Can Toddlers Really Read?

My daughter is 4 and way too active to want to sit infront of a tv, computer or looking at flashcards!  I sit with her with books and read with her when she wants to sit long enough!  (Wish I had her energy!)

I was home with my daughter until she started Kindergarten, and she had zero interest in letting me teach her to read. I read her books all the time, and she'd get cranky anytime I tried to teach her anything about the words. But she had (and has) an excellent vocabulary. I've always used large words with her, and she loves learning what they mean and impressing us by using them. She did let me teach her a lot of math, though, so I rolled with that.

She started reading pretty quickly once she started Kindergarten, at age 6. She's in first grade reading at a 3rd grade level, so I don't think it hindered her. ;-)  I don't think it's that important for a toddler to read unless they want to. The age at which we expect them to do it is so much younger than it used to be, and not every kid is ready or able. It seems most of the kids who do it so young pretty much teach themselves.

And I completely agree that while they're so young, there's no need to stick them in front of the computer or flash cards at them. Anything can be a teachable moment. Anything. Young children learn best through play and experience. For those first 6 years I focused on following her interests and the things she was enthusiastic to learn. 

I've heard negative things about Your Baby Can Read or whatever it's called, that it's not really good for babies' brain development, but I'm not familiar with BrillKids. I think it's good to make sure whatever you teach them is appropriate for their stage of development.

My daughter began to learn to read in preschool, she was 3. I used Bob books because they introduced letters slowly, starting with only 4 letters. My friend had hooked on phonics, my daughter wasnt into it at all, Bob books started with actual little stories, which she was into. After that we used different step reading books to practice.

My 2 yr old right now know 4-5 letters he says them when he sees them, I didn't really work to hard on that, it was just him looking over his sister's shoulder when she worked on her school work. Now I'm getting him to learn the sounds of the letters he knows by asking him what sound it makes when he identifies a letter right. I make sure his sister is there to feed him the answers he doesnt know. He's watching and copying her and starting to pick it up all by himself.

I have heard that those really early learn to read programs arent worth it at 5 months old there are far more important learning to be done about body awareness, cause and effect,emotional awareness and social cues (how to tell how facial expressions and behavior match mood in other) and strength building among lots of other things. Right now and in the future, THOSE skills are far more important than whether or not you baby can read at an obscenely young age. If you want to teach your kids to read early to help them get ahead in the academic world, start with your oldest. Play games with letter sounds look at books and have fun while you learn. Sequoia had a giant floor puzzle train of the alphabet she loved to build and as we put the different pieces together, we'd say the sounds the letters made (knowing sounds is more important for early reading than knowing names)and once we had it put together we would chug it down the hall in front of us and sing the ABC song as the letters went by. But don't push it and don't park them in front of the TV for forced learning unless its for short time periods and they'd be in front of the TV anyway (like when your cooking or what have you). Learning off of "educational shows" takes 7 times as long as interactive learning (games and reading). Thinking about it that way its neither money nor time well spent. Kids are made to be sponges, just make sure what you have around for them to absorb is what you want them to learn. You'd be surprised at what a difference a little bit of effort makes.

For me it was being out places where I didn't want by daughter being bored and making a fuss (like on a plane or bus or waiting for food at a restaurant). Small toys only go so far. Probably not the most noble answer ;-)

Wow, it sounds that you all are doing an excellent job with your children regarding teaching them. What inspired you all to begin teaching this way, to teach as part of everday life? And, furthermore, do you think it's common for moms to teach their kids in this way? Or is it somewhat of a rarity? Or growing in popularity?

I really appreciate everybody's feedback here. Thanks a lot.

One more thing I might add to the thread, ready made curriculum can be a good thing too, especially for parents who struggle to know what or how to teach their child.

I agree with the others. If you child seems interested, you can point things out and make a game out of it. My daughter really likes "games" like, "What letter does this start/end with" and "We are going grocery shopping let's buy something that starts with the letter A....Z". When we see words in a book that can be changed easily to other words, we discuss (e..g., if "book" is book, what is "look")? She is 3 years 3 months and can read short, very simple books now.

Yeah, there is no need for anything special. Read to your kid and point out the letters and words. Kids are wired to categorize things, order them and to recognize symbols. They have all they need to learn to read at a very young age. It just takes some positive experiences and some attention.

Really the best thing you can do is talk to them normally from the time they are infants and read to them. Look at them when you speak to them and use sentences and descriptive words. This will help them later when they are trying to put words to objects so they will be able to reproduce the sounds correctly and build their vocabulary.

Reading in preschool is not really that important. It is one of those bragging points that doesn't mean much in the long run. If your child has an interest in reading and is interested in letters because of positive experiences, great. But the reading programs that are more about the learning than about a shared time, well, it may not be exactly harmful but there is so much in the world to share and explore with my child. Why on earth would I waste it with flash cards or computer programs or whatever this uses!

Same here. We never bought anything or used a program to teach our daughter to read... just books.