Should you teach your child to read before they go to school? It’s a question that people often have differing opinions about. My mother taught me to read when I was four years old. As far as I can see it was one of the best and most loving things she did and she did plenty of other loving things.
So when my son was four it seemed only natural to teach him to read. We started over with a combination of phonetics and flash cards. By the time he went to school he could already read well. Fortunately his teacher recognized that fact and provided extra work to extend him and more challenging and interesting books to encourage him. He was not held back to the level of the others.
The problem though arises if they have a teacher who is not prepared for anyone to be outside of the norm and doesn’t want to put in the extra effort. When this happens and the teacher expects the children to conform and stay at the same level as the others, it can create problems. Because they are bored the child will tend to chatter and disrupt the class.
He excelled in his schooling and, contrary to the popular opinion that boys don’t read, he spent a great deal of time with his head in a book. By the time he was 5-6 he had a reading level of most 12 year olds. In all his years at school I think our son only one teacher, who found his reading level a problem and tried to treat him the same as all the others.
So when our daughter turned four, it seemed natural to teach her to read too. And I tried. It wasn’t that she was any less bright than him. She simply wasn’t interested. She was happier drawing and doing crafty things. So I let it be and left it to the teachers when she went to school. She still ended up reading well and doing equally as good at school.
So sometimes it needs to be about seeing your child as an individual and not assuming everything should always be done one way.
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