Family Friendly HQ, the parenting website published by Packed.House has teamed up with Children’s Books Ireland to launch a new initiative, #shareastory that aims to encourage children to read more books while highlighting how a grandparent can still read a book to their grandchild while staying apart.
The partnership also includes a new reading hub on Family Friendly HQ. This new hub includes recommended reads and themed reading lists from Children’s Books Ireland alongside reviews by the FFHQ team as a helpful resource for families.
According to Elaina Ryan of Children’s Books Ireland: ‘While we are all staying at home, we’re aware that children’s routines now look very different and they may be missing their friends, families and especially their grandparents. We in Children’s Books Ireland believe that reading can be a real comfort during tough times like this. We also know that reading is linked with a myriad of positive outcomes for children, including improved mental wellbeing which is vitally important at this time. While we must stay apart, we would encourage families to share a story together.’
“We are passionate about creating content that helps readers navigate through parenthood and providing meaningful solutions and guides to achieving quality family time. By partnering with Children’s Books Ireland, we can now showcase reading together as a solution to this problem. We are delighted to partner with them to launch #shareastory and will continue to work with them throughout the year to encourage and promote children reading in Irish homes,” adds Richie Kelly, CEO of Packed.House
A survey carried out by Family Friendly HQ in February 2020 showed that 100% of parents believed reading to children outside of school was important with 92% saying they would like to read more to their kids. Just over half of respondents said a lack of time was one of the main barriers that stopped them and nearly all respondents (90%) said that their favourite reading format was a print book.
