Teaching your child to read sounds like a good idea - but could it prove socially limiting? Raisingkids.co.uk's education expert, Kate Nayler responds to a mother who wants to know will she be helping or harming her pre-schooler.

Raisingkids member's problem
I am a qualified primary teacher and like the idea of teaching my son to read simple texts before he gets to school. He has had an insatiable interest in books and written materials from an early age. I am confident in my ability to teach him. My concerns are more about how he will be received at school if he appears more advanced than the other children. Could I be helping him educationally, but disadvantaging him socially?

Education expert's advice
I think it would be impossible to predict how your son would be received at school if you were to teach him to read before he gets to school because it very much depends upon the views of his Reception teacher, and how much ‘input’ the other children in his class have received prior to starting school.

This issue was raised in a recent discussion I had with a head teacher in an area where a number of children attend private nurseries before going to school. Those children who attended nursery were ‘taught’ basic literacy and numeracy skills from a very young age and appeared to be quite advanced when entering school; however, after a few weeks it was evident that they were unable to generalise their skills. The children had simply been exposed to rote learning. Being able to count to twenty and recite the alphabet may sound good, but is a meaningless exercise in itself.

One step forwards, one step back
‘Hot-housing’ children in this way can cause a number of problems in school. Children are likely to be given reading books beyond their level of ability, they may be grouped with children who are of a higher ability and therefore given work which is too difficult for them. It can take a number of weeks to sort things out – and this can cause a great deal of distress to the child. All this can reflect badly on the teacher, particularly when a child - who has happily gone to nursery - suddenly doesn’t want to go to school. Furthermore, school advisors and inspectors become concerned when children start school at a particular level and then appear to go backwards. This is obviously a worse case scenario; however, it does provide some insight as to why some teachers are wary of children being taught to read before they get to school.

The difference in your situation is that you are a qualified primary teacher and have therefore been taught how to teach children to read. You also know your own child and know if he is ready to be taught. You are confident in your ability to teach him and I see no reason why you shouldn’t do so. I would recommend that you use real books to maintain his interest and enjoyment of books, and steer well clear of books from reading schemes – he will have enough of them when he goes to school. This will also make it much easier for his teacher as she will know immediately that he is able to read because he will be able to generalise what he has been taught to other situations. Furthermore, it removes the danger of him re-reading books that he has already read, and thus getting bored.

From a social point of view, I really don’t see any problem. I am sure that there will be other children in his class who will be able to read, or who will soon be reading. You are simply teaching your son to read now because he is ready, not to give him an advantage over the others.