Q. I have a beautiful 2-year-old daughter. We read to her a lot, but she is not even beginning to read by herself. I have a neighbor whose little girl was reading before kindergarten. I don't want my child to be behind. Please give me ideas to help my child learn to read.

A. You're already doing exactly the right thing: reading regularly -- we hope it's every day -- to your little girl is the first step in early literacy.

Don't read to her only before bed. Fit in "book time" at various times during the day. If your child is enrolled in a quality early learning program, her teachers will include reading in each day's schedule.

Frequent exposure builds not only enjoyment of reading, but also "print awareness" -- the knowledge of how books and the printed word work. Your little girl is learning how books are held, in which direction reading happens, how pages are turned, that the squiggly marks on the page actually mean something, and that the pictures go along with the words. Those are huge steps toward literacy.

While you're reading, be sure to talk with your daughter about what's happening in the book. Talk about the pictures, point to the words as you're reading, and ask questions about what's happening.

You've probably noticed that 2-year-olds love to hear the same stories over and over, because they crave repetition and familiarity. They also enjoy books that have a story line instead of just one or two words on a page.

If your daughter is doing these things, she's exactly where she should be at 2. She's not ready to read, but she's developing important pre-reading skills. As she gets closer to 3, she'll start to sit with her books and try to "read" them by herself, turning pages and "reading" things she remembers from your reading the books to her.

What else can you do? You might provide hands-on activities that include letters. Focus first on the letters in her name. Use foam letters for bathtub play, hang wooden letters that spell her name in her room, cut letters from colored construction paper, play with magnetic letters, and sing the alphabet song. Over time, your little girl will begin to recognize individual letters; that's a big building block of literacy.

But above all, please do not compare your daughter with anyone else. Each child is unique, and progresses at her or his own rate. What's most important is that you continue to read to your daughter as often as possible, provide what she needs to grow and develop -- and enjoy her early literacy, which will blossom into reading at the appropriate time.