JonBenet's education

[southcitymom]

Neglected is the last thing JonBenet was. As far as I can tell, Patsy doted on her two children. They were in no way neglected, IMO.

While I do not know the status of things in the Ramsey's household regarding this issue (I don't think anyone who didn't spend a lot of time around that family can really know), I DO think children can be doted on and neglected at the same time.

And I do think that a case can be made that a father who is rarely home (a fact Burke talked about in his statement and a fact that seems well-dcoumented in this case) is a neglectful father. In this regard, workaholism can be just as damaging to the whole family as alcoholsim - or other issues that take a parent out of the picture.

 

[southcitymom]

I don't think this has any relevance whatsoever, and making broad generalizations about being the youngest or not being read to is useless.

Kindergarteners of all intelligence levels have a broad range of reading skills. My daughter started kindergarten a few weeks ago. Some kids don't know all of the sounds the letters make, and some are reading chapter books. This is at a private school with above average test scores. At open house, the teacher assured all of us that any of these were considered "normal" in kindergarten.

One of the ones who doesn't know his letters is a friend's child. He is far from stupid, but not really interested in reading. His mom is an at-home mom whose life is all about her kids, a former teacher, and an Usborne books rep. I hardly think his reading ability signals her lack of attention, failure to read with him, or a severe developmental delay - they are screened for admission purpses.

When I was teaching 1st grade I also had a 2 students who didn't recognize all of their lowercase letters at the start of the year. They are now sophomores in college, and must have overcome their incredible disability somehow.

Thank you for this excellent post which sums up my feelings on the subject exactly.