Reading is often an important step for children, and parents. Children are pushed through school reading books and literacy programs, sometimes losing the enjoyment they may have once had for reading and language itself.

Early reading for children is not so much reading, as recognition, usually of signs, logos, and other environmental print around them.

There is some debate as to whether children should start reading sooner or later. One study in support of children reading earlier is Kraus’ 2015 study where they had devised a test which could predict a child’s language ability and even whether they may have trouble reading in the future (News article of study available at http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/07/21/423260864/the-test-that-can-look-into-a-childs-reading-future utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150721)

While this study may help to draw attention to those who may need assistance in language, I worry that it will isolate those who do well in the test. If a parent knows that their child will not have any difficulty in language and reading, I believe that it will make them less likely to prompt their child and support them at home in a way they may have before. If a psychic tells you that you will meet your soul mate aged 25, would you bother looking for love aged 20?

There is much research against this study, saying that we should be starting children reading later, not earlier. Laura Grace Weldon writes about “Reading Readiness” and how we should be giving children more opportunities to learn from life, to learn from exploring rather than from sitting at a desk reading (article available at https://lauragraceweldon.com/2012/08/07/reading-readiness-has-to-do-with-the-body/).  She notes that children have 25% less free time than they had a generation ago (taken from http://www.americantrails.org/resources/kids/CNNresearch07.html). We have children sitting in school all day, and in many cases sitting doing homework or reading school chosen books at night. While reading does unlock a lot of other subjects in school, I agree that there is a lot of pressure on children to read certain books in order to achieve reading success. This attitude can actually be detrimental in affecting the attitudes of children towards reading. If children are being pushed into books they do not want to read, then they will have no motivation to read them, and, eventually, no motivation to read.

There are some studies that actually argue that children do not need to be taught to read – they will simply teach themselves. Gray (2010, available at https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201002/children-teach-themselves-read) looked at non-teaching schools and particularly the reading ability of the children. He found that children were able to teach themselves to read. They all appeared to have their own strategy, with no correlations showing between students. This method ensures that children are learning in the best way for them and are able to choose their own books with no reading scheme to follow.

I find myself leaning more towards the argument of Laura Grace Weldon. Young children do not need to sit at a desk in order to learn. Children learn from feeling, doing, exploring. The great outdoors has a mass of teaching opportunities for young children, and I believe that teachers are not taking advantage of the wonder that lies outwith the classroom walls. During my teaching career, I would love to be able to explore this more and show children that they do not need to have their nose in a book to be learning.