Children are spending less time reading with their parents but twice as long in front of the television, according to research.

Tiredness, preparing meals and the demands of homework were the main excuses given by parents for not reading more with their children.

The research commissioned by Booktrust, a charity that promotes reading, concluded that the number of parents reading aloud with their children every day had decreased over the past two years, from 43 per cent to a third.

Almost a quarter of parents never, or rarely, read with their children. Only a third did so daily.

Mothers take the leading role, with two thirds saying that they are responsible for reading to their child, but older women read less.

While three quarters of mothers aged 25 to 34 read to their children, only three fifths of those aged 35 to 44 and a third aged 45 to 54 did the same.

The research found that children aged 4 and 5 spent an average of 7.5 hours a week watching television. For 11 and 12-year-olds the average was 8.5 hours.The report said: “The average 11 and 12-year-old spends 4 hours 14 minutes a week surfing the internet compared to just 41 minutes reading with their parents. They are spending longer doing chores [46 minutes].”

More than 15,000 parents of preschool and school-age children were interviewed along with more than 1,000 children aged seven to 14.

The nation’s favourite poem is If by Rudyard Kipling, the research found. Next was Daffodils by William Wordsworth, The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Tennyson, Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen and Not Waving but Drowning by Stevie Smith.

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