Why do Waldorf schools teach reading so late?

It is evident that normal, healthy children who learn to read relatively late are not disadvantaged by this, but rather are able to catch up quickly, and outperform as adults, children who have learned to read at an early age. In addition, they are much less likely to develop the “reading fatigue” that many children taught to read at a very young age experience later in life. Instead, there is great interest in reading and learning that continues into adulthood. The interest of those children, who themselves want to learn to read at an early age, this interest should be addressed, as long as it is really a personal interest of the child. Early instruction in imposed formal reading may be a disadvantage in later years, when enthusiasm for reading and learning may begin to falter. If reading is not pressured, a healthy child will learn it fairly quickly and easily. Some Waldorf parents often feel anxious if their child is slow to learn to read. Eventually these same parents are happy to see their child pick up a book and not put it down, and from that moment on he or she may become a voracious reader. Each child has his or her own optimal time to “take off”. Feelings of anxiety and inferiority can develop in a child for not being able to read like his or her peers. Often, this anxiety is picked up by parents concerned about the child’s progress. It is important for parents to address their own and their children’s fears. Growth and human development do not occur in a linear fashion, nor can they be measured. That which lives, grows, and has its being in human life can only be grasped with that very human faculty which can comprehend the invisible metamorphic laws of living nature.