There are nights when I can't sleep. When this happens I like to surf the infomercials. I really like the Shark steam cleaning ones, or the NuWave oven, or P90X (no I am not checking out the muscles!!). I cannot stand the infomercial for a new educational tool: Your Baby Can Read.
This program promises to connect neurons and dendrites together in your babies head through a series of videos and word cards that will result in your child fluently reading by three. Now, I am not suggesting that the product CANNOT achieve these results. It very well may. But I am asking what the purpose is of a child that young reading?
I didn't learn to read until about four (yes, I am tooting my own horn over the fact that I taught myself to read BEFORE kindergarten...the smarts have been downhill ever since!) Most kids do not learn to read until they start school. The goal of public education is to have fluent readers by third grade. Third grade not third year! Are these children who waited until school before they learned to read at a disadvantage educationally?
What they don't say in the infomercial, as they have a darling little girl about 2 1/2 years old reading Charlotte's Web, is whether or not the young child has any comprehension of what they are reading. And without actually understanding the words you are reading I argue that you are not really reading...
I also think that as a culture we are pushing our children to grow up faster and faster. We are also striving to prove to others that our kids are better and smarter than their kids. We use the intelligence of our kids as a way to prove we are doing our job as parents. My kid started reading at 2, I always do the best for my child!
Our job as parents to the young child is to provide EXPERIENCES! Let your child play and be a kid! Read to your child, talk to your child, let them get messy, give them opportunities to develop creativity and problem solving skills.
I promise that your child will be fine if they wait until school to learn to read!
