Ds in reception has got all competitive about being better than another child at reading - a good or bad thing?

[thegrammerpolicesic]

Ds (in reception) has decided he wants to be better than child X at reading and writing and it's spurred him from being only a little interested in doing homework/ practicing stuff to him really wanting to read his tricky words/ learn the last few sounds etc.
(Note I am not into him sitting reading/ writing/ doing homework too much and he is doing plenty of playing.)

I'm a bit torn as I'd feel bad encouraging this kind of competition in some ways but if it's enthusing him to learn is it a bad thing?
Child X and he are the only ones who can read at the moment I believe so I guess it's more obvious to compete with her than it will be in a few months when it evens out a bit with the others. I really hadn't expected this and definitely didn't encourage this kind of competition. I think the class had some sort of reading competition so this might be where it's come from?

Depends on how he deals with the competitiveness really.

If it is a private competition, in his head, or just shared at home with you - fine, leave him to it.

If it spills over into school and he says things to the other child - not so good and he will need to be spokn to to discuss why it isn't nice, and to be a "good sport" etc.

Its called peer pressure and for boys it works. Better than begging, cajoling and pressuring them to read.

DS2 was a lazy reader until he got the competitive bug and wants to be top of the class. In particular he wants to be on more complex books than the best girl reader in the class. We do nothing to encourage it.

As long as he is not being nasty to the other child about it then I would not sweat.

Re: "If it spills over into school and he says things to the other child - not so good and he will need to be spoken to to discuss why it isn't nice, and to be a "good sport" etc." I was struggling to pinpoint why it was making me feel uncomfortable but that is it - the concern that he might start making comments.

And re:
"In particular he wants to be on more complex books than the best girl reader in the class" - it's exactly the same sort of thing - he and this girl seem to do some reading activities separately and he wants to do better than her.

I will have a word with him about it if I spot any signs that he's taking it too far. But yep ABD, it's pretty huge the difference in enthusiasm levels so maybe I should be grateful.

That is very interesting.

DS2 has been paired with the best girl reader. I suspect the very experienced teacher he has now has done it deliberately as boys are notoriously sluggish while girls tend to be quicker readers to start with.

Wonder if your DS has a teacher who has deliberately done the same for the same reason.

In my reception class last year at one point my three most able readers were all boys. One of them was extremely competitive and had it worked out exactly who was best. He took it really badly when a girl joined their elite group ... so something to watch out for.

I'm not sure how he knew as all four children read the same level books...

It's amazing that they're all so aware of this stuff at such a young age.

ABD - to be honest I doubt it was that, it's more that the two of them were the only ones who could read before starting and the others aren't on proper reading books yet/ are only just starting tricky words, whereas ds and this little girl knew quite a lot of them already (I have gleaned this from the teacher's indiscretions!) Not gloating as they are well, well within 'normal' for reception, just explaining.

It's great in some ways that there are two of them about the same so they can be a little group for activities. I was just a bit by this new found competitiveness.

I don't know about how healthy all this competitiveness is at such a young age. It found it's way into the classroom in Year One when the kids became aware of which Coloured Book Bands they were on - kids seem to use it to belittle each other and feel smug about their achievement - it's not something I wish to encourage in my child. It might drive them on to rush through the scheme but imo a race does little to encourage a love of reading.

Tbh I don't think that's what's going on at the moment but I will definitely keep an eye out for that as I wouldn't like that either.

He isn't aware of what band of books they both have or who really is the better reader (I've no idea either and don't care) - he just wants to be the best . And since it's more a generic thing for him, he isn't racing through reading scheme books any quicker in an artificial way either - more about him wanting to spend a bit more time learning his tricky words etc.

I don't think it is a bad thing as long as it doesn't adversely affect the other child.

Ds (5)is incredibly competitive. No idea why as it isn't something I am and I've not encouraged it. The only thing he isn't competitive in is reading and that is the only area I wish he was - one of the worst readers in his class but one of the most able if he can be bothered. I've been told to time his reading homework in order to get him to do it - which he will if he thinks it is a competition.