This presentation outlines how our ‘racing to read’ and ‘catch-up’ culture within schools and some early years settings in England detrimentally influences educators’ pedagogy with under-twos. This deficit model of provision in terms of the resources, activities and experiences necessary to encourage and enthuse children to engage with reading (in all its forms) suggests that there is an urgent need to support early years educators in understanding what ‘early reading’ is in everyday practice. Here, I use the terminology of ‘early reading’ to explain the reading that happens from birth onwards, with no expectation that there is any ‘pre-reading’ or staged approach for young children to become ‘readers’, based on an original empirical research project. I challenge us all to create playful environments to support under-twos with their early reading.