With a whopping 98% of parents agreeing that reading to children from a young age is very important, Leapfrog is jumping into a new initiative to inspire parents, teachers and kids to collectively read one million hours during March to celebrate National Reading Month.

Leapfrog recently commissioned a Reading to Children online survey from Harris Interactive, and the results have revealed that even though 83% of parents say they read to their children daily (spending an average of 32 minutes), 72% wish they could devote even more of their day to this type of together time. It shouldn’t be that difficult, given that the same surveyed parents spend an average of 209 minutes surfing the web and watching TV each day.

To commemorate National Reading Month, Leapfrog’s dedicated website at www.leapfrog.com/readingmonth will feature online resources to help foster more family reading, along with product discounts and coupons. In cahoots with Scholastic, the company is also unveiling a Love of Reading Sweepstakes offering a chance to win a Tag Reading System and 10 Tag books.

When the goal of one million hours is reached, LeapFrog will donate US$50,000 worth of its Ready, Set, Leap! Pre-K products to the Books for Kids Foundation, which promotes literacy among children, particularly preschoolers living in lower-income households.