Problems Caused by Learning the Alphabet Too Early?

Learning her letters and numbers on her own will not inhibit her creativity. Shoving flash cards in her face would.

Everything everyone else said....

When my son was 18 months old he knew the entire alphabet, both capitalized and un-capitalized, as well as the correct sounds. But he was interested in knowing the name of everything around him, from construction equipment we saw in the neighborhood to the letter blocks in the bathtub. Believe me, it did not stunt his imagination one bit. He is one of the most creative, funny, articulate kids in his grade and will be the MC for this years 9th grade graduation ceremonies.

Sounds like she's learning the right way, through play. With my daughter I remember thinking how she knew her letters and all but I don't remember teaching her, ha ha. I attributed it to Sesame Street, but yeah, she always had the abc books and all that. I don't see how anything negative could come from that, unless like the other moms are saying, if she's being drilled on it.

I think, if you were drilling and only focused on academics, yes, that could possibly inhibit the child's creativity and imagination. Usually, though, it would be because the *parent* wasn't allowing enough open-ended playtimes and toys and was pushing academics early on.

If your child has access to simple toys (boxes, containers, odds and ends), has access to blocks, crayons and paper, playdough, etc. and ample time to play on their own... I would say, don't worry. Some kids 'click' onto things in their world and want to explore them more thoroughly. Wooden alphabet puzzles, by the way, are a GREAT way to have fun with letter while playing. We often did 'alphabet cookies' in our preschool 'bakery', having kids point to different 'cookies' they wanted to 'buy'-- we'd say their names/sounds and put them in little bags. Still creative and imaginative, the kids loved it. Or alphabet hunts, where the letters were 'hidden' around the preschool and the kids found them, replaced them into their spots on the tray.

Please tell your mom NOT to worry. Unless you have your kid in front of a screen a lot or are pressing academics, she'll be fine!

Bless her heart.

Of course it is ok for your child to learn anything he is interested in at any time.

Go with his interest on his schedule and feel free to introduce him to new things all of the time.

His brain is a sponge and he is taking everything in at all times. Nothing is too advanced.

Children love vocabulary and concepts. If he latches onto something, go with it until he stops being interested.

Your daughter is naturally curious, and that is really something you want to encourage. The problems usually occur when parents try to push too hard. There has been much criticism about things like "Your Baby Can Read" (is that the name, can't remember for sure) because they are trying to teach kids something that they simply aren't ready for.

Most learning that occurs before kindergarten is based on curiosity and play. Kids are like sponges. They soak up information. They learn through playing and just by experiencing their environment.

The only time it really becomes a negative is when we try to push something on them that they simply aren't ready for.

When my son was about 18 months old he pointed at the letter A in the word SAFEWAY on the shopping cart handle and said "A". I was amazed. He was soon identifying many different letters. I didn't "Teach" him the letters, but I did "expose" him to the letters. He had lots of books about letters that we read to him (like Dr. Seuss ABC and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.), we sang the alphabet song, had fridge magnet letters etc. We didn't spend time teaching and drilling him on his alphabet, he learned naturally. He started reading around the same time as his peers, not early. He is now 11 and quite creative and imaginative. I imagine the negative consequences are referring to those who have their toddlers spending time receiving lessons rather than playing.

Some kids just pick up things early. IMO it would be worse to teach them that they shouldn't be learning something normal like this. There are plenty of ways to teach a child and plenty of ways to keep up their creativity. I would not worry about your DD and her letters. It sounds like her learning is a natural progression and not something you are drilling into her.

My son could identify letters at 18 months. He could recognize letters before he could speak, believe it or not. He would hold up an L block and roar like a lion. That was the first sign that he was really, really smart.

He read "early" (I think he was reading at a 12th grade level in the 3rd grade, but I can't really remember.) and is now a high school student who is looking forward to getting a PhD/MD. I have very little, if anything, to do with any of this.
BTW, when he was a baby he never crawled. More than one "friend" told me that if he didn't crawl that he would have trouble learning to read. Totally wrong and totally crazy. He could not crawl because he had spindly arms and a friggin' huge head. He still does. I told my mom this story about not crawling and reading and she told me I never crawled either. And I ended up being an English professor. Go figure.

