What is the deal with people jabbering about ‘early literacy’? We know a parent of a two year old talking about this great new preschool the child is in which teaches the kids to read at age TWO. Huh? Now, I have a two year old who recognizes quite a few letters and writes a couple of them (because she’s interested and learned it on her own, not because anyone ever taught her), but c’mon; does she really need to read at this age? Naturally, I wouldn’t stop her if she wanted to learn how to read, but pushing reading on young children is ridiculous. Sadly, corporations are making a fortune on this.
I call bullshit on ‘early literacy’. I think it’s playing in to parents’ fears and getting them to think competitively rather than cooperatively. But worst of all, I think it’s wasting kids’ time. They should be playing make-believe and running wild and laughing joyfully. They have the entire rest of their lives to read, and this is their opportunity to live in the moment and embrace new challenges (such as reading) when they are developmentally ready. Here is one research study published in Science Direct which proves that children learning to read earlier (5) were not at any disadvantage to those learning to read later (7). In fact, by age 10, they were all at the same level and by age eleven the later readers had better comprehension of what they were reading.
See also: Playing to Learn
THANK YOU! Sanity like yours is rare. Being on the other side of the reading hill with Z who is 8.5 now, I have some observations. First, it’s true that by 3rd grade they all even out. Oh so true. The brightest and the slowest are all comparing the same books and doing about the same work. Second, there is nothing “late” about kids learning to read at age 6-7-8. Look to countries like Finland to understand that. Third, among our peer group, the kids who were pushed to read early (Parental flashcard brigade and all) now don’t like to read. Every. Single. One. They are kids who mom and dad have to literally bribe (sigh) to read even a simple book. The kids who were left to do it at their own pace and helped along where they needed it are voracious readers. Every one. And finally, I have noticed that the ones who did not read early are better problem solvers. Imagine you are living in a world where you have no word clues, as if you landed in another country in a way. Then you are forced to use all of the other clues around you and all of the other senses to decode what all of these signs and directions are spoonfeeding you with words. This is an under appreciated skill that I know truly appreciate. Anyhow, you hit upon a fabulous point here and as always you are handling it all perfectly! Good for you!
I totally agree with you here! Let them play and explore their interests. Our 4 yr old loves to play “school” and we have workbooks and flashcards that she plays with. We do them ONLY because she wants to. I can’t imagine 2 yr olds sitting to learn to read. I looked at the “Your Baby Can Read” and you have to spend hours a day in front of the TV or flashcards memorizing shapes of words. (Not exactly reading) They do all end up leveling out in a few years.
Amen. The exposure to books and stories at an early age is enough to pique their interest to read naturally and in their own good time. What’s the big rush??
I think this is a common misconception. Early literacy is not teaching young children to read. In fact, early literacy is the development of a set of skills around books/language that will be helpful in later learning to read. Just as children crawl before they can walk, there are skills they need to develop around language before we can teach them to read. Books are a tool to help teach these skills, but they can be taught just by having great conversations and experiences with your child.
http://www.multcolib.org/birthtosix/earlyliteracy.html
There is a lot of pressure that parents can feel now a days to hurry their kid along the education spectrum and you’re right that pushing children to read too soon isn’t developmentally appropriate. But don’t let a bad definition turn you away from a lot of great resources around what early literacy should be!
As librarians, we want to help parents get their children ready for reading when the time comes with the following skills:
1. Letter knowledge 2. A love of books and reading 3. Talking, writing, playing, singing 4. Learning how to tell and retell a story and much, much more!