Genius... Child Prodigy... 'She's something else'... These are the kind of things I hear when I post about Z reading. I'm a Mom who loves capturing Z's reading moments most of all, because she is super happy with books. Still when I hear the words mentioned above I get scared, I get irritated, I get offended to some extent. Why?
Well the answer is pretty simple, when you throw such huge words on a normal child it is tough for the parent and for the child. Z was not born reading, she started reading at 3.5, so did many other kids out there. It's just that, 'normally' this doesn't happen, that doesn't mean it never happens.
I have seen many kids start blending at 3.5 - 4 years. Every batch of ours has at least 1 child like that. Keeping this in mind, Z is not a genuis or a child prodigy... So thank you for your compliments ... But no thank you.
She started reading because, she loves books, she has been read to or she has read for at least an hour a day, every single day... This has NEVER been forced.
She started reading because, her school and I were on the same page. She learned her sounds in the correct manner.
She started reading because, she was blessed with a good visual memory and good ear for sounds.
Most of all... She started reading because, SHE WANTED TO READ ON HER OWN SO BADLY.
She still skips words, reads too fast at times, doesn't know anything about expressions while reading... And she'll get that... We aren't in a hurry.
She does understand what she reads though, if she doesn't... She will read again and again. Or she will ask us a 1000 questions.
Maybe she learned to read as she was lucky to be surrounded by books and to have adults in her life who take out time from their lives on a daily basis and read to her.
And here's a message from the so called 'genuis' or 'child prodigy' herself (well these are my words, but if Z would've said them, she would've said the exact same thing) "Don't weigh me down with these huge words... I don't even understand them. Let me just be, and enjoy my book. Don't think I need to be praised for what I love doing. Yes, oh yes, Mom is proud of me, when I read nicely and understand the words I read. She gets super irritated when I skip a word or two. She never says no for a book for sure, but its not the same case for many other things. I'm lucky to have my books and I can also borrow them from the Reading Room. So, whether I knew how to read or no... I would've enjoyed my books as much."
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