. . . teaching a toddler/preschooler like this to decode and read for themselves. It's the only way to keep their brains fed.
Not quite the only way, but the alternative involves a lot of self-sacrifice! DD6 is still not reading fluently, so I read aloud to her, oh, probably 2 hours a day. We're ripping through chapter books right now, and in earlier years it was the 100+ picture books a week others have mentioned. (She was never a kid to want
Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooey six million times, which was both a blessing and a curse.)
This kid is shameless in her piggery for being read to. We walk in the door after an exciting activity, and the first words out of her mouth are "Read to me, I'm bored." Fortunately, I enjoy high-quality kids books myself.
(Update: just before I was going to hit "Submit," she stumbled out of the bedroom shielding her eyes from the morning light with the CHAPTER BOOK SHE WANTS ME TO KEEP READING TO HER.)
