The Chronicles of Omi: Should you teach your baby to read?

I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio) today and herd an interesting discussion on early childhood development. It started out talking about the famous Baby Einstein DVDs and books, and if they really did make kids smarter. The conversation then went on to talk about teaching children to read. The "expert' guest was stating that children can't possibly learn to distinguish written language until at least age 6 or 7. WHAT! He also said that even if they could discern written words at a young age, they wouldn't have any comprehension until they enter school age.

Well I'm glad they had Janet Doman on to set the record straight. I think that babies are very smart. They only need the opportunity to grow and develop. I was given How to teach your baby to read by a friend and have put a lot of the method into practice with Janelle. To me it make so much sense. We start talking to our children right at birth, but wait until they're 5 to give them the same information through a different pathway. I can remember knowing how to read and write when I started Kindergarden, and my mom didn't do anything special other than read to me. I think the earlier you teach a child to read or math or encyclopedic knowledge, or whatever you lay a foundation in the brain to receive and process information. It's not so important that your child can read by 1, but that their brain has been wired to receive info though many different pathways. Glenn Doman says that "function determines structure", in other words the what you give the brain to do will determine how the brain grows, and the brain will grow more rapidly in the first 6 years of life than any other time.

Its our responsibility to present Janelle to God to be used by Him for whatever He wants. I'm trying to lay a good foundation for him to work with. I need my brain to do EVERYTHING. That means God needs my brain to use me to serve my family, win the lost, pray, read, preach, EVERYTHING.