Now that i'm a teacher. This year i have a kid in my classroom that is also reading (nope, he's not my son. My son is going to different school). He reads fluently and he can do tasks faster than anyone else in the class. When i look at him i see a child that knows things earlier than his friends, and he's doing just fine with that, because he just love it that way. And trust me, there are soo many things to learn other than reading here at preschool. At this age they come to learn how to respect personal space, they learn about their feelings and others and how to deal with it, they learn how to make friends, how to be a good friend, how to become part of a group of friends with common interests, and how to be just fine by their own. They also have to learn how to deal with rejection and failure, and how to get up and move on. They feel their body move in musics, they explore their artsy side, they learn about the trees, animals etc. So i personally think school should never be boring for preschoolers, whether they are reading or not (yet).
Why do i write this post? Because i feel the urge to say something about those articles that said mean things about early reading. My son, my student, and maybe some other early readers out there, they are just kids like yours. Maybe your kids like swimming, or dancing, or music, or math, or painting, or playing games on ipad, or watching TV, or martial art and they probably really really good at it. Why bother saying those in articles without considering what if this kids really like it?
These kids, the early reader, they simply just like the ABCs and fell into reading. I do not have any research regarding this, about how to make a child read so early. But mine, he was starting pointing at letters at 1 year old. We used to have ABCs poster to decorate his room and he loved staring at it and sang ABCD song. He knew letter and the sound at two, and started reading at three. As parent i helped him to learn, but i did not push him to learn. Whenever he found some letters (on a grocery commercial papers, or banner on the streets) he would ask and try to sound it. No hard time.
I know some parents can be pushy about what their kids would do in daily basis, what they achieve, which school they go, what kind of courses they would take. But i believe, if you find out that your child is really good at one or something, you would help them to reach their best potential. And i believe if your child does not like it, (i hope) you will not push them to do it. As Dr Seuss said: a person is a person no matter how small. I say, respect what they're capable (and incapable) of and encourage them at all time.
But of course it's just my two cents.
