I was discussing this with my HS group today, and wrote this when people expressed that reading can close windows to creativity and whatnot.
I want to say, there is nothing wrong with waiting for your child to
lead the way in reading. From my own personal experience, I am not
interested in waiting much longer for Dorian to get bitten by the “I
have to read NOW” bug.
He is amazing my by doing algebraic type equations (using pictures,
just the algebra concepts of X + 4 = 4 and substituting photos for the
values) and telling me about all these things he learns or we discuss.
He often expresses he wishes he could read or whatever, and I’m like,
then go do it! Something is missing to give him that push. When he
toilet trained, I had to take the diapers away to push the issue. He
was ready, he knew how to do it, and knew how to do it consistently. I
just had to remove what was keeping him from doing it. I am looking at
this sort of the same way. Something is keeping him from doing it, so I
want to find a better method of facilitating the ability.
My brother and sister will be 15. One hates to read, although he was
reading by 4, and the other is a bit slower (she has some learning
disabilities) , but devours certain books. For her, it was a question
of pushing the reading ability, and finding what she wanted to read
after that.
So from my standpoint, it is time to stop waiting around for my son to
initiate it, and to initiate it for him.
I did not mean to spark a debate over when a child should read or the
approach one should take. I just didn’t want to waste another 40$ that
I do not currently have on a method he might not benefit from. Been
there, done that, and I would like to avoid doing it again.
I do not disagree reading might close some windows, but I think it opens so many doors! If he isn’t ready, then he isn’t ready. I just worry that, like the toilet learning, he is ready but just needs the proper nudge in the right direction.
