Parents should be encouraged to read to their children, and teachers should be equipped with all available techniques for teaching literacy, so the varying needs and capacities of individual kids can be taken into account.

But the rule seems to be that the bigger and more life-changing the decision, the less it will seem like a decision at all.

Some researchers sensibly suggest that rather than worrying too much about which programs our children are watching, we should concentrate on trying to reduce the total amount of time they spend in front of the screen.

The thing we need most is each other.

Reading is a huge effort for many people, a bore for others, and, believe it or not, many people prefer watching TV.

Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.

Universal literacy was a 20th-century goal. Before then, reading and writing were skills largely confined to a small, highly educated class of professional people.