I firmly believe that if you push kids to read at 3 you will get one of two things - a stressed kid trying to please you or a grumpy kid resisting you!

I'm very much with you - teach the child in line with his or her interests. If a three year old WANTS to learn to read, there is not much you can do to stop him or her! My girls both learned their alphabet when they were two but that was because they showed an interest and I answered their questions. DD1 started school being able to recognise quite a few words, write her first & last name, etc etc. That, IMO, is enough. We just met up with their cousins on holiday and their about to be 4 year old has one year left at Preschool but has taught himself to read already and has the mathematic understanding of my almost 7 year old. This is NOT an advantage for him - he is sooo far of his contemporaries. His dad regularly got bored in school (similar intelligence) and there is a real risk he will be the same. Of course, if he was being home educated, this might be less of an issue. But then in my experience, if a child is ahead on one thing, it is always at the expense of something else. With both my DD1 and her cousin, their weakness is in social interactions.

So I dont think these early reading programs have the right idea at all - what we want is fully developed well rounded children who enjoy learning and will never stop being inquisitive about the world around them and have healthy friendships, enjoy their job, and all the rest. Not little geniuses who are ready for Uni at 11 but have no idea about how to make friends!

I'd better get off my soapbox now LOL!

My sisters were read to from birth, and are both very much into books still.  It didn't matter what was read to them, it was the way they were read to that counted.  Then as they got older, the books were more simplistic and had huge pictures.  Both started reading before they went to school, which actually drove my mum nuts! lol

Those early learning programs are just an ad wanting you to think their products are the 'bees knees', when in truth, if a child is read to from a young age, they will pick up reading themselves very quickly and you don't need those programs.

Some children can read earlier than others 5 years old is a good age some children can cope well at 4 but I don't believe you should push children if they have a general interest they will come to you wanting you to start teaching them all my children were different my eldest loved books from a very early age but didn't start reading until he was 5 he still has a love of books the other 3 children have no interest at all now that they are older. You could still by the books at an early age they still love to look through them and you might teach them a word or two and they will be happy with that.

I think you've got a great attitude to the whole children reading debate. It drives me nuts when I see parents on TV pushing their tiny babies to read before they can barely speak. And then parents come into the daycare center and ask us (the staff) what we're doing to help their one year old to read!  By doing that they are skipping vital stages in their children's learning and development which could impact on other areas later on. We already teach they children basic sign language or Baby Sign as it's sometimes known, to communicate their wants and needs and there's quite a debate on whether we should do even that. Reading at 3 is just too early for that sort of pressure.

There are those few children who develop early and are ready to start learning to read at an early age, but they'll be just that, READY. They'll want to learn, and will do, so much better than those who are forced to before they are ready.

Why can't we just let children be children? People are living a lot longer these days, so why are we pushing children to grow up sooner? Surely we should be giving kids more time to enjoy their carefree childhood before squeezing them into the moulds set out by society.

Invitro... Babies love to hear your voice and they will often recognise words, sounds and rythms from stories you read them that can relax and settle them once they are born. 

Reading isn't all about teaching kids to read... It is about language skills, using their imagination, storing information in their memory, having close quiet nurturing cuddle time one on one and they learn that words have meaning and that the words are written; this in turn prepares them for when they begin to read.

We read a lot to our wee man, but we don't make him learn to read yet; he is 3.  He does recognise the letters in his name and sounds that certain letters make and I know his Nanna works hard to help him recognise letters and words on a page.

When he is interested, we take advantage and try to teach him; as soon as he starts to get disinterested, we stop; we want learning to read and do maths to be fun and part of every day life.  I guess the point is, that you are his primary educator, everything else is in addition to that; whereas in the past, people believed that they didn't need to do anything at home and that it was the schools job to teach everything.