File this comment under the "in one ear out the other," smile and then change the subject.

LOL sorry but your mom is just plain wrong. Both my older sister and I learned to read, add and subtract when we were three. She graduated from design school and is a successful interior designer. I won art, creative writing and drama awards in high school and was accepted into some very good art schools for college.

Enjoy watching her learn and encourage her natural curiosity!

Never heard of that but I would ask her why? Like when she heard this did they say why.

If you are going to have a great imagination there is little that can stop that train. Imagination is a way of thinking that you are hard wired with. Not like letters and numbers have the power to re-map your brain.

I have never heard of such a thing. If you're concerned, consult your pediatrician. Seems like an old wive's tale to me. Toddlers are naturally curious ...

Everything Nervy Girl said, I say that too ;)

If she's teaching herself the letters -- and it sounds like she is -- then she's fine. She's more than fine, she sounds absolutely brilliant.

It's when parents force a narrow academic curriculum on toddlers -- when they insist on the alphabet and numbers and when they shut down imaginative play -- THAT's a problem.

But if she's accessing this stuff on her own, then she's wonderful and brilliant and fine.

Flashcards, drilling, forced "study time" at that age is detrimental to a child's development. Learning letters in the way you describe is great. The very best thing you can do to raise a reader is get them hooked on the idea of reading early on.

Sounds like that's what's happening. Read to her and talk about the alphabet and letters and she will grow up wanting to learn how to decode the written language. Her imagination and creativity will expand in awesome ways through mastering all forms of language and communication.

Your Mom has good intentions I'm sure but she's getting her information a little mixed up.

I think she's getting confused and misinterpreting something she heard or read. It is only a problem if you are forcing her to do worksheets and flash cards. Kids learn best by playing at that age and that sounds exactly like what she's doing. We read a lot to our kids and like you we had alphabet wooden puzzles and books like "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom." Consequently, our youngest taught himself to read before kindergarten, went on to become a voracious reader and is the more creative of our two boys. In my experience, grandparents are well-intentioned and often share useful words of wisdom, but sometimes we have to say "that's nice" and then tune out their advice! (And now I need to remember that if I'm ever a grandmother..........)

ppppfffftttttt.
kids learn at different rates, and actively DISCOURAGING an eager child from learning is just stupid.
let your little reader rip!
ETA waldorf does NOT suggest that children be prevented from learning, simply that drilling and 'teaching' tinies who aren't ready can be very detrimental.
khairete
S.

I would ask your mom to quote her sources on that.

I know it's OK for kids to learn later, and some countries teach reading much later than we do (after 2nd grade in some countries) when it is easier than forcing it, because lots of kids do not naturally start "getting reading" without a struggle before age 4 or 5. So it's not HARMFUL to learn it later...

But harmful to learn it earlier? I don't see how it would inhibit imagination and creativity...but I'd be very interested to read that study! She must have heard it somewhere, try to get specifics from her.

No. There are not. I say this as someone who has taken multiple college courses in childhood development/psychology and as the mother of a son who, on his own, also learned his letters well before age two. He is now a wildly imaginative, creative six year-old.

Keep doing what you are doing, sounds like you are doing a great job.

Your mom heard... unless she has more than THAT, ignore it. Just because she's your mom doesn't mean that she knows what she's talking about.

I'll tell you what hurts kids - parents who treat their toddlers like school-aged kids. Sitting them at desks. Demanding that they use worksheets and flashcards. Fighting with them to make them learn. They are setting their kids up to HATE school.

You aren't doing any of the sort. Don't squash your child's learning process just because of your mom.

It seems that everything is happening in a natural way; you are not forcing your child at all; therefore, your little one is doing something wonderful! Congratulations!

