I agree that you're safe if you're following their lead, and if you're following their lead you'll know it, because you'll be perpetually exhausted, amazed and disoriented. My son's first sentence was "Read book, mama," and by 18 months he was asking me to read for such long stretches (45 minutes to an hour) that I would be the one who was restless and bored. I would have been happy with a 10 minute bedtime story, but he demanded more. At age 2 he came across a Magic School Bus book at a local science museum and fell head over heels in love with the series, eventually developing a full blown MSB obsession that lasted for the next 6 months. I wouldn't have thought to introduce those books to him for a few more years (and they're the last thing I would have picked to read aloud a dozen times each), but that's what excited him. At 2 1/2, he spontaneously started to read, and I realized that he had already mastered everything in the phonics books I had been saving in the back of the closet for when he reached "reading" age. Likewise, I didn't allow him to watch tv until he was 3 and then sadly discovered when I introduced it to him that he had already outgrown Sesame Street. I've missed many opportunities to teach him things because he taught himself first.
