You need to start early and spend a lot of money on teaching tools if you want your toddler reading when she grows up? RIght? Or maybe not.
Must You Buy Only the Best Baby Books, Videos and Flash Cards?
It's true that baby reading lessons are growing in popularity. The makers of videos, toddlers' books and flash cards aimed at the very young claim to sometimes have 2-year-olds reading simple children's books by themselves. Some experts support these programs, while others oppose them.
Dr. Stanley Greenspan, a child development research expert at the George Washington University Medical School, has a better idea. He admits that parents can do a lot to boost brain power and lay the groundwork for future reading success. He says the real power parents have, however, is in the way they interact with their children-not in the tools they use.
Learning for Toddlers: Activities, Love and Fun are the Best Tools
"If you do a little bit of looking at books with your children and inspire them to be curious about the pictures and...what the word means," Greenspan says, "...and you also interact emotionally and have fun with pretend play,...then you have the best of both worlds."
There's more good news for parents who feel that they may fall short on brain power themselves.
"Regardless of the history of IQ tests in the family, if I see nurturing, warm, interactive people who read emotional signals well and interact well, usually I see happy, competent and bright children," Greenspan says.
Source: "How to boost baby's brain power,"CNN.com/Health, Thursday, November 14, 2002.