My Baby Can Read
Not long after Ayla was born, my mom tried to convince me that we should become owners of the video series "My Baby Can Read." I flat out told her no. Multiple times. Later on, a pregnant friend asked me my thoughts on it, as a teacher & mom.
Do I think it can work? Yes.
However, the whole notion doesn't impress me. The whole concept I find to be lacking authenticity. You see, I became a reader around the age of 3. My mom had no formal training in teaching a child to read, but she read to me. She read everything to me. I wanted to know what the cereal box said, she taught me. What does that sign I see looking out the window say? She read to me and taught me that, too. She taught me the sounds of letters. So, when I was 3 years old, I became a reader.
My mom told my preschool teacher I could read. I imagine that this school teacher had many parents say the same, so I'm sure her dismissal of my mom's claim seemed warranted. The thing was, I could read. Not in the I-memorized-the-book reading, but the put-a-book-in-front-of-me-and-I'll-read reading. Moving on to Kindergarten, same thing. After failing to convince my mom to skip me a grade, they did get her permission to put me in first grade reading so I'd at least be challenged. In our school library, only big kids got to go in the chapter book and non-fiction areas. Except me.
My mom didn't do flashcards or fancy state-of-the-art programs. She did what any literate parent could do-she read to me. She made reading something I associated with love and fun. I'm sure my "I think I'm an adult already" attitude also had something to do with it, but that's beside the point.
Do I want Ayla's memories of learning to read be that I sat with her watching DVDs and doing flashcards? NO!
The first year of Ayla's life, I had so much guilt about not reading to her all the time. We rarely read to her, in fact. We were exhausted, overwhelmed, and just didn't have the gusto in us to read to a baby that just wanted snuggles and her ba ba full of formula.
When Ayla turned 1, we moved her to her own room. First of all, let me tell you that we should've moved her much sooner. She slept. We slept. Hallelujah! Again, that's another blog, the one where I write about obsessively keep checking her breathing (even to this day, just less extreme). Along with that move, our entire nighttime routine changed. We started sitting in the rocker, reading a book before bedtime. That eventually became 2 books...or 3. Ayla has had many favorites, ranging from Hello Baby by Mem Fox to Dinosaur vs. Potty to anything and everything Sandra Boynton to her current favorite Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.
She is going to be a reader, a great reader. I can already tell. She has toy upon toy, but nothing holds her attention like a book does. She sits around and "reads" them out loud. Her favorite books, she can point out her favorite parts and tell you about it. For instance, in Don't Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus, she can point out the part where Pigeon is really mad (she says "MAD!") and the part where the bus driver comes back ("Back!") and the part where Pigeon discovers a semi-truck (she says "Hey" in the special pigeon voice). Does she ever watch TV? Sure. In fact we recently discussed that we have the TV on too much. Its always on a kid channel, but the funny thing is that she only is ever interested in the first minute and last minute of a show (for the most part).
My whole point is, I know from my MANY, MANY early literacy classes that I took for my Early Childhood degree is that the foundation of reading starts with that quality time with a child, the special adults in the child's life, and books. Lots of books. 1,000 books before Kindergarten. Literally.
I'm not in a competition for my child to be the first to do anything. So much of her first year of life, I was focused on those "firsts." They are important and fun, but they just aren't the end-all-be-all or good predictor of anything, really.
So for now, we are teaching Ayla to love and respect books. To enjoy snuggling with Mama 'n Papa, wrapped up in a silly or exciting book. We're teaching Ayla to be a lifelong lover of reading.
I'd say, we're well on our way.
Do I think it can work? Yes.
However, the whole notion doesn't impress me. The whole concept I find to be lacking authenticity. You see, I became a reader around the age of 3. My mom had no formal training in teaching a child to read, but she read to me. She read everything to me. I wanted to know what the cereal box said, she taught me. What does that sign I see looking out the window say? She read to me and taught me that, too. She taught me the sounds of letters. So, when I was 3 years old, I became a reader.
My mom told my preschool teacher I could read. I imagine that this school teacher had many parents say the same, so I'm sure her dismissal of my mom's claim seemed warranted. The thing was, I could read. Not in the I-memorized-the-book reading, but the put-a-book-in-front-of-me-and-I'll-read reading. Moving on to Kindergarten, same thing. After failing to convince my mom to skip me a grade, they did get her permission to put me in first grade reading so I'd at least be challenged. In our school library, only big kids got to go in the chapter book and non-fiction areas. Except me.
My mom didn't do flashcards or fancy state-of-the-art programs. She did what any literate parent could do-she read to me. She made reading something I associated with love and fun. I'm sure my "I think I'm an adult already" attitude also had something to do with it, but that's beside the point.
Do I want Ayla's memories of learning to read be that I sat with her watching DVDs and doing flashcards? NO!
The first year of Ayla's life, I had so much guilt about not reading to her all the time. We rarely read to her, in fact. We were exhausted, overwhelmed, and just didn't have the gusto in us to read to a baby that just wanted snuggles and her ba ba full of formula.
When Ayla turned 1, we moved her to her own room. First of all, let me tell you that we should've moved her much sooner. She slept. We slept. Hallelujah! Again, that's another blog, the one where I write about obsessively keep checking her breathing (even to this day, just less extreme). Along with that move, our entire nighttime routine changed. We started sitting in the rocker, reading a book before bedtime. That eventually became 2 books...or 3. Ayla has had many favorites, ranging from Hello Baby by Mem Fox to Dinosaur vs. Potty to anything and everything Sandra Boynton to her current favorite Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.
She is going to be a reader, a great reader. I can already tell. She has toy upon toy, but nothing holds her attention like a book does. She sits around and "reads" them out loud. Her favorite books, she can point out her favorite parts and tell you about it. For instance, in Don't Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus, she can point out the part where Pigeon is really mad (she says "MAD!") and the part where the bus driver comes back ("Back!") and the part where Pigeon discovers a semi-truck (she says "Hey" in the special pigeon voice). Does she ever watch TV? Sure. In fact we recently discussed that we have the TV on too much. Its always on a kid channel, but the funny thing is that she only is ever interested in the first minute and last minute of a show (for the most part).
My whole point is, I know from my MANY, MANY early literacy classes that I took for my Early Childhood degree is that the foundation of reading starts with that quality time with a child, the special adults in the child's life, and books. Lots of books. 1,000 books before Kindergarten. Literally.
I'm not in a competition for my child to be the first to do anything. So much of her first year of life, I was focused on those "firsts." They are important and fun, but they just aren't the end-all-be-all or good predictor of anything, really.
So for now, we are teaching Ayla to love and respect books. To enjoy snuggling with Mama 'n Papa, wrapped up in a silly or exciting book. We're teaching Ayla to be a lifelong lover of reading.
I'd say, we're well on our way.
I'm smiling over here!!!! So happy to hear Ayla loves books. Great job Mom and Dad! Nancy
ReplyDeleteI am always happy to hear that Ayla loves books! However, my family decided we wanted to try the Your Baby Can Read series and Joaquin Jaide likes it. But she also likes books. She will sit down with her book and try to read it herself, but she is still in the learning stages (I don't read to her as often as I should). But she also enjoys the time she gets watching her dvds, and she is learning quite a bit from them. So I am not saying anything about anyone's style of parenting (mine is definitely far from perfect) but I know that since she enjoys her videos and her books, I am going to give them to her. She still doesn't say much, and I am trying to help her to talk more, so we try to encourage that as much as possible. I have had a tough time raising her, and these dvds have actually helped make things a little smoother.
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