# Reading to kids is overrated **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2014, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-to-kids-is-overrated/684510 "2014-03-25T07:52:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-to-kids-is-overrated/684510/81 "2014-03-28T18:33:58Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I’m not up on current research, but I recall seeing some that said there wasn’t that great a correlation between age of beginning to read and reading later in life. Kids read when they are ready to. Sorry, I find it all so irritating that I sniped without being clear. For one, the claim in the OP isn’t about the relationship between when kids begin reading and reading later in life; he doesn’t believe reading to kids is a predictor of their “later academic performance.” But let’s not even go there because we don’t need to. His entire OP boils down to: I keep hearing and reading about these “studies” claiming reading to kids being a reasonably good predictor of children’s academic peformance. I don’t know about this “research” because I taught myself how to read by watching Sesame Street and I don’t read to my kids and they’re all geniuses. Nothing problematic about the research, no contradictory evidence (would give him five fake internet dollars if he could offer some), just “studies, schmudies, my own genius and the genius of my family is my cite.” Silliness. But again, it’s my fault for reading things like this. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-to-kids-is-overrated/684510/82 "2014-03-28T18:45:16Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > …Silliness. But again, it’s my fault for reading things like this. You know nothing of challenging shibboleths. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-to-kids-is-overrated/684510/83 "2014-03-28T19:19:33Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Silliness. But again, it’s my fault for reading things like this. I learned not to read things like this when I was two… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-to-kids-is-overrated/684510/84 "2014-03-28T19:44:07Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Sorry, I find it all so irritating that I sniped without being clear. For one, the claim in the OP isn’t about the relationship between when kids begin reading and reading later in life; he doesn’t believe reading to kids is a predictor of their “later academic performance.” But let’s not even go there because we don’t need to. His entire OP boils down to: I keep hearing and reading about these “studies” claiming reading to kids being a reasonably good predictor of children’s academic peformance. I don’t know about this “research” because I taught myself how to read by watching Sesame Street and I don’t read to my kids and they’re all geniuses. Nothing problematic about the research, no contradictory evidence (would give him five fake internet dollars if he could offer some), just “studies, schmudies, my own genius and the genius of my family is my cite.” > > Silliness. But again, it’s my fault for reading things like this. I was pretty much agreeing with you. The benefits of reading to kids are independent of when the kid starts reading by herself. Two year olds reading by themselves are not going to get much of the context of any but the simplest of stories, context a parent can supply. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-to-kids-is-overrated/684510/85 "2014-03-28T20:43:22Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Well, fuck you and your idiotic opinion. 😉 Sorry, smilies don’t offer you any protection; this is an insult and it’s against the rules. Don’t do it again. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-to-kids-is-overrated/684510/86 "2014-03-29T00:10:04Z")
Oh come on: did you read this in context of the thread? Sheesh. ETA: **Quicksilver** , did you feel insulted there or did you get the joke? That was not intended as an insult, not even a teensy bit. And as I say, I think anyone who was actually following along in the thread would understand that. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-to-kids-is-overrated/684510/87 "2014-03-29T01:08:24Z")
I had my first beer when I was six – what do I win? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-to-kids-is-overrated/684510/88 "2014-03-29T12:06:52Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Oh come on: did you read this in context of the thread? Sheesh. > > ETA: **Quicksilver** , did you feel insulted there or did you get the joke? That was not intended as an insult, not even a teensy bit. And as I say, I think anyone who was actually following along in the thread would understand that. Nope. Not insulted. I got the letter and spirit in which it was intended. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-to-kids-is-overrated/684510/89 "2014-03-30T01:15:57Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I had my first beer when I was six – what do I win? A hangover? ---
**Author:** ![Athabasca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Athabasca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athabasca)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-to-kids-is-overrated/684510/90 "2014-03-30T01:42:26Z")
I guess I was lucky (warning: anecdote coming up…). My mother had a grade 6 education and didn’t read anything except perhaps newspapers, in which she loved to do the crossword puzzles. My father had his grade 12, but he really didn’t have much contact with me and my sibs while we were little as he worked in the Arctic (yes it was the 50s, Cold War and all that) My mom definitely didn’t read to me. I got along with the books my older sisters brought home, and according to them, I taught myself how to read. I must have done a good job because at age 12, I was assessed at university level vocabulary and comprehension. But back to my mom. Although she didn’t finish high school, she was the best speller I knew, and still know. She has a great vocabulary and beats me at Scrabble. Yes, she uses the dictionary. I wonder if certain skills are inheritable such as spelling, reading? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-to-kids-is-overrated/684510.md?page=4)