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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Krowbar who wrote (14133)	12/8/1997 9:44:00 AM
From: Grainne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Del, everyone who is interested in the subject probably has their own theory of child development. I think what is most important is that children feel loved, and that parents and other nurturing adults spend plenty of time with them. Since you asked, I tried to explain why I don't favor early reading. It's not something I would walk up to a mother in a store about, and accuse her of child abuse, if I saw her buying alphabet blocks for her young child!!! It's just my own personal opinion, for my own child. If Briana had asked for alphabet blocks at three, I certainly would have bought some for her, because that would have revealed a child-led readiness to learn to read. However, even though I read to her religiously from the time she was about three months old, she had absolutely no interest in alphabet blocks. She was certainly exposed to plenty of language, but part of my own personal theory is that developmentally, there is a huge difference between written and oral language. I guess the core of what I am trying to say is that I just believe children develop better if ABSTRACT concepts are begun later. I think there are an awful lot of children who are not ready to read, especially boys, when reading instruction begins, and that this results in failure to enjoy learning. I also think television plays into some of the failure of American education, because children are used to very short bursts of very interesting materials, in a visual sense, and school is boring in comparison. So by delaying letters and numbers, and keeping my child away from television, I was just acting on my own beliefs. Certainly there are lots of children who will survive exposure to tons of television, and early exposure to abstract concepts, and still do well. Briana learned to read in two weeks when it was time for her to do so, and scored 100% on reading comprehension on her CTBS tests last year, and loves words and reading for pleassure, and at the moment wants to be a writer. Absolutely nothing would have been accomplished by trying to teach her to learn to read earlier, except that she would have lost a lot of the richness of play of all kinds that she spent her time at, rather than learning letters and numbers and words when she was even younger. Part of my philosophy is that we push children too hard--that their work as small children is play. The books on the subject that I have read are all very concerned with children burning out later, something I wanted to avoid for my child. Certainly she is still excited about learning now. When I was exploring nursery schools for her, though, there were many children aged three and four who were sitting at desks with pencils and workbooks, and there were school-type lessons on the blackboard, and the children looked very unhappy and confined. We chose one which stressed exploration, play and socialization skills instead, where the children were excited and happy. When a child is developmentally ready to learn something, the information is absorbed very quickly. Why park them at desks before that time, and subject them to boring and repetitious drill work? I think what needs to be preserved at each stage of education is the joy of learning, and I think early abstract learning destroys that unless the child is interested and takes the initiative on his own. I wonder what would happen with Brandon if you put the alphabet blocks and all the materials that you are teaching him reading with away, and just read stories to him instead. I would be curious to see whether he demanded that you get them all back out, or would he be totally happy without them? That experiment would determine whether it is his natural curiosity, or his desire to please you, that is driving him. But all of this is really philosophical stuff on the way children learn, Del. I think you are doing a really excellent job with Brandon.