The survey of 1,000 parents of five- to ten-year-olds found that 23 percent of parents admitted to making up words or skipping bits whenreading to their children.
A third of parents also said they found it difficult to help youngchildren with maths.
Nevertheless, the survey found that reading is the nation's favouritefamily pastime, with parents reading to their children on average fourtimes a week for 20 minutes.
To help parents identify any gaps in skills Learndirect has published afree children's book called Where Did the River Go? by Peter Cody andillustrator Charlotte Firmin, with celebrity parents Eamonn Holmes andRuth Langsford.
The book also has maths and English puzzles to solve to reach the end ofthe story.
Sally Coady from Learn-direct said, 'Recent studies have shown there are26 million adults across the UK who have maths or English needs. Ourbook has been written to be fun to read, but it also offers adults anopportunity to think about how they can brush up on their maths andEnglish if they need to.'
- For a free copy, download a voucher to take to your local Learndirectat www.wheredidtherivergo.co.uk.