Reply to Parents of precocious readers: Why do I feel like I have to pretend my kid can't read?

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[quote=Anonymous]Whenever strangers notice our three-year-old can read fluently like when DC reads part of a book out loud in a waiting room because DC has a question, they make snide comments about how we shouldn't push kids this age this hard and basically assume we are bad parents. When our pediatrician asked us how our three-year-old is doing developmentally we said ok and when she pressed about whether DC knows the alphabet we mentioned that our child can read. Pediatrician did not believe us and made a comment about how it's great DC is trying to learn the sounds of letters or something like that.

Thankfully the topic does not come up at our preschool as it's play-based and I don't think the teachers have noticed. One parent who we're not really friendly with noticed at a recent birthday party that DC could read some signs at the venue we were at and told us that it means nothing and that all the kids will catch up and exceed DC's abilities soon enough and that studies have shown that drilling kids with flashcards, etc. at this age actually hurts them. I was speechless as all I had said to her previously was basically, "Hi."

Well, first of all, we didn't do anything except read a lot. DC just happens to be one of those kids who picked up reading very fast and very easily. It's not uncommon. There are a lot of these kinds of kids.

Second, we know it doesn't mean much in the longterm and that the rest of the kids will catch up in early elementary school.

Besides, I don't know why it is anyone's business if other parents do drill their kids at this age? Personally, I applaud them for being dedicated parents and making the time to do this.

Why is there this weird culture in the Washington area where parents are so judgmental and they make a big deal out of something that isn't a big deal?

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