Babies Reading at 18 Months?

After a night of cookie making insomnia, I happened upon a freaky infomercial featuring toddlers, I’m talking 18-20 months old, reading full sentences. It was so strangely compelling, I watched the program twice over on two channels and nearly bought the DVD set (thank goodness sleep finally kicked in). The next morning I told Paul about it, soliciting his opinion about maybe getting the program for the twins. His immediate reaction was, “No kid should be able to read before they can wipe their own ass.”

As much as I love our new town, I’ve also heard from some neighbors that because it’s so small, it can be extremely competitive. And, really, the game has changed. I got into Pepperdine University after a decent high school education but I wonder if that could happen now. Degrees are so closely linked to job opportunities that they have become even more coveted than they were 15 years ago. Will this little town turn my kids into Mylanta gulping stress bunnies worried about getting into Yale? Or, will Paul and I have the will and the skill to help them balance a healthy educational life with seeing life as it is, a journey with no clear cut answers, just lots of opportunity.

I stress about these little things everyday because I know that if I hadn’t gone to college, hadn’t had the opportunity to study in Europe, hadn’t had the confidence to move to NYC, hadn’t applied for grad school, I may not be where I am today; able to provide a decent life for my kids. It’s just another one of life’s little tight ropes I suppose. Maybe they’ll come out with a magic DVD program for adults that will instruct in balancing parental expectations as well as reducing one’s need to ever buy magic infomercial products at 3AM.