3 ms·

At what age is "early childhood"? My son is turning 5 but isn't reading yet. Should getting him to read asap be my top priority?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
pjmorris 3y ago
Anecdata based on a sample of two: If you find things he's interested in and read to him, he'll eventually take off on his own. At least, that's how it worked for me. After my mom had read to me who knows how many times, I can still remember the thrill of realizing I was reading the book (about a rocket trip to the moon, late 60's) myself. The habit has sustained me in many ways since then, but it didn't feel forced at the start, which helped, IMO. My own son is having difficulty with reading, among other things. The thing that gets him going is recognizing he needs to be able to read to serve some of his other goals. So, again, interest.
hooverd 3y ago
Reading for pleasure will make your child a nerd. It happened to me. Have your son read for business- get him on the hustle grindset early.
slothtrop 3y ago
I just read age appropriate books to my kids and figure they'll eventually read on their own. The strongest predictor of whether or not a child will go on to read for pleasure is just having books around. If they don't want to, well, whatever.
jostylr 3y ago
At Sudbury schools, reading naturally occurs for students, but the age ranges from 4-12, with typical being 7-9. There seems to be little correlation to early reading and a love of reading, anecdotally from these schools. In fact, often the ones who learn to read later seem to love reading more than the ones who read earlier. The first books, of any kind, my daughter read were Harry Potter books. She went from not reading at age 8, to reading chats with her friends at age 9 (pandemic time), to having read the entire 7 book series by the end of age 10. No one taught her how to read. Writing, using devices, arithmetic, she largely acquired them all on her own as she matured. While I am biased, she seems well-adjusted and quite bright. I have no doubt that she is capable of mastering whatever she would like to master. Note that the article was looking at a cohort study. It was not based on randomly assigning "pleasure reading in early childhood" which means cause and effect cannot be ascertained. My guess is that if they were to measure lifelong Sudbury students they would find well-developed cortical areas regardless of early childhood reading or not. The development probably relates to constructing complex understanding of the world (or fictional worlds) which independent play as well as reading can do, but conventional teaching cannot.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

pjmorris 3y ago

Anecdata based on a sample of two: If you find things he's interested in and read to him, he'll eventually take off on his own. At least, that's how it worked for me. After my mom had read to me who knows how many times, I can still remember the thrill of realizing I was reading the book (about a rocket trip to the moon, late 60's) myself. The habit has sustained me in many ways since then, but it didn't feel forced at the start, which helped, IMO. My own son is having difficulty with reading, among other things. The thing that gets him going is recognizing he needs to be able to read to serve some of his other goals. So, again, interest.

hooverd 3y ago

Reading for pleasure will make your child a nerd. It happened to me. Have your son read for business- get him on the hustle grindset early.

slothtrop 3y ago

I just read age appropriate books to my kids and figure they'll eventually read on their own. The strongest predictor of whether or not a child will go on to read for pleasure is just having books around. If they don't want to, well, whatever.

jostylr 3y ago

At Sudbury schools, reading naturally occurs for students, but the age ranges from 4-12, with typical being 7-9. There seems to be little correlation to early reading and a love of reading, anecdotally from these schools. In fact, often the ones who learn to read later seem to love reading more than the ones who read earlier. The first books, of any kind, my daughter read were Harry Potter books. She went from not reading at age 8, to reading chats with her friends at age 9 (pandemic time), to having read the entire 7 book series by the end of age 10. No one taught her how to read. Writing, using devices, arithmetic, she largely acquired them all on her own as she matured. While I am biased, she seems well-adjusted and quite bright. I have no doubt that she is capable of mastering whatever she would like to master. Note that the article was looking at a cohort study. It was not based on randomly assigning "pleasure reading in early childhood" which means cause and effect cannot be ascertained. My guess is that if they were to measure lifelong Sudbury students they would find well-developed cortical areas regardless of early childhood reading or not. The development probably relates to constructing complex understanding of the world (or fictional worlds) which independent play as well as reading can do, but conventional teaching cannot.