at the top of that list.  Early childhood these days is not so much about academics as it is the stuff on that list -- being able to sit quietly, take turns, follow directions.  Not everyone can do these things naturally, and that's one reason preschool can be a nice shake-out period before kinder.  Where I live, the reading program in kinder is at least 45 consecutive minutes of sitting and listening.  I think it's insane, but for people who are using the public schools it seems like a good idea to prep their kids for self-regulating before putting them in that situation.

is suddenly showing genuine interest in reading and math basics, with no pressure from us at all! It's fun to hear him asking all these cool, reading and math and social studies questions.

He's so stubborn, that if we drilled him on topics, he would hate them in spite of how interesting they are.

because I learned to read in preschool and DS is nowhere near. Then I learned my cousin's kid, who is extremely bright and is going to an awesome engineering school to be an engineer-- also didn't learn to read until K-1.  Her other kid, who is also very bright and talented, was like me, and learned to read in preschool. So I guess it just depends on the kid. People need to relax.

There's too much emphasis on acquiring skills early and not enough emphasis on what to do with those skills.

To me, the most important aspect of early childhood education is creating positive associations with school. If you child likes reading and math, then they should do it. If they like playing, then do that. I just wanted my kids to come home saying they loved school and wanting to go back the next day. Now, even when they are having a hard time, they still 'like school.'

some nuts out there doing something like sending their 3 year old to Kaplan or whatever.

Luckily, we can ignore them.  The real issue is kids whose families are on the other end of the spectrum, and who need much more support than the system is currently providing them.

for, I think, Hooked on Phonics, where a small child is reading fluently.  Mom is asked how old he is - "just turned four.  We've been practicing."  Drives me crazy that they're trying to get parents of preschoolers to think they have to do this kind of drill to get ready to read.  grrrr.

Lesley

is becoming my most used expression :) we'd better get off this competitive track or we are going to be a society of narcissitic robots. the most compelling point to me is the one relating to creativity.  good lord, if my dd was submitted to the drill suggested i know exactly what would have been sacraficed at age 3:

1.  her running around pretending to be the dying swan from the ballet

2.  changing her costumes scene to scene from romeo and juliet

3.  her wonderful exchange with her 2 imaginary friends, perry and his wife.

4.  her passion for drawing pictures

5.  her love for being read to,

6.  her delight in playing all of the above with her preschool buddies

my kid is admittedly academic. but not once, not ever did we push her to learn how to read before FIRST GRADE!!! i suppose i should have been worried that she resisted learning to read until then:)  however, i can go back and look at what she has written since second grade and know full well her wonderful creative writing is mostly due to being exposed to developmentally appropriate activities. same with music and art. the years of being read to every day and night sparked her imagination and inspired her love of books and stories.   math?  exposure to music encourages that too.

little kids, and in fact all kids and adults should be allowed a whole lot of time for free exploration to open up the flow of their creative juices.  it  saddens me to no end to hear about these academic pushes...what a loss for the soul.

I'm in agreement with many of you that letting kids come to these concepts in their own time is the best way to go. But just recently there was a study out that showed that kids who had mastered some math skills before kindergarten did better in school later on than kids who hadn't. The same wasn't as true for reading. The big message of the article that I read was that misbehavior during the early school years was not a predictor for later academic success. Here's a link to a NY Times article on the study.

Of course, this is only looking at academic achievement and I think most of us here care about the whole child. Social, emotional and psychological well-being as much as academic success. Personally, I'm fine with my child having a grand old time in preschool. I'm not worrying about the math or reading stuff.

I recall reading the results of some studies that tracked the outcome of kids who were taught to read early, as compared to kids who started reading in first grade.  I believe there was an advantage that persisted for a couple of years, but by the end of third grade the academic performances of the two groups were indistinguishable.

Coincidently, a report out today says Finland is educationally #1 yet again.  Finland's 15 year olds were judged to have the highest standards of literacy in the world, yet kids in that country enter school at age 7 - and then only for half days.

to your child. Many many studies have showed that children who get 15 minutes or more of story reading time per day and have parents who talk to them a lot, using lots of different words, are better prepared for Kindergarten and learning. unfortunately, that doesn't require tutors or flash cards. Just a library card and time.

Although my three year old doesn't go to any tutoring or any weird stuff like that...she does read. She has been asking me to teach her since she was two. So we've slowly plowed through the alphabet phonetically, read huge numbers of books, and now she is reading three and four letter words. This puts her way ahead of her class, and I know the other parents think I'm one of those pushy psycho parents that the article is referring to. The school is saying that they are willing to put her in an older class next year for half an hour a day for reading time. I haven't decided what to do about that yet...

However, I learned to read when I was three, and I firmly believe that it set me up for life. I read everything that I could get my hands on, including things that were probably very inappropriate for a four and five year old. Because of this, I am well read and any gaps that existed in my standard US public school education were filled.

I would never push a child that didn't want to learn. And I would never send them to outside tutoring at three. But I don't see anything wrong with teaching a young child to read at home, or in enlisting the help of their school (if they're cooperative). Reading skills may even out over time, but a child that truly loves to read and who explores their world through books is set up for life.