Why Teach Your Baby to Read

It is important that you teach your baby to readof words and even sentences that she read quite
as young as possible. Why? Because there iswell. Her parents had been reading to her since
simply no better time in a child's life for learningshe was born and had provided her with a very
than when they are between 3 months old andearly education. There have also been various
their 5th birthday. During this time, their brains arebooks written on the subject such as the
rapidly developing, and as a result, they areexcellent book How To Teach Your Baby To
sponges for knowledge. Since being able to read isRead by Glenn and Janet Doman.
the cornerstone of any successful education, theYou want to give your child the best chance at
earlier they start the better. All too often parentssucceeding in life, which is why it is so important
leave educating their children up to the publicto begin their education as early as possible.
schools, which explains why the Unites States isReading is the most important thing to teach
currently ranked 18th in its literacy rate.them at this age. It doesn't have to be stressful
There are many reasons why you should teachor difficult on your child though. Learning can be
your baby to read. It provides brain stimulationfun at such a young age, and it is accomplished so
during the crucial time when his or her brain iseasily that they won't have to struggle in order to
developing. It has also been shown to increase thelearn. In fact, when you use the proper materials,
baby's IQ. Most importantly though, it gives yourthey will look forward to learning.
child a head start in life. The sooner they begin toIf you are interested in teaching your infant to
read, the sooner they can begin to learn otherread, then the best way to start is by spending
subjects. This way, by the time your child beginsjust a few minutes a day. Flash cards are a very
school, he or she will already know what is beingeffective tool. Simply show your baby the word
taught, and will be put on the fast track, maybeand then flip it over to show them the matching
even skipping a grade down the road.picture on the opposite side. There are videos as
One of the cases which really began to bring thewell that help teach babies to read. Although some
fact that babies can learn to read to the public'sparents may avoid these if they do not want
attention was 17 month old Elizabeth Barrett whotheir children watching television at such a young
appeared on the Today show. This was aage.
fascinating story because she was given a series