[KevinTheOmnivore]

The early years are crucial, and having a parent read to their child is soooo important (note: I work for a kiddy literacy non=profit, so i am a bit biased).

"it's all very scary and makes me wonder if parents think that it's completely up to the schools to teach their kids."

yes, they do. This has increasingly become a problem with the growing Latino populations in America, too. They tend to be so deferential to people in authority, that they refrain from getting involved in their child's education. They also might not speak English, which prevents them from getting involved at school.

It sucks. It sounds like the kid you're baby sitting is doing a reading challenge, which can be great, if the parents took part in it. Once (as I'm sure you know glow) you get in the habit of reading to your child daily, it just becomes old hat. And the best part is that the suckers can't read, so you can speed up the story or change shit!

It's sad.