My mom started teaching my boys to read when they were 2. Obviously not books, but sound + words. She never pushed and would quit as soon as they were bored.

I would read to my oldest every night and by the time he was 4 I didn't want to read another of those simple books that kids are supposed to like, so I started with larger chapter books that would be interesting to me as well. "Chronicles of Narnia", "Harry Potter", "Eragon", etc. The only rule we had was that he had to read the first page of every chapter to me out loud. By the time he was six, I was no longer allowed to read to him, because I was "too slow".

"Reading Counts" program - anyone know this one? Kids read a book, take a test and get points. Every quarter the kids would get an award based on the level they had achieved-usually 15 points, 25, or 40 for the highest level. I remember one such assembly with the school present and the teacher read through the names, breathlessly announcing that 5 children had exceeded the highest level. The anticipation would build as she would call out a number:

"56 points - Jacob!"

Murmurs of approval throughout the room as this continued - eventually getting to:

"103 - Sandra!"

The murmurs turned to cheers of disbelief that someone had gotten so many points, with many parent already admonishing their underperforming children for not aiming high enough.

The room was quiet for a moment as parents were doing the math in their head - wait - that was only 4 names - who was left? Someone must have sneaked past Sandra - who could it be?

"Austin" - the teacher called out calmly. He walked up to receive his award.

The murmurs started up again - as parents tend to be a bit competitive. "How many points?" someone called out.

"Um... 798"

You could have heard a pin drop in that room - even on the carpet, as I silently congratulated myself on my superior parenting skills.

Flash forward a couple years - I couldn't wait to utilize my parenting wizardry on our youngest.

It was a nonstarter. His face basically said "you can keep doing this if you want - but I'm going to hang out over here and play with my toys. Let me know when you're done so I can go to bed".

Almost like my boys are two different people -