Your Baby Can Read

[triplehd]

I guess Im one of those neurotic parents who want to make sure their kids develop properly.

Has anyone ever used this? Thoughts?

[grew]

I know of at least 4 people that swear by that book. I can't speak for myself as don't have kids yet but I will certainly get it when I do.

[gasdoc]

My wife bought the DVDs used from someone on amazon for $50. Been showing it to mg daughter since she was 5 months old. She is captivated by it even though to adults it looks dumb. My wife an I always figured it was silly but why not. Better than watching cartoons. Then at about 1 year old she started recognizing words. To my astonishment, she is now 15 month, can barely speak 10 words well, but she can read maybe 100 words ( not really read but recognize). If I show her a card that says ears, toes etc she touches her ears, toes, head, etc. It is pretty unbelievable.

One thing though, she doesn't watch any other tv, which is what they recommend. That might be hard for some if

They already watch tv.

Needless to say, as much as I thought it was crap, it seems to be working.

[dolphinfreindly]

I dont want to be party pooper but, and I will say I dont have kids, so Im merely looking at this from a outside perspective, but I cant help but think this isnt really ensuring your childern develop properly, merely forcing them to develop prematurely. Surely all children develop at different rates and so what works for one child may not work for another. I also dont understand that they [the children] cant watch any other TV, does this mean they are going to miss out on other stimulae that they need/require such as colour perception and sounds etc.

I guess Im just sceptical because we never had these sort of things when I was growing up and they were not around when both my brothers' children (18, 10 & 7) were growing up and they can walk, talk and read beyond their purported levels for thier ages (obviously not the 18 yo, but he was advanced for his age at school and is just starting at University in Cambridge).

I agree that all parents want to give their children the best start in life, but to me parents seem to be taking away childrens 'childhoods' by 'forcing' (not litteral you understand) them to grow up too quickly.

Let children be children, to me its all about moderation, if you sit your child in front of the tellytubbies for 8 hours a day then thats wrong, children need stimulus and childrens programs are just that, dumb as they may seem to an adult, but with mild, not regimented, additional learning may help children have a more rounded start on lifes journey of never ending learning.

sorry to go on , just my 2p.

[Nanuq]

It's important to teach your kids to love reading instead of just learning how to read.

First you read TO them, then you read WITH them, then you listen to them read to YOU. Create an environment where the kids love to spend time with you, and reading just happens to happen while you're with them in that environment. It will produce a love for reading, and then one day they will begin to pursue reading on their own.

I did this with my kids and I didn't realize it but they had every one of their books memorized and if I weaseled out and tried to skip a page they'd call me on it every time.

Now the kids are nearly grown and they're both voracious readers, everything from memorizing poetry to quantum theory to fractional geometry to genetics. They always come to me with new things they've read about, and now they are challenging me to step up to the plate and keep up with them as they read.

This has accomplished the ultimate goal: the kids pursue reading on their own, and they love it.

What kids need most of all is spending time with you, not with a TV set. So it's up to you to give them the one thing that only you can provide: create a comfortable and pleasant environment where you can sit with them and do something pleasurable like reading. That time with you will be precious, and the things that you did in that precious time will become immeasurably valuable to them.

[nakortheblue]

I've got 2yo son. I find that watching kids' shows (mostly Playhouse Disney) with him and relating to the shows in songs and phrases helps bonding, rather than letting him watch TV alone.

[gasdoc]

We always watch with her, either her parents , nanny, or grandparents. She never watches it alone. We read to and with her constantly through the day. I never meant for anyone to interpret this as a substitute for childcare. The tv is not a babysitter in my mind, though many do use it that way.

I think it was a great exposure for her. I don't know if it will be any value in the long run, but she enjoys it immensely.

Remember this isn't some high tech learning system, is the

Same thing you would do yourself to teach them,

Show the word, then show the picture of the object with music or whatever. It's really simple, and I am sure it will help with her confidence in school. As far as her learning future, she loves reading now like other children think of watching cartoons.

I can't see how it will hurt. Better than watching teletubbiea or something. Those freak me out.

[Nanuq]

Roger that! My wife and I have doing a music and puppets thing with kids for 26 years and we've found that kids nowadays need constant visual and tonal stimulation to keep them focused on us. Their attention span between "events" is maybe 10 seconds, about the duration of a "scene" in a TV show, and we have to switch, switch, switch to keep them participating. Ten or twenty years ago they would be enthralled for minutes, now the action has to come fast to keep their attention.

I think you guys have it figured out... make it quality unhurried time with them and their learning experience will be dramatically better, and their ability to focus will increase exponentially. You'll find that ability will be rare in their peer group.