To want to ask some comprehension questions from friend's DD

[maggotyhaggis]

OK so I'm being VERY, VERY Unreasonable. My cousin has just told me that her DD is currrently gripped to the Little Women series, Heidi and the entire Roald Dahl collection of books and cannot stop reading. The child is FOUR. My cousin always brags about her DD's extremely advanced reading skills. She is a lovely child, but doesn't appear particularly bright or able, so I keep wondering if my cousin is exaggerating or if the little girl actually understands . I am not surprised at the reading per se but that a four year old can understand and enjoy books like that independently. We are going to the park tomorrow, and I wondered if I should ask a quick couple of questions when my cousin is out of earshot.

I am not entirely serious by the way, so no slagging me off for interrogating the child or being jealous please, but isn't it normal to be a bit curious?

DD cannot run in a straight line bless her heart

it is possible. I was that child. Must add that I am now entirely bog standard in my reading choices, and will read Stephen King, marian keyes and jane Austen with much more enjoymetn than obscure Russian authors.

there is a dated card in my 'treasure box' - written "to mumy i lov you". I'd have been 2.9 when I wrote it.

But an ability which comes early is not necessarily an ailty which stays ahead. I levelled out in my teenaged years (and I must add that although I could free read at 4, I couldn't count for toffee)

Cory at your 4 year old. That is amazing.

We have an extended and muddlepot family and I can truthfully say that we all support each other, cousins includes. In our family, it's perfectly acceptable to be you, without needing a veneer of 'normality'
It's the rest of you buggers that cause us grief!

I was reading before I went to school.
By 6 I was off the reading tests scale. By 7, I had read the entire fiction section of the school library, and was reading Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables by 13.

Just as well, Goblin, or I would be round to ask them some comprehension questions .

Personally, I find it unbelievable that other people's preteens can tie their shoelaces- I am totally dyspraxic and have dodgy joints, so I'm still struggling at 46; poor ds, at 10, is using velcro.

there is a child near me who could ride a bicycle without stabilisers from aged 2.7. I was agog at her. Ds1 is 7.5 and still cannot do this. Neither could I at his age!

She was 6 on the LOTR occasion, maggoty.

I just don't get why it's a problem for other people. I really don't understand why it generates such bitchiness and competitiveness with adults, and thus such nasty comments from some of their children.

"Just as well, Goblin, or I would be round to ask them some comprehension questions ."

OK OK point taken!

I could read at four,had excellent comprehension and had an awful time at school, from teachers who couldnt even be bothered to try and challenge me, and felt my ability was an affront to their teaching, until I went to high school and took my gcse three years early. It is quite possible she can read, some kids just get it sooner then others,.

'OK OK point taken!'

Well Done OP
Of course, your cousin could be telling porkies, but it really doesn't matter does it?

Whether she tells porkies or not, I wouldn't let it worry me. Ime the competive parenting (which I suspect is what you fear from your cousin) wears off after a few years of school: the children themselves realise it is not good for their street cred and start shushing their parents.

Well... it does a little bit. It would be different if it was some random mum off the school playground. Anyway, got to go off and get on with real life now , thanks for all the opinions.

Know what you mean, my SIL was very much like this. These days, her son takes great delight in showing her up and pointing out that he's not all that wonderful really. He is a very nice lad.

I was another very early reader - I spent a year in hospital from ages 2 to 3 (not even in a children's ward, in a private room) so my mother had no idea what to do with me except get me reading as I was confined to the bed. So my reading level was extremely high by the end of that year! I was definitely reading Roald Dahl by four not sure about the others.

My dad used to test me on my reading comprehension because I also read very fast, so would waltz back in after 10 minutes having read the whole reading assignment that was meant to take an hour. I was a precocious little brat so I used to delight in answering all the questions and finishing with several rounds of "I TOLD you I'd read it". I also used to read ahead in text books while the teacher was talking and then irriating them by being a know it all.

