In the course of my research and travel, I am often interviewed about teaching babies to read and why I feel it is important. I thought it might be helpful to share some of the questions I am frequently asked by sometimes skeptical reporters.

1. Is it placing too much pressure on parents and their babies to learn to read, when they could be playing?

First of all, I think many people mistakenly associate learning to read with pressure, due to the unsuccessful approach that is currently being used in most schools to teach reading. We teach children the alphabet, which is abstract for toddlers and preschoolers who do not know how to read. Once children memorize the names and shapes of the letters, we then teach them the sounds that the letters make. Next, we put the letters together and children are taught that the letters don’t make those sounds in many words. Many children and adults do not experience the joy of reading using this method. Children can take so long to sound out words that they often forget what they were reading by the time they get to the end of sentences. Many do not read fluidly which causes stress because they often have to read in front of other children. In school, some children make fun of the students who are not reading well, creating pressure for those children, and their parents. If a child is not reading at grade level, fewer than one in eight ever catch up to read at grade level (Seppa, 1991). Even worse, this often leads to a lifetime of low reading abilities for billions of people worldwide.

The baby’s natural state is to be curious and enjoy learning. Babies and toddlers have tens of thousands of new brain connections forming every second which means they do not necessarily make any intentional effort to learn. They learn naturally if they see words at the same time they hear them. Babies and toddlers have fun playing with words just like other types of play and generally love reading and books. Parents and children can also enjoy quality time together, by teaching written language in a fun interactive way, instead of in a classroom setting with one teacher and 20 or more children.

2. What are the long term benefits of learning to read from a young age?

There are many long term benefits. The earlier the child is taught to read, the better the child reads even when IQ and socio-economic class are controlled. Also, the gap between the early readers and the later readers increases over time. This is called “The Matthews Effect” where better readers get richer, and poor readers get poorer. Children who know how to read before they enter school have higher self-esteem and they are more likely to do well in school. Research shows that children who are taught to read early generally read more than children who are taught later, and are more likely to actually enjoy reading later in life. For more research on this topic, please click here. [provide a link to YBC’s research page]

3. What’s wrong with a picture book on Mom’s lap?

I think this is a rewarding activity for babies and their parents and I have been promoting parents reading to their babies for more than a decade. However, reading to babies does not teach them to read. A recent study in Psychological Science showed that the average four- or five-year-old only focuses on words five seconds per book when a parent reads to the child. The children are usually looking at the pictures which will not teach them to read. The authors of the study recommended that parents show words to the children to teach them to read. Many parents have experienced the pure joy of having their baby read the books to them.