Rae Pica on Why We Shouldn’t Rush Kids Into Reading

Photo by Izabelly Marques

In a 3-minute video, Rae Pica, author of What If Everybody Understood Child Development, advocates for taking pressure off children to rush to reading until they are developmentally ready to move naturally towards the skill.

Rae Pica is an ECE consultant, author, keynote speaker, and online educator who has written 23 books for ECE professionals and parents. She describes herself as being “on a mission to ensure that children have the chance to be children and that child development guides all our practices with them”.

In this short video, “Why We Shouldn’t Rush Children Into Reading”, Pica clearly articulates her views on why it is important to allow children to become readers in their own time, when they are developmentally ready to make this step, and in the meantime provide an environmentally rich environment, full of stories and books being read to them, to encourage their love of literature. She outlines how reading is a developmental process that can’t be forced, and argues that attempting to rush the process actually serves to undermine a child’s confidence, joy, and long-term relationship with literacy.

Key points in the video include:

·      Why children reach reading readiness at different ages

·      How stress and pressure interfere with the brain’s ability to learn

·      What early childhood research tells us about developmentally appropriate practice

·      The difference between exposure to literacy and expectation of mastery

·      Simple ways to nurture a love of language without pushing formal ready too soon