Well, that’s not embarrassing or anything. After being told this false creed about myself, you can imagine the dread I felt when asked to read to the class. I was a patient for Xanax in the making.
I can only imagine what my mom thought when I delivered the news. Fortunately, this did give me a convenient excuse to blow off book reports.
“How can that be true,” my Mom asked, “You’ve read to me before, remember?”
Oh right, I had forgotten about that. Still, my teacher claimed that I wasn’t comprehending what I was reading and that was true, I wasn’t. I had fallen asleep more times than not reading. I confess, I didn’t even like Harry Potter—something had to be wrong with me.
So, what was the issue?
I was bored out of my mind! I took the recommended reading like an anesthetic. Nothing was wrong with me. Something was wrong with my education.
What if we did a better job exploring what ignites the fire of excitement in our children? Stories come in many forms and genres (comics and graphic novels seem to fall under the radar, so why not expand what we expose to other forms of stories?
Do you have a child that struggled or struggles with reading? How did you deal with it? How did they overcome it?