Stop Teaching Your Child To Read and Write?

By Kimberley Clayton Blaine, MA, MFT

Question from a Reader:
I need advice and info about learning. What should my daughter be learning right now at age 4, and what is she capable of? Reading? Writing? Imaginative play? What brain develpmental stage is she in. Should i be teaching her reading and writing at home?

I have always taken a very laid back approach to teaching my daughter academics prior to her brain being ready. But when will she be ready. In this cut throat world in order for her to get into college and succeed do i need to start pushing things? Many kids in europe and around the world are already reading and writing prior to or in order to get into kindergarden?

Should we challenge the kids more if school is too easy?


Answer:
Great question. Research has shown that children under five need no formal academic instruction. In fact, children who come from loving homes where the parents often play and have frequent conversations have children who fair very well in Kindergarten. The best indicator if a child will be a good reader and writer is if the parents have books available at home along with being read to. A home where a child who is exposed to books in many different rooms of their home, is more likely to read then the child who is taken to a library. Funny huh? However, this is what the research shows.

The only thing children under five years of age need to be academically prepared, is to be raised in a loving, supportive, book enriched, non-abusive/impoverished environment. A young child's brain and muscle development is still processing at a primitive level, so if formal academics are introduced too early, then there is a possibility of creating a learning disability by forcing nature. Or worse yet, killing their spirit and making them lose their love of learning, which all children are born with. By the time a child turns five they begin to show interest and peaked confidence in using a pencil and paper. School enhances their predetermined skills an helps them to pick up reading and writing fairly quick.

I never taught my son how to hold a pencil or crayon. In fact, he hated pencils. After one week in Kindergarten, he came home took out his pencil can and began to write letters. I was shocked and reaffirmed that we did the right thing by not pushing any formal instruction. ABC magnets on the frig, singing the ABCs, labeling animals and pictures in books was all we really did wit him.

Schools are created to teach children how to read and write. Teachers get their credential to teach children these skills. Parents are here to support and guide.

Children under five should be playing outside, singing, building, creating, painting, experimenting with glue and strings, laughing and getting real dirty.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you agree or have a different approach? Please comment below.

Kimberley Clayton Blaine, MA, MFT is a national parenting expert and a licensed Family and Child Therapist who specializes in working with children ages newborn to six years old. Kimberley is the founder and executive producer of a grassroots webshow, called www.TheGoToMom.TV. Kimberley is a national speaker and teaches Early Childhood Brain Development and Positive Discipline Strategies at UCLA Extension Education Department.