Pampers Launches Bright Beginnings Reading Initiative

We are all spending more time at home, and so, we’ve been getting creative with how we use this time. More gardening, more cooking, and likely, more reading. However, this isn’t the case for many homes. Today four million children under the age of three have not been read to in their lifetime*. This is a severe detriment to the child because research proves that reading to babies under three can significantly impact their core brain development through exposure to words. Our top baby care brand wants to do something about this. Pampers has a vision that all babies are read to from birth, and we are proud to announce the Pampers Bright Beginnings Reading Initiative.

At Pampers, caring for babies is more than just our purpose—it’s in our DNA. We believe a baby’s earliest days are the most essential toward shaping their brightest beginnings. With the Bright Beginnings program, we serve babies and their families by enabling early success and development, and enhancing access to resources, tools and support.

Research** shows that reading books with infants can boost their vocabulary and reading skills, but 45% of parents believe*** they should begin reading to a baby at age two. In collaboration with Scholastic, the Reading Initiative hopes to spark a lifelong passion for reading early by distributing up to 300,000 books and educational resources in local communities.

Pampers worked closely with Scholastic this year to identify age-appropriate, diverse and bilingual books with fun stories and colorful illustrations that babies will enjoy. The books will be distributed through community, hospital and NICU partners.

• We identified three cities in the U.S. with low kindergarten readiness scores, including Detroit, MI, Laredo, TX and Jacksonville, FL. In each city, we’ve partnered with non-profit organizations to distribute the books and resources to the community.
• We’ve teamed up with several hospitals in the Cincinnati area to provide books and literacy resources for every baby born.
• Through our longstanding partnership with March of Dimes, we’ll provide 67 MOD NICU Family Support® programs with books and resources.

Pampers also created a dedicated Advisory Council, a group of experts that will help guide the team with the most up-to-date information, trends and issues in the literacy space to help the Reading Initiative make the biggest impact.

We hope that this initiative will make an extraordinary difference in the lives of little ones around the country, inspiring them to find joy in reading right from the start and giving them the brightest beginning.

You learn more about the Bright Beginnings Reading Initiative through the Pampers Club App or here.