I was listening to the radio in the car and I heard a commercial for a reading program for kids. It sounded like you sat the kid (under 5) in front of the TV and turned on a video. The ‘mother’ was happy that she didn’t have to do any work!!!
While I’m all for getting kids to read early in life, I am totally against sitting the kid in front of the TV to have them learn? What ever happened to reading to your children? What ever happened to children reading to their parents? I remember reading many stories to my girls. We read almost every day, from Dr Seuss to the Narnia series. Did it help? I can only say that the girls all like to read.
If I hear the commercial again, I will try to post a link. I want to make sure what I hear was correct.
Yes, I have seen that particular ad on television before… sounds like a babysitting tactic to me. I was reading by age 4 without being taught by a video.
I would say that you reading to us helped us learn to read. I remember the youngers having a few favorite books, and basically hearing them so many times that they memorized the words. Then you just point out the phonetics, and it fairly “easy” from there. You miss an important point, though: What about the enjoyment of being the one who helped your child learn to read. We were pretty sure that Drake would have been a good reader; I would have been proud to point out that my son could read at an early age. If I’m sticking him in front of the TV, what do I have to be proud about?
Agreed…
Parents are the most important influences in a child’s life. And if a child sees his or her parents reading (themselves or to the child), they will be prone to mimicking the behavior.
Though I did learn a thing or two from tv. But knowing a few answers in certain trivia categories has not really gotten me any further ahead in life… 😉
I agree with the the above. Is this video supposed to help justify using the TV as a babysitter?