It’s so funny that when reading to a child we forget that they often have more than one thing on their minds. Here I am taking joy in reading with my two years old granddaughter, Neivah, just thinking she is really not into the story. After all it was our third book and a little bit complicated for her age. However, I was turning the last page about to say “the end” when she blurted: “Wait, wait, Nana.”
She had me turn the page back so that she could show where the animals were all sleeping giving me her special smile. That was a wonder. So, she was paying attention all along.
When I think about my own children as youngins. One taught himself to read before he was three. Another struggled to read and even as a teenager; if he was tired, he could read a whole sentence backwards phonetically correct. He learned his phonics perfectly but still couldn’t really read until the 5th grade. Even my third son struggled to acquire reading skills. He told the kindergarten teacher that he was not going to learn the alphabet in order because all the letters in the words were not in order. How do you argue with that!
Yet, now as adults, they all three read just fine. They enjoy reading in different ways. My son who could not read until the 5th grade does have dyslexia but that did not stop him from reading scripts to learn parts in plays. All of us have always enjoyed the structure of story and learning things through the written word. My children knew the access reading provided. Our story times including everything from a picture board book, Gray’s Anatomy (the book), to in-depth nonfiction books on sharks and dinosaurs. That was when they were one, three, and five. The wonder is that they all became artists. I wonder if it was the Gray’s Anatomy?
I think we have to have patience with our children when they are learning to read. Back to my granddaughter, she knows that these letters and groups of letters mean something. She runs her fingers along the text making up what they say. Her Poppy, my son with dyslexia, did those same things. How fast is she going to read? We don’t know yet.
There is a fine line between being supportive of the developmental process and pushing a child, even pre-determining when they should read. In my educational career I have seen to many children burnt out on reading before they even have a chance to enjoy story because they have been pushed with memorization lessons, toys focusing on academics, and the feeling of not being good enough because they are not reading yet. Keep reading to them and just enjoy the wonder of it all. Matter of fact pass the wonder on.