Survey Reveals What Parents Really Think of “Summer Slide”

The experts at iconic brand Highlights surveyed 300 parents to understand their thoughts and feelings about “summer slide.” Summer slide is the loss of a child’s achievement gains made during the previous school year as the summer progresses.

Results revealed that 64% of parents were concerned about summer slide with 33% “very concerned” and a whopping 96% of parents felt it important to supplement their child’s skills development at home during the summer, not only to head off summer slide but also to help their child prepare for the school year ahead.

As much as parents want to help their child, 87% of parents wish there were more entertaining and engaging tools to help their children develop skills at home. Of course, there are many ways to make learning fun and interesting at home but many parents either feel ill-equipped to confidently plan what their child needs, or they just don’t have the bandwidth due to work, younger siblings, travel, and other obligations over the summer.

Help is on the way! If you’re one of the above parents (and who isn’t?) Highlights can help find the right activity to combat summer slide and provide fun and engagement for their kids. That’s a win-win! Highlights Learning has just released several new activity books for Preschool through First Grade which provide unique opportunities for kids to integrate skills practice with beloved puzzles, mazes, Hidden Pictures activities, and humor.

Highlights Big Fun Activity Books Preschool–First Grade, (Second Grade is releasing fall 2018) include over 250 pages of imaginative puzzling, humor, and whimsical illustrations that will engage children and help them to build confidence.

Another set of books from Highlights Learning are the Write-On Wipe-Off Fun to Learn Activity Books which feature reusable pages and a Highlights-branded marker (with a wipe-clean eraser) in a hidden spiral binding that lays flat. Kids love that they can write, draw, and puzzle all over these books, and parents love that kids can keep practicing essential skills—again and again. All items are available at Amazon.com

Below are the full results of the Highlights Learning 2018 Summer Slide Survey:

• 64% of parents surveyed are concerned about summer slide (33% of these are very concerned)

• 96% of parents surveyed feel it is important to supplement their child(ren)’s skills development at home during the summer and to help them prepare to advance to the next grade level. Of these, 60% felt it to be very important.

• When asked about the most important factors they consider when choosing summer learning products for their children, an overwhelming 95% of parents surveyed said it is most important that the product be fun.
  • 87% of parents wish there were more entertaining and engaging tools to help their child(ren) develop skills at home.
  • 20% of parents feel that at home skills development tools are not very fun, entertaining and engaging.

• Parents are prioritizing summertime skills development even more than we anticipated.
  • 37% say their kids spend 30-60 minutes per week on summertime skills development.
  • Another 37% say their kids spend 1-2 hours per week on skills development.
  • 18% say their kids spend more than two hours per week on skills development.
  • Only 8% of respondents say their kids spend less than 30 minutes per week developing their skills.

• Parents encourage their children to do summertime learning activities in the areas of reading (97%), writing (66%) and math (64%). 53% encourage the use of a workbook and 68% encourage the use of online learning programs or apps.