My eldest, refused to read me a single page in her 1st grade reader. She stormed away, slammed doors and had a regular 2 year old melt down (at 7). I later learned that she was struggling because of eye sight. Once she got her glasses, she was reading away her days. Another child, refused to read at 8. I had her eyes checked, no glasses. She struggles, I stressed. I learned later that she had some learning glitches. We worked together to overcome those. She jumped a whole grade level in reading after six months. She's reading half a dozen 200 - 300 page novels a week now four years later. 
We place these goals on our children (and ourselves as teachers) that they should read and write by a specific age when in reality each child is an individual and sometimes it takes a bit longer or a different approach. The stress I created just made life miserable for them and me. I heard the quote, "Home school doesn't have a 'behind' except the one on the seat." If I had only known and believed that, I could have saved a LOT of heartache.