Fuu was reading fluently by the time she was three but I didn't really teach her. I was teaching some older children to read and she just learned on her own by listening and watching. I don't think I would actively try to push early reading but if it is fun for the baby I don't think it can hurt anything either.

I just point at words as I'm reading to my daughter. And she points at pictures and I tell her what it is she's pointing at. It's a simple way of learning.

It's a good opportunity to take advantage of while they are pretty young.  At first, it's just them basically mimicking what they're seeing on the video and then as they get older, they can kind of figure out the phoenetics for themselves.  I am an independently contracted  w/ the company that sells the product and I have a huge discount available to me...however, I'm hesitant to use it because it's a very boring program.  I say it's an worthy investment if your young child doesn't watch much tv and isn't used to Dora, Backyardigans, Sesame Street, etc. or will watch anything.  But if your baby is already drawn to songs, dances, animation, etc, then he/she will be extremely bored w/ YBCR and will quickly lose interest.

Just play with your child!  My goodness!  Really you don't have to push babies to learn if you play with them and have interesting things around them they will learn on their own in their own time!  This is a waste of money!

I've been told that I was reading by age three. I don't remember learning to read, but I do remember already reading things when I was in kindergarten, so I suppose it's true.

Personally, I don't see any harm in a child learning to read very early, if the experience is made enjoyable and the child isn't pressured. I don't believe that someone needs to purchase a "system" to teach reading to their children, though. If it is something you can do yourself, you can pass that skill on to your child without that.

I purchased the Teach Your Baby to Sign package and used it with my two youngest and they did learn. It was great to be able to communicate with seven and eight month old babies with ASL instead of by interpreting cries, instinct and guesses. I didn't buy that system to show me how to teach, though. I got it to teach me the signs. Thinking back, I could have just checked a book out of the library, but I'm not sorry!

I've read that the older a person learns communication skills (ie sign and foreign languages and reading) the easier learning other things will be once they start school. I don't remember why it was theorized that this should be so. If my two youngest are any proof of it, it's true. They're both doing exceptionally well.