3-year-old reading

[rebekah]

being an early reader myself here is what I have to say. I read early because I wanted to. I read at 3 and surprised my parents, they often read to me but one time my mom had to put off a book reading for a bit so I told her fine I would just read it myself. she said ok read it to me while I...(cook I think) and I did. My parents never pushed me to read, they just encouraged reading by reading to me, and my dad often had dinners to go to so I would go with and I learned many letters/phonics/words from restaurant menus. It hasn't gotten me any farther in life than any of you who learned to read at 4, 5, or 6...I went to a good university for my career, but I am about to start life as a stay at home mom. Kids all learn at their own pace, I didn't learn to ride a bicycle until I was almost 7 (nearly a crime in the suburban midwest) and only then because my friend got hurt and I wanted to get his mom quickly so I rode his bike to go get her.

[nicolejoy]

I learnt to read at 4 coz I loved it too. I think that's different from learning to read because your parents push you to... I think parents only need to push it if the kid is BEHIND where he SHOULD be...

When I was 6, I taught my 4 year old brother to read because I thought he wouldn't be allowed to go to school if he couldn't read ;)

My sister on the other hand always LOVED books - but she never "taught herself" or learnt until she was at school already. She caught on really quickly though!!