As you know, I launched “How and Why I Taught My Toddler to Read” last Monday. I thought I’d give a report now.
The reception has been pretty tepid. I appreciate all the support you folks have given me at the new blog, but beyond you, hardly anybody has been much interested. Don’t get me wrong–there have been quite a few people (from among BrillKids.com folks, and from other places) who have had nice things to say about it, but mostly in private. A few people have said they’ve read parts of it, and commented on those parts, and all that is very gratifying. But there hasn’t been any blog posts about it (from anybody!), much less any reporting. I did get one interview about it from Education News, though, which should appear soon; maybe that will lead to some more, but I’m not holding my breath.
As I said here, I think the best explanation for the essay’s (so far) lack of impact is the fact that most people can’t begin to take seriously the very idea that babies can really be taught to read. If they can’t even entertain the idea in the first place, what’s the point of opening up a book about the subject?
This is why, as much as I might find infomercials distastefully generally, whoever it was who decided to start the YBCR infomercials had a stroke of genius. It was a way to get the basic idea of baby reading out to a very large audience who, otherwise, wouldn’t have had any chance of hearing about it.
P.S. I forgot to tell you about this update about my boys.