Your five-year-old was reading near-chapter-book picture books a month ago. Then the new baby came home — or the move happened, or school started — and suddenly she's back to asking for the board book with the fuzzy bunny on the cover, the one you packed away last year. You might wonder if you're watching something go backward, or whether you somehow caused it.
This is one of the most studied, most normal things a child does
Developmental psychologists Judy Dunn and Carol Kendrick spent years directly observing families around the arrival of a new sibling, and what they documented in their now-classic book, Siblings: Love, Envy, and Understanding, was that this kind of temporary regression — wanting to be carried again, asking for a bottle, suddenly wanting "easier" books or toys — showed up often enough to be considered a normal, well-documented adjustment reaction, not a warning sign. A child reaching backward for something familiar during a genuinely disorienting moment is doing something sensible: finding their footing with whatever felt safest before everything changed.
The same logic holds for a house move, a new school, or really any big shift in a young child's world. The old board book isn't a regression in her reading ability. It's comfort-seeking, and books happen to be a particularly good vehicle for that, because unlike most comfort objects, you get to be right there holding it with her.
What this isn't
It's worth saying plainly: wanting an easier book for a few weeks after a big change doesn't erase the reading your child has already done. Nothing about her actual skill has gone anywhere. This is closer to a toddler who's walked confidently for months suddenly wanting to be carried the week she starts a new daycare — not a lost skill, just a very understandable request for a little less independence than usual, for a little while.
Tonight
If your child reaches for the old favourite, hand it over without comment. No "but you're too big for this one now." Read it exactly the way you used to — slowly, voices and all. Most children find their way back to their usual books within a few weeks, once whatever changed has started to feel ordinary again.
Related reading: for the wider picture of what's normal and what's worth a second look at different ages, this guide rounds up the honest answers to most of the reading-milestone questions parents ask us. If regression has you wondering about reading pace more generally, here's what the research says about kids who start later and catch up fine, and here's a realistic sense of what to expect at 3, 5, 8, and 10. And if letter mix-ups are part of what's worrying you lately, this one's specifically about that.
If you're not sure whether to keep her current books in rotation or step back a level for a while, a free, two-minute reading assessment can help. Tell us a bit about your reader, and we'll find what actually fits right now.
