The Child ‘Reads’ a Book

Watching somebody learn how to do anything can be a grueling experience whether it be math, reading, tying shoes, or throwing footballs. It’s an exercise in patience, spectating such a thing.

Wife Klem and I have one reader and a second child that is at the beginning of this learning process. A considerable struggle at first, sitting with them as they sound out ‘the’ or ‘and’. Then there’s the struggles of enforcing a reading regiment even in the face of the child’s protests. Then one day you tuck them into bed and they reach for a book to read as they lie in bed waiting for sleep to arrive. An encouraging sight. Reassurance that the battles and struggles and frayed nerves have been well spent.

Just before this, however, they don’t understand the combining of sounds and how letters are used to make words. Preschool level. They know a book is a story, they see the letters and words all over the page. But haven't any idea how to decipher the puzzle between the words on the page and the illustrated story. All the child knows is that mom and dad open the book and this great story floats on out.

So at some point the child, trying to mimic mom and dad, opens a book and ‘reads’ it. Oh they’re not reading, they’re just combining what they remember about the story and the illustrations. The result? An emanation from their inchoating brain matter.

Our girl is at that age where she sometimes wants to ‘read’ to mommy or daddy instead of having a story read to her. I’ve even seen her sometimes in her room sitting on the floor ‘reading’ books to her dolls. Irresistible. Doubt it, do you, this irresistibility? Supporting evidence follows.

[Video was removed by klem on 5/12/2009.]

A happy fella.
-klem