Why reading is unnatural

Reading is unnatural. It's an invention-- and a recent one, too. Since the world began, people communicated by speech. They spoke to each other. They talked about everyday life, recited poems, and sang songs. But about 8,000 years ago, people began writing. They started putting their thoughts and words on clay tablets, papyrus, animal skins, and paper. How did they do this: how did they turn speech into print? Simple: they created symbols that represented or stood for ideas, words, and even the specific sounds in words. Today, most of the world turns invisible speech sounds into symbols called alphabetic letters.

But here's the catch: we have to learn how to translate those printed symbols back into speech. In other words, we have to learn to read. Once civilizations invented writing, they had to invent reading. What's the use of writing sounds as symbols if no one can translate (or read) the symbols as sounds?

Because reading is an invention, it's unnatural. Reading is a technology. All technology requires skillful training. For example, no one is born to drive. Cars are an invention that made learning to drive necessary.

In the same way, no one is born to read. Writing is an invention that made reading necessary. Driving requires skillful instruction, and so does reading. We can get through life, however, without learning to drive (my mom did), but we can scarcely survive in a technological society if we cannot read.

So, if we want our children to succeed, we must teach them to read intentionally, intensively, and proactively, because the brain begins building the foundations for reading from birth. Literacy begins in the cradle, not kindergarten.

But if you've forgotten (or never learned) how to teach reading, if you're not sure how to prepare your child's reading brain, Sylla-Bear™, the baby-brain bear™, can help. Learn more about how this adorable 16-inch singing phonics bear can become your baby's first literacy coach--and yours too.