Myth 8: A child who learns to read early will be too far ahead, which is bad for him emotionally.

Sad but true: some parents would actually like their child to be less smart than he is capable of being.

Why?

Because they fear that their child will be different, will not fit in, and may feel left out. But what are we saying here? Do we really want to dumb down our children, just so they conform to the norm?

The problem here is not the child who learns to read before starting school. The problem is the norm, which dictates that children should not learn to read before first grade. In the words of the 20th-century American inventor and visionary Buckminster Fuller: “All children are born geniuses, but we spend the first six years of their life degeniusing them.”

If you’re concerned about how your “too bright” five-year-old will fit in at school, then relax. For a start, most children starting school can at least read some whole words, even if they do not know how to sound them out. Just because your child is a phonetic or phonemic reader will not make her a freak. Besides, in every other way besides reading, your child will be a typical five-year-old with typical five-year-old thoughts and feelings. She will still belong in a classroom of her peers. It’s just that when it comes to reading, she may need more challenging books than most of the other children – and a different kind of support from the teacher.

We hope that a day will come, in the not too distant future, when the child who can read before he starts school is the norm rather than the exception. The fact is that the vast majority of children are capable of learning to read before age five – and they would benefit vastly from being given that opportunity.

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In conclusion…