Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Telly addicts

Richard and Judy- Babies reading as young as 9 months!!!

79 replies

LittleMissBliss · 28/02/2008 18:15

Did anyone else see this? Ds is 3 months and i'm tempted to get the Dvd. I think giving your child a head start is great.

OP posts:
measiam · 14/03/2008 02:52

9 months?!

ghosty · 14/03/2008 04:23

I went to kindergarten in Holland until I was 6. No letter learning of any kind was done. In fact I don't think I even knew my alphabet.
Moved to England at 6 and a half, couldn't read a word. In fact, I couldn't speak English that well either.
I remember being taken out of lessons to have reading lessons (all flash cards - this was the 70s after all )
At 7 I read The Magic Faraway Tree (the first book I read on my own) and have never looked back. I was 10 when I read all 7 Chronicles of Narnia books.

I hate this head start thing. It is a myth and a read herring

It is a waste of money and time. Like someone else said in this thread, by a certain age most children (if no learning issues) are at the same level anyway, whether they learned to read at 1,2,3 or 7.

I am an ex Primary school teacher and I studiously avoided teaching DS any letters/reading. He started school at 5 and now, at 8 has a reading age of over 11. But I know that by 11 most of his peers will be at the same level as him.

I would rather give them a head start in counting, numbers and Maths before reading ...

wannaBe · 14/03/2008 06:34

dear god .

imo the parents that do this are barking. clearly competitive to the extreme and I pity their poor children.

There is a vast difference between reading to your child, them developing and interest in reading as they grow up, and sitting them down to watch dvd's and showing them flash cards at 9 months.

besides there is evidence that suggests children shouldn't watch any tv before they are 3. Not that most parents enforce the no tv but allowing the child to watch and forcing them to watch are vastly different.

Plus how bored are those children going to be in school if they already know everything? or how precocious?

they're babies ffs. parents aren't setting their children up for a head start with this, they're setting them up for huge disappointment when they realize that they're no better/different to their peers as their peers cath up with them.

Someone is making a lot of money out of a lot of gullable people.

FairyMum · 14/03/2008 06:52

LOL at this thread and people starting 12 weeks old on reading programmes.

ghosty · 14/03/2008 07:03

I am reminded of a mother of a boy I used to teach. (Bear in mind I worked in a private school and we had to give them 'exams' at Yr 4). She came to parents evening and when I told her he had got 70% in his History test she was horrified and demanded to know why. I said that I thought he had done very well but there was just one section that he hadn't revised that well.
She blustered, "But, but ... he could read at age 3!!!" and burst into tears.
It was around that time I decided a) I wouldn't teach in the private sector ever again AND b) I wouldn't send my children to private school AND c) I would NEVER teach any child of mine to read before they started school.

qwertyshell · 14/03/2008 10:08

THEDEVILWEARSPRIMARK. I CANT BELIEVE YOU HAVE BEEN SO F**KING RUDE, IT PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO BUT PRESURE ON PEOPLE IN THE FIRST PLACE. THIS MUMSNET IS FULL OF PEOPLE JUST HAVING A GO, WHATS THE POINT??? IF MY CHILDREN ACTED LIKE THIS I WOULD BE TELLING THEM OFF, WHAT A JOKE. [ANGRY]

TwoIfBySea · 17/03/2008 14:37

Can they spell pretentious at that age too?

hippipotami · 17/03/2008 14:49

quertyshell, calm down. you do have some spectacular spelling/grammar mistakes in your posts, and seeing as this thread is about early literacy skills it is quite funny actually.

I don't think your children will get a head start, unless this programme your children are following fits in with whatever scheme your dc's school will be following.

If they (your dc) enjoy a video and you wish for them to pick up early reading, then any 'jolly phonics' or 'letterland' dvd for around £5 will do the trick.

Expelliarmum · 17/03/2008 14:57

Recognition and comprehension are not necessarily connected! I recognise E=MC2 but I don't understand it!

DrNortherner · 17/03/2008 14:59

My ds was reading the FT at six months old.

ZippiBabes · 17/03/2008 15:00

tis a ploy to get even more people reading the richard and judy bookclub books

do we need that?

ArmadilloDaMan · 17/03/2008 15:00

I thought this was a take the piss thread when I saw the title.

I wish it was.

Go and spend the money on something the kids will enjoy.

What benefits exactly do you think they will gain from this?

By the time they're a couple of years into school no one will be able to tell the difference.

StealthPolarBear · 17/03/2008 15:05

dRn WELL MY 9MO IS DOING THE TIMES CROSSWORD
oops sorry
he's a bit stuck on 3 down tho

StealthPolarBear · 17/03/2008 15:08

he's got it, thanks
antidisestablishmentarianism

ZippiBabes · 17/03/2008 15:09

isn't it a shame that that word actually has such a dull meaning

S1ur · 17/03/2008 15:10

Polarbear, my unborn foetus says the answer to 3 down is 'consumerism'

S1ur · 17/03/2008 15:12

oops sorry assumed you were a Guardian redader

S1ur · 17/03/2008 15:13
S1ur · 17/03/2008 15:13

I an NOT pg.

StealthPolarBear · 17/03/2008 15:20

he's actually almost 11 mo
his mum's a bit dim

StealthPolarBear · 17/03/2008 15:21

Slur, maybe your foetus and my almost 11mo can meet and network?

S1ur · 17/03/2008 15:26

Absolutely, I will get my fictitious people to consolidate my fictitious foetus' schedule and call your fictitious people vis a vis setting up a meeting.

Or you can have my 18m ds but he is pretty dim and can only read in anicient Greek. We're a bit worried because we're not sure the Socretes school of Philosophy will take him on. We're a bit out of catchment.

StealthPolarBear · 17/03/2008 15:38

can you quickly teach him latin? I think that will impress them enough.
Have we killed this thread? oops

hippipotami · 17/03/2008 15:46

had to go on the school run, but your last few posts have been fun to read

alas, it has taken me the best part of an hour to read them as my (useless, selfish, clueless) mother never started me reading at 9 months. I fear I have never caught up, and never will.....

StealthPolarBear · 17/03/2008 15:47

O K

S p e a k i n g s l o w l y
s o y o u c a n f o l l o w

Swipe left for the next trending thread