A sigh of relief
Noah’s reading is finally coming along. Some of my readers may recall that Noah’s reading (or lack thereof) was really worrying me. Doing some research on the developmental range of readers helped as did talking to other parents.
I remember when Noah was 9 months old and really not interested in solids. He also started walking when he was 8.5 months old and all of that busy mobilization slowed his weight gain. His pediatrician was concerned that Noah was falling off his growth curve early and basically got me panicking. I spent two frantic weeks trying to get a baby totally focused on walking to sit and eat food he didn’t want. I bought new foods, steamed them carefully, tried to make them enticing and cried when he wouldn’t eat them. Then I got online to find out what other moms of “picky” eaters were trying. You know what I found out? Lots of 9 month olds don’t eat. Really. Tons of ‘em. If that many babies weren’t eating, I figured, it must be normal and so I quit worrying. That’s how I came to feel about reading.
On Noah’s t-ball team (5 to nearly 7-year old boys) there is a range of reading but most of them aren’t reading much if at all. Parents react in different ways — some get their kids tested, some sign them up for special summer programs, some shrug and say they aren’t that concerned. I think that the ones with 5-year olds in tutoring programs are worried prematurely but then if I didn’t have the luxury of working without a state-mandated curriculum, maybe I would be sending Noah to classes, too. In any case the way I see it is that if the majority of boys Noah’s age aren’t reading or aren’t reading much, then it must not be a very big deal. In fact, it must be normal.
Still it’s a lovely thing to see him reading. He’s also trying to spell words that he hears. He’ll sound them out under his breath, trying to figure out how they might be written.
I need to remember this. I need to really keep a hold of this lesson: Noah will do the things that he needs to do but in his own time. He’s smart and he’s focused but he’s also fiercely independent. If I leave him be, provide lots of opportunity, and keep his environment rich with quality tools, he’ll be fine.
Way to go Noah! Don’t you just love it when things finally click for them! How exciting!
Hearing your child read is incredibly rewarding. What’s even better is when you child asks if he can read.
I think you are dead right that children will nearly always do things in their own time. I also think when one part of their development may cause you concern its actually because another part of them is developing at that time. I think they almost arent programmed to develop in different ways at the same time. For example when one of my children were learning to walk I felt his sounds and speech werent progressing but once he had mastered walking the language development accelerated.
My second child was a dreadful eater at 9 months and basically he just breastfed . His weight was low and it caused me enormous anxiety. Someone said to me that no child will starve themselves if offered food but at the time I found that hard to believe. Now he is a healthy but very slim 6 year old and that is him and how he is meant to be. Its amazing how children within the same family can be so different as our third child who is 10 months eats anything and everything in sight. With him and all the developmental milestones I am really laid back and as long as he is doing it all by the time he is 18 I dont mind!!!!
Laura
Some kids seriously won’t even attempt to read until they are 7+. I remember hearing of a boy who didn’t read until he was 9 and then within a month he was reading at an excelerated level. It’s all about timing, when they WANT to read, run with it and they’ll be reading on a 2nd grade level and you’ll be beaming when he reads EVERYTHING in sight!
When the child is ready, it doesn’t take long to teach the fundementals of reading..just have to watch your child for their readiness to learn it! 