I often think that year would have been considerably better spent learning social skills!

So yes, all sorts of children can have very advanced reading ages, so it's not outside the realms of possibility that she is reading them at all. Your cousin is being unreasonable bragging about it though. If the child is anything like me she'll like talking about her books so ask her what she's reading and enoying at the moment, just don't start asking her what happened on specific pages! If she says that she's reading spot the dog or counting the Pontipines from ITNG as little women then you'll know that your cousin is exaggerating.

My mum was a teacher and taught me to read at the age of 2. I doubt I understood what I read as I can't remember it (though I can't remember not being able to read at all) but does it matter?

My daughter was reading simple words from 2 .... by 4 she'd definitely started on Dahl and now at 7, can read almost any word and has great comprehension by and large. I don't know how it happened ... I never sat her down and deliberately tried to teach her to read, though we have 1000s of books about and she's always asked lots of questions about letters, sounds and words (e.g. when out and about, she'd always be chattering about signs, posters etc). One of our car games (from 4 or so) would be her asking for spellings .... usually themed, such as "Doctor Who" spellings, then I'd get her to spell dalek, cyberman, weeping angel, adipose, judoon etc.

I'm really proud of her but obviously there's something in her brain that just "clicked" so far as reading, writing and comprehension is concerned. She's very lucky that it all just fell in place for her and she hasn't had to struggle. However, she still can't ride a bike without stabilisers .... and I regularly see much smaller kids doing so !

I think that very early advanced readers aren't that common, but they do definitely exist and there needn't be any mystery about it .... not all of them (if many at all) have been "hot-housed" or subjected to hours of formal teaching.

DS was reading Dahl by four. By 6 he was speed reading and I honestly thought he couldn't possibly be taking it all in, and tbh he didn't, the first time he read a book, but he speed reads his books hundreds of times, so after about four reads of the same novel he has got it all.

I bought him the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid last weekend, he had read the whole book in an hour and by bedtime he was reading it for the fourth time.

I am proud of him. He can't tie his laces, he's a fidgit and struggles with writing, but he's a great reader and I don't care of it makes other parents jealous.

I was that child, and, like SecretNutellaFix, I was off the reading scale by age 6 too. My parents were quite hippyish - into letting us develop at our own pace - but I was fascinated by books, as my parents are big readers and the house was full of books and I started reading at a very young age. I read Jane Eyre when I was 7, stuff like that, and I understood it too. I remember spending the whole of my 8th birthday finishing off Nineteen Eighty Four and nearly missing the start of my own birthday party. My DP was reading 'grown-up' books at a similar age also - he remembers his teacher calling him a liar in front of the whole class when he said he was reading Anna Karenina aged 11. We're still obsessive bookworms now.

I feel a bit weird about revealing this, as people always think that a child reading early is boasting or bullshit or both, but some people can read (and comprehend stuff) at a very early age. Everyone develops in some areas quicker or slower than others - I couldn't tell the time until I was about 7 or 8, for example.

Dd1 5.7 can barely read her name, I am very jealous at free-reading 4 year olds , but boy can my girl climb, ride a bike, swim, do monkey bars, handstands, cartweels.......according to my mum she is a do-er not a thinker.....

I showed early promise and could read before I started school and in reception used to be sent to yr2 for reading and comprehension.
I can vividly remember reading all of Enid Blyton at age 7.
My Mum used to get fed up of buying books that I would read in a day or two.

My ggenius was short lived though!

well, there you are, lanismum, and I am very jealous of you

no do-ers in my family

I too was one of these children who could read ludicrously early. Never learnt to do a cartwheel, though. I was open-mouthed in admiration at a relative's daughter who was flipping round and round in cartwheels, while her mother told me all about her reading difficulties.

I have my copy of Heidi from when I was 8. I was thinking about getting a copy for my 7 year old. I bought her Dr Dolittle and it has been changed due to PC.