Reading fathers : A qualitative study of fathers’ reading habits

The aim of this study is to investigate how a number of fathers read and what their perceptions of both their own readingand the reading they experience with their child/children look like. I also want to investigate their thoughts about the importance of reading to children. The study is based upon qualitative interviewswith four fathers who are active readers and have children between 3-6 years of age. The analysis does not offer any generalizations. As a conceptual framework for this study, I used Sten Furhammar’s categories of different types of reading to find out what fathers reading habits look like and what they wish to obtain. I also used Bo Møhl & May Schack’s different functions of children’s literature to identify what kind of reading habits fathers have together with their children and which motives that can be seen behind this reading. Fathers own reading habits can be explained by Furhammars category impersonal - instrumentalreading that associates with the quest for objective knowledge. The most common function of children’s literature that appeared in fathers reading with their children was the informative anddeductive category and the function of the literature as an instrument in the development of the children. The result of this study also shows that fathers think that reading is a valuable activity. Reasons mentioned for reading are being together,language and fantasy stimulation and knowledge about the surrounding world.Program: Bibliotekari