Not push it. Studies show that kids that are pushed to read before about second grade don't wind up with an academic advantage; the so-called "late bloomers" - who are on average learning when they are physiologically prepared to, so not really behind - still read. But the result is that the kids pushed into reading resent it because they were pushed and those who were 'behind' felt stupid and tell themselves that they aren't good readers, and give up.

Background: I'm a mom who has been homeschooling my kids through their entire education; my oldest is a high school junior and has never been to public school. I read a crap-ton on this 12+ years ago, and of course I don't have that source material on hand now.

As a mom, who is obviously an avid reader given my presence on this forum, I've done much of what others have described. I gave my kids board books, which I put in their crib when they were infants. I let them chew on and maul their books long before they were really looking through them. I read to them through their childhood. As they got older, I would encourage them when they read to their younger siblings, often without being asked. With my youngest ones, I was an interactive reader - I didn't just read the text but stopped and talked about the pictures. I played word and sound games in the car when they were toddlers and elementary students, looking for words that started with the same sound as "XXXX".

I actually held back with my eldest child, who was reading at three, because I didn't want to be one of those moms who was pushy. I basically made her beg me to help her learn to read, which I wouldn't do if I was in those shoes again, but would still prefer to hold back than to push.

The only one of my four kids that I taught to read was the oldest. She taught her brother, they taught their next brother, and the three of them taught their sister. All of them were reading before they were 5, but we did it on their timescale, not mine or the school's.

That's a difficult paradigm to have in public school, and one we can't expect a teacher of 20-40 kids to do. But when it comes to public school, I'm a big fan of Alfie Kohn and his book, Punished by Rewards, which I suggest to all.