– Many education experts agree that reading, telling stories and playing with letters and numbers are necessary for children development and preparing them for academic success. One big advantage of such parenting activities is that they practically do not cost anything. On the other hand the problem is that, according to research, low-income parents are still much less involved in this kind of basic education that their more privileged peers.

– The good news, according to a recent study published by the American Educational Research Association, is that disadvantaged families tend globally to devote more time in educational activities. The bad news is, among six of the eight parenting behaviors analysed, the disparities between low-income and more affluent families are still increasing. “In one sense, [disadvantaged parents] have really caught up; in another sense, they’re two decades behind,” said Ariel Kalil, the study’s lead author and a professor in the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy Studies.

The American obsession with parenting (Photo Godong/Getty)

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