The connections among kids, reading, and an orderly home. - By Emily Bazelon - Slate Magazine

A report on recent research out of Teachers College connecting parents' (especially mothers') executive function and general orderliness within the household with young children's literacy. Orderliness appears to be a proxy for factors such as modeling of problem-solving, warmth and responsiveness within the household, all things that might contribute to children's cognitive development.  The study also finds that parent-child reading time, while certainly a good thing, was not decisive in determining children's literacy; more important is how much time children spend amusing themselves with books. The question is how they learn (if at all) to do so and what factors influence this self-amusement (not least the availability and quality of books).