Ok, I know I'm going to get called pushy here, but I'm honestly not. I just think that pretending to not know things is a dangerous habit to get into.
My DD1 is 3.8 and at nursery. The other day we were talking about what she will do at school and she told me she will learn to read and write at school. I said yes, and does she do any of that at nursery? She said "some of the other children do, but I don't because I don't know any letters or how to read yet".
I don't think kids need to be pushed into reading, but I happen to know that she does know all her letters and can read short words and write the first few letters in her name because she does them at home. she refuses point blank to do them if she gets any idea that it is any kind of test or people are interested, but she writes the beginning of her name and sometimes a label on her pictures, she chats away about such a sign having certain letters or numbers on, and she has even read the odd word to me from a book she hasn't seen before or suchlike.
Do you think I should mention this to the nursery? I really am not expecting any formal education to be going on (apart from the usual social stuff) but I am a bit alarmed that she is getting into this habit of pretending she doesn't know things- I used to do it to avoid bullying when I was at school (ie I would deliberately try to answer 1 in 10 questions wrong in tests) so it worries me that she is maybe already worried about such things.
Or should I just remember that, actually, she isn't meant to be reading for a good few years anyway, and it will do her no harm to sit doing whatever it is they do for the children who are very much pre reading and might even consolidate things for her?
Maybe nursery know she is pulling their legs, and have just decided that she needs to consolidate anyway?
She is a little rumun for doing this though, she pretends she doesn't know things and then just springs them on you. For example, I knew she knew "the owl and the pussycat" as she will quite happilly tell it to me or her dolls, but she wouldn't tell it to my Grandad (long story, but he loves it, he died a few weeks ago and we said it at his funeral) until we started off "The owl and the pussycat went to Spar..." and she corrected us, then said the full thing. I don't think it is shyness, as she will quite happilly talk to most people, for example she spoke to the room from the stage at our wedding.
Have any of you got children who hide thier lights? She's not some kind of child genius, in fact she is very average in most respects, but I am proud of her, and I would love her to be proud of herself as well.