The sooner very young children get used to looking at books and realise the pleasure they can give, the more likely they are to want to read as they develop. And their parents have a key role to play in helping this process along.

That is one of the key messages of Parents' Week, launched by the Government to highlight the ways in which parents can help their youngsters' education.

It is something which is already well understood by the people behind Manningham SureStart, who are working hard to overcome an attitude which dismisses the idea of books for very young children. They are putting the message across that parents of children who are as young as five to seven months can help by looking at books with their tots. It doesn't matter whether the parents themselves are able to read the books. As long as they look at them with their children and talk about the pictures in them, they will help to generate an interest in books.

The response to this scheme has apparently been encouraging, as have similar developments elsewhere in Bradford. It is excellent, for example, that 36 schools have recently gained cash for projects to involve parents more in their children's learning.

In the words of Pam Khan, parental involvement co-ordination for Education Bradford, "Education can't just be left to schools. Children are in school for a relatively short amount of time, and learning basically goes on everywhere. Parents have a huge role to play."

Thanks to these recent initiatives, more and more parents in Bradford seem to be realising that.