Nearly One Half (46%) of Young American Children Most Often Read a Bedtime Story before Going to Bed

New York, NY - One half of American children aged 7 or younger typically read a bedtime story before counting sheep, making it the most commonly-practiced pre-slumber ritual for American children aged 7 or younger according to a new Ipsos Public Affairs poll of over 500 parents with young children, conducted on behalf of sleepbetter.org. Two in ten (19%) children pray immediately before going to sleep, while others talk to their parents or siblings (14%), watch TV (11%), imagine play (7%) or play video games (1%).

A majority (52%) of parents say that bedtime stories were a tradition in their household, and many appear to be keeping that tradition alive. One quarter (23%) of parents believe reading to their child every night has the biggest positive impact on a child's performance in school, statistically tied with assisting with homework (25%), but much less than the proportion who said getting a good night's sleep (44%) is the key to success in school.

One factor that could contribute to not getting a good night's sleep, however, is the incidence of televisions in the bedrooms of young children. Three in ten (27%) parents say their child aged 7 or younger has a television in their room. Those that do are nearly twice as likely to say they don't most often read bedtime stories (52%) as those without a TV in the bedroom (29%), and are nearly five-times more likely to say they typically watch TV before bed (26%) than those without a TV in their room (6%). Moreover, those with a TV in their room are significantly more likely (50%) to go to bed after 8:35pm than those without a TV in their room (28%).

Story Time...

Eight in ten (84%) parents say they typically let their child choose the bedtime story they want to read, while just 11% of parents say they choose the book themselves, and 4% say it alternates between the child and the parent. But the actual reading of the story usually falls to mom (65%), although one quarter (22%) of parents say dad usually does the reading. In just 4% of the cases does the child read the book themselves (4%), and sometimes a grandparent (3%), or other sibling (1%) helps out. On average, parents are reading to their kids an average of 19 minutes each night.

Parents are evenly divided as to whether new bedtime stories of recent years are better or worse than the old classic tales from when they were a child. Four in ten (37%) believe the newer stories are actually better (6% much/31% somewhat), while a similar proportion (39%) believes that these newer stories are actually worse (7% a lot/32% somewhat). Two in ten (21%) offered that they believe there is no difference between stories of old and newer bedtime tales.

Thinking about what book is America's favorite bedtime story of all time, one in four (23%) Americans, overall, choose "Good Night Moon" from among a list of oldie goldies, while others believe "Green Eggs and Ham" (20%), "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (15%), "I'll Love you Forever" (14%), "Cinderella" (13%), "Where the Wild Things Are" (7%) or some other book (2%) is the best bedtime story of all time.

Thinking back to when they were young, parents of young children say their favorite bedtime story was "Green Eggs and Ham" (22%), followed by "The Three Little Pigs" (16%), "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (15%), "Where the Wild Things Are" (13%), "Cinderella" (11%), "Good Night Moon" (6%) or some other book (5%).

Depite the existence of all sorts of venerable bedtime stories, one in three (35%) parents say their child's favorite bedtime stories are actually those that they make up for their child. In fact, three quarters (74%) of parents say they've created their own bedtime story for their children, with moms and dads being equally as likely to say so.

Two in ten (17%) parents say their child most prefers "Good Night Moon", while others' children most enjoy "Cat in the Hat" (11%), "Green Eggs and Ham" (10%), "Goldilocks and the Three Bears' (6%), "Where the Wild Things Are" (4%) or some other book (10%).

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted March 11-14, 2010. For the survey, a nationally representative sample of 512 randomly-selected parents of children under age 8 was interviewed by telephone via Ipsos' U.S. Telephone Express omnibus. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within 1774.33 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population of adults in the U.S. been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

For more information on this news release, please contact: Aaron Amic Vice President Ipsos Public Affairs 612-904-6980 [email protected]

About Ipsos

Ipsos is a leading global survey-based market research company, owned and managed by research professionals. Ipsos helps interpret, simulate, and anticipate the needs and responses of consumers, customers, and citizens around the world.

Member companies assess market potential and interpret market trends. They develop and build brands. They help clients build long-term relationships with their customers. They test advertising and study audience responses to various media. They measure public opinion around the globe. Ipsos member companies offer expertise in advertising, customer loyalty, marketing, media, and public affairs research, as well as forecasting, modeling, and consulting. Ipsos has a full line of custom, syndicated, omnibus, panel, and online research products and services, guided by industry experts and bolstered by advanced analytics and methodologies. The company was founded in 1975 and has been publicly traded since 1999. In 2009, Ipsos generated global revenues of e943.7 million ($1.33 billion U.S.).

Visit www.ipsos-na.com to learn more about Ipsos offerings and capabilities.

Ipsos, listed on the Eurolist of Euronext - Comp B, is part of SBF 120 and the Mid-100 Index, adheres to the Next Prime segment and is eligible to the Deferred Settlement System. Isin FR0000073298, Reuters ISOS.PA, Bloomberg IPS:FP