Ok, here’s the story. I got the YBCR package in the mail yesterday. I was very excited!! Went thru the package and got everything ready
to start today. Well instead this morning I got sidetracked and googled reviews on the program. As you can imagine A LOT were very bad, some even said that they are calling for the company to “recall” the product and give people their money back that already bought it. A lot was said about the people that are running the company. A lot of problems with credit card issues… anyway that’s not my issue. My problem came while I was on my “wild google search” about the product it led me to plenty of criticism about early learing and Developemental issues. Well to make a long story short I ended up reading about “child prodigies”. How so many of them struggle later in life due to what they say came from the detrimental effects of trying to achieve at such an early age. I read so many “bad stories” that now I am doubting myself. I am actually scared. I do not want to harm my little one’s mind. I want to make sure it is “gentle” teaching/learning.
I keep looking at the YBCR box and it brings tears to my eyes, because I just don’t know. I am so scared. I don’t ever want to regret trying to “teach” him.
Google is like a deadly weapon in my hand… today I googled everything from IQ’s, Prodigies etc. etc.
It’s all so over whelmeing. I also read the statistics on black males and single family homes. It’s just too much for me to handle. I have to make sure our little one is going to be Ok. He is only 5 months old, I dont want to harm not ONE neuron in his little brain lol
I read something that kinda when like this: A child will benefit from an enriched envioronment, but will not benefit from an OVER-enriched environment.
They gave this example: You will benefit from vitamins… but taking too much vitamins will not help and can actually be harmful. Anyway if anybody has any encouraging words for me I sure could you some right now. Thanks :mellow:
I didn’t do YBCR on the schedule that is suggested because I felt like it was too much, but I think those videos really taught my child to read. I had done flash cards with her and then power point, but she ended up liking these videos the most. I think she was around 3 months old when I ordered them.
She’s 4 1/2 now and can read pretty much anything in English. She likes it, I think it empowers her. She doesn’t like to be trotted out like a trick pony though! I think the problem with most “prodigies” is that they are made to feel like they are so special in a way that turns out to not be very useful later in life. I think being able to read is always useful, just don’t make such a big deal about it and that part shouldn’t be an issue. 
As far as doing damage to the brain, I doubt that there’s anything to that. I learned how to read as a toddler, so I can say first hand that I don’t think it damaged me in anyway. Now, pregnancy on the other hand, that may have left me a little muddled, haha!
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Fear not; your baby will be fine.
According to Siegfried Engelmann in his book Give Your Child a Superior Mind, ``every single genius at the top end of the IQ scale received intensive early training. Every single one was subjected to an extremely active environment, not one that folded its hands and waited for the child to “mature†but one that went after him and trained him when he was still of preschool age’’
He then buttresses this point by giving the following examples of parent-made geniuses who DID TURN OUT WELL. An excerpt from Engelmann’s book:
``We will let Dr. Cox (who is not sympathetic with the environmentalistʼs interpretation of IQ) speak for herself, with an excerpt from each of the cases listed as having a childhood IQ of 180 or more. Jeremy Bentham (jurist and philosopher): “When he was 3 his father bought a Latin grammar and other books to begin his classical education. The Greek alphabet he learned on his fatherʼs knee, using Lilyʼs Grammar and the Greek Testament as the two principal instruments of instruction.
Thomas Babington Macaulay (English historian, poet, statesman): “ʼStill the merest child,ʼ he was sent, reluctantly on his part, to his first school. . . .Before the age of 7, Thomas wrote a compendium of universal history, which his mother describes as Ê»a tolerably connected view of the leading events from the Creation to the present time, filling about a quire of paper.ʼâ€
Blaise Pascal (French geometrician, philosopher-writer): “When Blaise was 3, his father began to devote all of his time to the education of his children. The boy never attended school and had no other teacher than his parent. When young Pascal was 8, the family moved to Paris and the father began a systematic course of training, the rigor and originality of which can be likened only to the discipline of John Stuart Mill.â€
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German poet): “From the age of 3 until he was 6, Goethe attended a day nursery or kindergarten, and here, according to tradition, he learned to read. His father had already begun to tell the little lad and his sister the history of the town. . . . Goetheʼs father early recognized his sonʼs unusual ability, and friends of the family enthusiastically mapped out careers suited to such rare talents.â€
Hugo Grotiius (Dutch jurist, founder of the science of international law): “Hugo remained at home in the care of his parents until he was 8 or 9, and wasinstructed by them in the rudiments of Christian doctrine and impressed with sound principles of morality and honor. Before he was 7, the foundations of his knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages were laid by his tutor, Ê»an excellent man.ʼâ€
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz (German philosopher and mathematician): “Leibnitz was brought up in a studious and scientific atmosphere; he enjoyed an education very unusual in the period of German decline in which his early years were passed. His father, when teaching him to read, made every effort to instill in him the love of history, both biblical and secular. After his fatherʼs death, which occurred when the boy was 6, his mother devoted herself to his education and, in order that his formal training might be of the best, sent him to the Nicolai School in Leipzig.â€
John Stuart Mill (English philosopher, writer, logician and economist): “Until he was 14, Mill was educated at home by his father. He began to learn Greek at 3; and from then to his 9th year he studied Greek classics, making daily reports of his reading. At the same time under his fatherʼs direction he read innumerable historical works.â€
My advice: teach your child to read, he/she will be the better for it.