I took a set of Jenga blocks and wrote letters and numbers on them. My daughters use them as building blocks. Simple stuff like that exposes them to it without forcing them to learn it.

Good Grief, how could you even think this would be a hindrance to anything? Learning stimulates creativity and imagination and creativity and imagination stimulates learning.
Your Mother is no doubt misinformed.

The only thing I could imagine of a negative consequence is if you held her back.

That defies logic. Ignore your mom's comments. They are ridiculous.

I remember being stopped at a red light near a Mobil gas station when my daughter was around that age. She got very excited yelling, "Mom, there is my "M" since her name begins with an "M" (this same daughter is in 5th grade and tested at a 12 grade reading level this year. My oldest tested between an 9.7 and 11.7 reading level in 3rd grade depending on the test the psychologist administered. Both my daughter's knew their letters/sounds and number at a young age too simply because we read lots of alphabet and number books.

That's dumb. My 12 year old is reading at a Lexile level of 1350 - a junior in college. She started reading at 2, just from playing and watching learning videos. She is a very good artist and very creative.no, to my knowledge, there are no known problems - other than for break her class was assigned to read a book at 100 points above their lexile level and there was literally nothing age appropriate at that level. A good problem to have.

what?!?! thats crazy. by 2 my daughter could say and find all the letters and numbers to 20. also find shapes- circle, star, triangle, rectangle. by 4 1/2 read her first easy reader book. shes in first grade now and is reading at a 3rd grade level. she is also a fantastic sign language finger speller. shes 7 right now. by 2 she also could show you how to work a dvd player, tv, phone and preschool games on the laptop. as for inhibiting her imagination my 7 year old has an awesome one she sings almost constantly as she plays. she gets engrossed in whatever she is doing drawing, make believe, dolls etc.

you are fine with what you are doing. your not damaging her by teaching her to say letters.

My cousin could read at the age of 2 . She went to college and has made a pretty good life for her self.

The problem comes not from children who like their letter puzzles. It comes from parents who drill their children in academics to the point that the child does nothing else. If your child is doing many things, including the fine motor skills used in assembling puzzles and blocks, and the gross motor skills from riding kiddy cars and running around the park, and going to children's museums and story hours and playing in the sand and water (different textures/sensations) and doing a wide variety of things that use different muscles and different parts of the brain, there's no problem. Your child seems to have a curiosity about these things, which is fine. It would only be a problem if she were being forced to learn vocabulary and being corrected all the time if she pronounced words wrong or didn't speak in complete sentences - those kids find their expression and creativity to be squelched, and they strive to be perfect. If they never take risks, if they never work at communication because they have to be precise all the time, then you have a problem. So it's important, when you read a story to her, to note all the things on the pages, not just the letters, and to talk about what's happening or what might happen or what she thinks, so she learns to express freely and not just parrot back what you've said.

Golly, I've never heard that one before. Knowing letters leads to reading, and reading can make you more creative. Knowing numbers is creative, too, I'm told, although I sure don't have that sort of creativity.

You inhibit creativity not when you teach that A looks like A or that 1+1=2, but when you prevent a child from using his/her imagination at all. Are you doing that? No. So do both - let her learn letters and encourage her to be imaginative, too.

You might ask your mother where she heard this pronouncement.

Your friend is crazy!

I've never heard of that in my life. I don't see what harm can come from your child learning letters and numbers at an early age. I remember speaking to my son's pediatrician and they just suggested my son may become bored since he started learning at an early age. So I just find ways to keep him stimulated and encourage him to learn various things. So maybe that's what your mom heard. People will always have an opinion but your child only has 2 parents so you all are responsible for getting him prepared for school.

Just another mom weighing in... my girls learned their letters and numbers super early (knew them all before 20 months and were speaking in full sentances by two). And they're very creative little girls; their most frequent game is inventing a fairy tale world they live in and playing in it for hours.

The theory your mom espouses is similar to what the Waldorf curriculum says... but I just don't see how it works in reality.