A literacy expert says screens and faster, busier days are cutting into the kind of slow, sustained reading that builds focus, imagination, and emotional resilience—pushing more students to decode text without staying with a story. He urges families to keep re
“Once upon a time.”
For generations, those four words have worked like a doorway. Children leaned in because a story was beginning. They listened closely, followed characters, and stayed with the plot until the end.
Today, childhood often feels faster and noisier. Days are fuller, information moves quicker, and screens provide a steady stream of entertainment. In that shift. a quieter skill seems to be slipping: opportunities to practice the slow. sustained reading that helps build focus. imagination. and emotional resilience.
Dr. Benjamin N. Powers, a literacy researcher and the executive director of The Southport School, describes what he sees when he visits classrooms and speaks with teachers. The worry is consistent. More students can read the words on the page, but fewer can truly stay with a story.
Teachers report students who can read aloud accurately but struggle to follow a narrative from beginning to end. They lose track of characters. They forget what happened in the previous chapter. And when a story takes time to unfold, students can become restless—something Powers connects to shortened attention spans.
Even in kindergarten, the pattern shows up. Nursery rhymes and fairy tales that used to be familiar to almost every child are now new to many kids, according to Powers’ account from classrooms.
Those “universal stories,” he says, were—and still are—tools for building vocabulary, stretching attention span, and helping children begin to understand other people’s perspectives.
Reading, in Powers’ view, is about more than literacy.
When children listen to stories or read on their own for longer stretches. they practice skills that show up far beyond books: staying focused. thinking through challenges. imagining how someone else might feel. and managing frustration when things get hard. Those are executive function skills—internal tools that help people plan, focus, and regulate their emotions. Stories develop those tools, he argues, in a way that’s both effective and enjoyable.
Deep reading, Powers says, depends on these skills. When a child follows a character across a chapter, they keep earlier events in mind. When they predict what might happen next, they’re considering possibilities. When they stay engaged through a complicated plot, they’re rehearsing focus and persistence.
He contrasts that with worksheets or drills, which don’t ask the brain to do the same integrated work. Narratives, he says, invite the brain to weave together language, memory, emotion, and perspective at the same time. He also points to research indicating that deep reading engages parts of the brain that support attention. memory. and flexible thinking.
The issue, Powers adds, is amplified as children move into longer books and more complex ideas. Children rely more heavily on executive function skills to truly understand what they read. If kids have fewer opportunities at home to listen to and read longer stories. those skills may not develop as naturally—leaving teachers to teach not only comprehension. but stamina. focus. and persistence.
In his push for families, Powers doesn’t argue for strict rules or a complicated program. What helps most, he says, is consistency and connection.
He recommends reading aloud together even after a child can read independently. He advises letting a child linger in a story without rushing to “what did you learn” questions. He encourages rereading favorite books, saying familiar stories and repetition deepen understanding. And he suggests talking about characters and the choices they make.
Just as important, Powers says, is letting children see you reading for pleasure.
Most of all. he wants families to protect time—finding a few minutes each day for reading when no one is in a hurry. In a childhood where kids are “constantly being pulled in dozens of directions. ” helping them stay with a story may be one of the simplest ways to build focus. empathy. and flexible thinking for life in and out of the classroom.
And sometimes, he says, it begins with just four simple words: Once upon a time.
Dr. Benjamin N. Powers is the executive director of The Southport School. an independent day school for cerebrodiverse children in grades 2-8 with language-based learning differences. He is also the founder and executive director of The Southport CoLAB. president of The Dyslexia Foundation. and director of the Yale and UCONN Haskins Global Literacy Hub.
literacy reading aloud attention span executive function deep reading dyslexia classroom reading children kindergarten fairy tales school-based learning differences
Kids just don’t read anymore, it’s sad.
So basically screens are bad… ok. But like, my nephew watches stuff and still reads books, so idk. Maybe parents just need to be better at actually sitting with them.
Wait, I thought faster days means they learn faster?? Like if they can decode the words but can’t follow the story, that sounds like teachers reading too, not the kids. Also “Once upon a time”?? that’s like a meme phrase. Are they saying fairy tales are political or something? because I’m not getting it.
This feels like one of those articles where they blame phones for everything. My kid can read the page, but he gets bored in long books because the content isn’t interesting, not because the internet is “cutting into” anything. And kindergarten learning new nursery rhymes sounds like more of a culture/parenting thing than attention span. Plus schools already have busier schedules, like they’re stuck doing worksheets all day, so maybe that’s why they can’t “stay with a story” when they’re exhausted.