Josiah is only at 20 months and still developing verbally, so my thoughts may not bear much weight. However, I wouldn't be concerned, and I don't think I would make a big deal about it. From many things that I have read, children at this age liketo test out the rules. They want to make sure that the rules always stay the same. And I think it applies to everything. So she may just be trying to see whether or not she can make up the rules. Look at it this way: You tell her something and then from that moment on, it's true. But if she tells you something, will it then be true? Can she make the rules? Are there already rules? Are they just Mommy's rules?

She's probably just trying to figure things out. I would be very careful not to seem too concerned when she reads something incorrectly. She may then realize that she had such an impact on your emotions, and to a toddler that's A LOT of power! So she may keep it up.

I will say that, Josiah, since learning his lowercase letters phonetically (he learned capital first)  likes to label the capital "P" as the sound for /b/. I just smile and show him "P" while making the proper sound. Not a big deal. It will come to him as long as I am consistent.


As long as she is enjoying learning, I wouldn't stop. But that's just me.

Yay! I'm so excited! When Josiah is done with LR, I want this to be our next step! Thank you!

All the nay-sayers of early childhood development are usually ridiculously lazy people that want miracle products. They are products of the modern age (as in they want IT right NOW). If it requires more than just setting your child in front of it for it to work, then it is a lost cause to them. Their children probably don't get enough of them. These are the same people that probably expect the public school system to teach their kids about sexual intercourse. And there is nothing happy nor respectable about any of this.    Sometimes, it's really not fair that you don't get to pick your parents!

Poor kiddos.

This is so sad and embarrassing to mankind. And Nikita, your story is just as awful! Sometimes, I believe that there should be some sort of test before having kids. The world might be a better place...

Yay! I'm happy to hear that she's doing well! I like the way you do it- having reading time right before story time makes for an easy transition and a reward! Good thinking!

I have a sneaking suspicion that asking too much of her would deter her from the whole process and may force left brain dominance (but I am no doctor or expert). Early Learning is meant to lay ground work. It isn't neccessarily tailored to get results. If she doesn't want to read all the words, I wouldn't force her to. I might even make a game out of it. Show her a sentence that you have gone over several times before and which you believe she is comfortable with. Ask her if she wants to read it. If she says no then you can ask her if she wants to read any of the words and let her pick which ones to read if she wants. This way she doesn't feel pressured to try at reading words she doesn't feel ready for. She may look at a sentence and see many words that she is comfortable with, but there may be one or two she isn't sure of yet. She may fear the pressure of reading the whole sentence and failing. Little ones know about failure, even if mommy and daddy don't react to it. It's intuitive. Over time, she may pick out more words and eventually read a whole sentence, when she is ready.

Another thing I would emphasize is that you just read to her lots of books with big font, but without any real lesson in it. I would point to the words, but leave out sounding them out and explanations and such. Just read. I also think it's important to have books that mimick flashcards in style: Books where you see a sentence in large font on one page and then a related picture following. I made my own by scanning photos of the pictures of little readers from the library and typing up the words myself. I leave these out for my little guy to play with. And occassionally, I catch him reading a whole sentence on his own.... when he thinks I am not watching. My theory is that he is practicing by himself, where there is no one to disappoint, He will show me when he is ready.

Hope this helps. 

My husband and I both would read and sing to our son when he was in the womb. We read him a few of our favorite children's stories and sang some children's songs. This allowed him to become familiar with these things before birth. I also read whatever I was reading outloud to him. That way he would become familiar with the pattern of language, such as the rise and fall of tones, etc. My husband would sing whatever he wanted to our son (he was particularly fond of Mr. Jones from Counting Crows, ). I would always listen to music very loudly when at home and in the car, and boy, would I belt it out! I would try to expose him to as much language and music as possible. It doesn't just have to be kid stuff. They just love your voice and hearing anything. It's all about exposure. You can read poetry or novels or science Journals out loud... what ever makes you feel good, your baby will feel good, too.

We live in Alabama right now. My husband loves it here.

Hello Everyone!

And thank you so much for such a valuable resource! I have "been here" for a while now and just haven't piped up to say hello!

My name is Bri. My little guy is Josiah, and he is 1 1/2. I have been trying to gather resources for him since I started staying home in May(This was after wrestling in my mind with thoughts that I could do better outside of the home rather than in!). Now, I am a SAHM and a self proclaimed professional mother! I have not actually purchased the brillbaby software, however I think it looks wonderful. I don't think it would work for us as my little guy likes to push all the buttons himself and when I do it, my finger always seems to slip! Instead, I will be creating my own videos. I figure that if he loves tv then I should turn that into something beneficial!

Now, let it be known that he doesn't just watch tv all day! He is an active lil guy and he loves books. He is always toting one around the house. In fact, about a week ago, my husband and I were still up at midnight and little guy woke up and managed to open his door! We heard the door swing open, and the next thing we know, he is running into the living room squinting his eyes against the light with The Cat in the Hat in tow! At midnight!

He knows the sounds of all his letters at this point and I am trying to build upon that. I had been doing cardboard flash cards fo a while, but it always was difficult for me to remember to do them every 15 minutes. By the end of the day, we would only be half through. So now, I am putting my own spin on things. And finding this site has given me the confidence to do so! THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL OF YOU!!!!