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Check out an abridged version of the Engelmann’s book at his website: http://zigsite.com/PDFs/SuperiorMind.pdf
Buy the whole book at Amazon and go through it. Very, very informative on the early education debate. -
Also read ‘Native Reading’ by Timothy Kailing. Convinces that it is better to start early than latter.
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Read `How and Why I taught my toddler to read’ by Larry Sanger. This book is free on Larry’s website: http://larrysanger.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/How-and-Why-I-Taught-My-Toddler-to-Read.pdf. (By the way, Larry is on this site as DadDude).
These books have very convincing points on why children should be taught early. The advantages from early learning stays with a child for life. A longitudinal research study by Doleres Dunkin proves this point. See her book ‘ Children who read early’.
You are such a good Mom to be concerned for your child! In the end, do what feels right for your family, but I truly believe that the nay-sayers simply don’t understand infant literacy from the inside out and they are misguided in their opinions. Have you read anything written by Dr. Richard Gentry? He is a literacy expert with decades of experience. He is very much in favor of infant and toddler literacy and states that currently there is an “academic blind spot” that needs to be addressed. He is the author of Raising Confident Readers and a number of other books. I do not believe that reading is harmful in anyway, on the contrary, I believe reading is very beneficial to a young child’s brain development.
Good luck!
Thanks so much to everyone for taking the time to respond!
I think I will adjust the schedule of the program, but everyday we will be doing something.
I am back on the horse and Ready to do this!! I cant believe I let a few negative stories affect me like that ughhh!!
I read 20 positive Bio’s on child prodigies and a couple were negative and it totally threw me off. When I seen Ted Kaczynski (unabomer) on the list as a intellectual child prodigy I Cringed! And on the other hand the Story of Ankaine (child artist) put a smile on my face. I am just going to focus on the positive from now on.
Well anyway I am going to read all the material that was suggested!
Thank you!!! Thank you!! Thank you!!!
Good for you! There is nothing wrong with giving your child the opportunity to learn in a stress-free, fun way. As long as he is having fun, getting plenty of attention and playtime with Mummy and not spending all day in front of the TV, don’t stress. Early reading is as much about spending time with the child as it is about actually learning! Could YBCR really do more damage than Spongebob etc. that a lot of babies spend a lot of time watching?
I would guess that 99% of bad reviews of early education come from people who assume that those educating their pre-schoolers are doing so in a strict ‘traditional schooling’ manner (ie. forcing the child to sit and learn, rather than play) and assume that dvd programs like YBCR are just a guilt-free TV babysitter.
Although I will admit to putting on a foreign language dvd for my 2-year old so that I can vacuum/wash the dishes That doesn’t mean we don’t play, though!
I am glad to read that you are back on board. You should not do anything that you don’t feel is right, but you did feel it was, which is why you bought the program. I just finished reading a book called How Reading Changed My Life. It was short and sweet and touched on how Oprah Winfrey was made to feel ashamed by her mom as a child because she was always reading. Well look where reading took her. I also read in Jim Treleases’ Read Aloud Handbook that Oprah is the greatest reading teacher in the country. She has gotten more people reading than anyone else. Another great credit to her.
Teaching your baby to read early is to encourage a love of reading which can take him many places. If it feels wrong, don’t do it, but you will be missing out on a fun and wonderful experience.
Krista is absolutely right.
And yes, the Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease is another great resource to check out. It convinced me with lots of cited research on the need to expose a child early in life to print. Extremely good book. Read excerpts of the book at Jim Trelease’s website: http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/rah-intro.html.
My twins love YBCR and cry when it’s over and demand “more!” I was taught to read early, and even though English is not my native language, I read faster in English than my husband, who learned to read in school. So, personally at least, I can make a case for early education. The earlier you learn to read, the better reader you can become.
I think that teaching you grandson to read will give him opportunities to excel in school. Having worked for public school system before, I want to teach my girls to read myself and to leave it for the schools to do. If you want to do it right, do it yourself 
There is a great case made by Glenn Doman in “How to Multiple Your Baby’s Intelligence” that “smarter” more educated people have better life, not worse. Fewer problems. Statistics are just that, averages that predict nothing about your grandson. Nothing. Please don’t get discouraged. Besides, I bet those statistics about single moms and black males don’t mention anything about early education, and there is probably a reason for that. Teaching you child to read early is a gift to that child for life, IMHO.