Failing at 4.

When my sons teacher caught me at the end of school and said he had fallen behind in his phonics due to being off with Covid for two weeks following the Christmas break, I was unsure how to react. You see, my son is 4 years old!

This situation saddened me beyond belief. Not because my 4 year old did not know the phonics but that at the age of 4 he was already being labelled as ‘falling behind’ in something that most countries do not even begin teaching until a child is 7! This is almost double my sons age. How, as a country can we be so far away from doing what is ultimately better for children's all round development. In a time where children's mental health and well being has been so bashed, surely our focus needs to be readjusted.

Even if the focus was to be academic the approach seems so void of any context and very short sighted. Why would the focus not be on talking to our children, which ultimately impacts their vocabulary leading to stronger reading skills later down the line. Spending quality time reading to them to give them a true love of books, again leading to better readers later down the line and when they are ready, bringing phonics in to play in a meaningful way that stimulates their interest and motivation to want to learn more rather than being pressured to learn something because ‘a 4 year old should be able to’.

As an experienced early years specialist, who has a deep understanding of child development I am lucky enough to be able to make an informed judgement on these comments. However, without this knowledge I might have reacted differently and I wonder how many parents are sat at home worrying because their young child has ‘fallen behind’ at the age of 4.