Learning to read is a very important milestone in early childhood education. Although there are experts who advise to start reading at an early age such as three years of age and thus have a good part of the road traveled when the primary stage begins, there are others, with whom I agree more, that turn over don't force children to read too soon.
According to the experience lived with my oldest daughter, who has just turned six years old, I am more on the theory that learning to read is a maturation process that should not be attempted, just as it is to start walking or speaking. Each child goes at their own pace and force them to read when they are not ready yet, as in other things, it is not successful.
There are scientific theories that support this position. The act of reading depends on the ability of our brain to relate and integrate the visual area with the auditory, linguistic and conceptual areas. Each of these areas has an independent maturation and their integration depends on said maturation and the speed at which these zones can be connected.
As the book explains How we learn to read from Maryanne Wolf,
"The best conductive material of nature, myelin, forms a layer of axon envelopes. The more myelin the axon covers, the faster the neuron can carry its charge. The increase in myelin follows a growth calendar that differs from a region to another of the brain (for example, the auditory nerves become myelinated in the sixth month of pregnancy; the optic nerves, in the sixth after delivery). "
In general, regions that need to be myelinated to read are not enough until five years of age, even after. It may be counterproductive in some children that literacy learning begins before the age of five or six.
Apart from the maturation, I do not see educational force a child to do something that has not yet shown interest in learning. There is an unregulated learning such as fostering social skills, creative play, self-confidence, which is more suitable for preschool age.
There are children who read very naturally at age three or four, but force children to read too soon It is not optimal for its development.
