney has brought together a panel of storytelling experts which includes broadcaster and mum of two, Zoe Ball, child psychologist Emma Kenny, and Disney’s Justine Finch, in order to create the Winnie the Pooh Storytelling Academy. The Academy is an online resource offering a wide range of tips, tricks and guidance designed to show modern parents how both traditional and modern multimedia storytelling techniques can help them achieve a rich, shared family story time experience.Zoe Ball, TV and Radio presenter and mother of two comments:
“I am a great believer in the magic of bedtime stories and hope that the Winnie the Pooh Storytelling Academy will inspire other parents. When I was young my dad would enthusiastically read tales of Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and friends to me, and put on daft voices to really bring the story to life. These are memories which I treasure and now I can share those special bedtime stories with my own children.”
Justine Finch, Winnie the Pooh expert at Disney comments:
“Disney has a rich heritage in bringing to life the tales of Winnie the Pooh and his friends from the Hundred Acre Wood, and bringing stories to life is something we want to encourage UK parents to do. We set up the Winnie the Pooh Storytelling Academy as a valuable online resource where parents and grandparents who face storytelling challenges such as a lack of confidence or distractions can go to pick up tips and tricks from our panel of experts”.
“In this hyper-connected world we want to help them to keep the art of storytelling alive for the next generation via a whole host of media like iPad apps, audio books and the traditional hardback, to create memorable shared family experiences.”The Disney Winnie the Pooh Storytelling Academy can be found here: www.disney.co.uk/winniethepooh/storytelling
Findings by region:
- People in the South East are most likely to read to their children every day (38%)
- People in the South East (48%) and London (40%) most feel the pressure of getting home from work late as an obstacle to story telling
- People in Yorkshire and the Humber are most confident at telling stories (70%)
- In East Anglia, the Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber, grandparents and dads are more popular for telling stories than mums
- People in N. Ireland are the most nostalgic, with 35% reading the same stories to their children / grandchildren as their parents read to them
- More people in London (34%) prefer classic stories than anywhere else
- The Welsh are the most inventive, making up their own stories (16%)
- Dads are least popular for telling stories in the North East (7%)
Other interesting finding from the release:
- Storytelling lapses while on holiday with only a tiny margin (3%) of parents and grandparents reading to their children when on vacation, even though this is the point in the year when parents/grandparents have the most free time
- Bedtime is still the most popular point in the day (42%) for storytelling
- Only a third (30%) of the UK parenting population read to their children every day
- UK parents and grandparents want to share and care: over half (51%) of respondents cite the reason they read to children is in order to spend quality time with them
* Survey carried out by YouGov of 1,000 parents and grandparents in the UK with children under six in August 2012.
Boo xxx
Disclosure
Policy: I have received no products or financial compensation for
this post, I am just sharing some fab information with you.
