Parent involvement towards children's reading habit: A focus group survey from Nashik, India.

Purpose - This study was carried out to ascertain parents' attitude about reading related activities of children, to discover parents' efforts for instilling the reading habit in their children, to understand the challenges faced by parents in inculcating reading habit in their children, and to suggest possible solutions to the parents' difficulties related to their children's reading habits. Design/Methodology - The research was conducted using the Survey method, with Focus Group Discussion used as the data collection tool. The research sample was 24 parents of pupils who were studying in the primary and secondary Marathi medium schools in Nashik district. An anonymous data was collected Qualitative descriptive analysis was carried out of the collected data. Findings - It was observed that parents knew that pleasure reading was important for the overall behavioral development of their children. However, less than half of them performed any substantial activities to instill the reading habit in their children. Children's excessive usage of the internet, time constraints, children's disinterest in reading, and parents' incognizance about the effective reading material were the main challenges faced. Originality/Value - This study is one of the first one of its kind in the Indian scenario. Uniquely collecting parents' real experiences through focus group interviews, this paper provides concrete solutions to the difficulties of parents in inculcating reading habits among their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]