We deal with this perfectionism as well. Some kids are just really aware of being ahead and not wanting to a)mess up and b) be different from other kids.
My kiddo at 4 (!) was telling me "Mommy, sometimes I get things wrong on purpose so I'm like the other kids."
Basically, on reading, I didn't bug him about it until kindy, at which point I realized he was reading way above grade level.
By that point we'd progressed to "I can't read because my friends can't read" excuses.
So what I did was at night, I read a book, he read a book. Sometimes we shared a book, alternating who was reading. It was not optional.
He balked but I pulled the mommy card and refused to accept that he couldn't read (as he liked to try and protest). Eventually he got over it and has become more open about reading.
I don't know what the answer is, but I do read a lot about perfectionism looking for tips. And I do things like, when we play tennis, I give speeches that go something along the lines of:
We are going to play tennis.
And by play, I mean we are going to miss the ball.
All the time.
If we do hit the ball, it will go into someone else's court.
Or bounce back and hit us.
But it doesn't matter because we hit the ball.
Any contact with the ball is good, okay?
It doesn't matter if it goes over the net, if it hits Daddy in the head, you hit the ball and that's what counts.
Playing tennis means we miss the ball, chase it around, pick it up and miss it some more. Any hits are a bonus.
