This article investigates the impact of the leisure reading behaviour of both parents – individually and in interplay – on the reading behaviours of daughters and sons, drawing on a sample from the German Time-Use Survey 2001/2002 of 757 children aged between 10 and 19 years living in two-parent households.In general, the findings indicate that the reading behaviour of both parents has a stronger impact on the reading behaviour of daughters. At the same time, the findings support the gender stereotype hypothesis, indicating that fathers have a stronger impact on the reading behaviour of sons, and that mothers have a stronger impact on the reading behaviour of daughters. Further, the reading behaviour of mothers appears to have a stronger impact on younger children's reading socialization, while the reading behaviour of fathers appears to be of higher importance for the reading socialization of older children. The findings related to the interplay of individual parental reading behaviours are inconclusive and difficult to interpret, but could inform further studies on reading socialization in the family.This study shows the importance of both parents for the reading socialization of daughters and sons, and contributes to research on reading socialization in the family.