I'll never learn how to read: A story-tale
It’s 7:20AM on a rainy day in 1975 and tears are streaming down my face as I got into my mother’s avocado colored ’67 Mustang convertible to head over to my first grade class in the Bay Area suburb of Greenbrae. In sheer frustration and fear I exclaimed, “I’ll never learn how to read!” I assure you, I was frightened on multiple levels- falling behind in school, others realizing that outside of school assignments I could not really read, that it somehow made me less smart and more challenged – coming from a divorced family and being relatively shy I already had a few stigmas to surmount.
As a child who struggled on the reading front, and never has admitted it to her children, I am a stalwart fan of Read Across America month in honor of the Crazified-lingo of my beloved Dr. Seuss. When I was learning how to read, back in the dark ages, I was taught with a color coded phonics program that left me unable to read and pronounce letters in regular books- after all, when words are printed in black and white, how do you figure out if it is a hard A or a soft A sound? I became my Grandfather’s pet project; he took me to the bookstore and showed me books through his eyes. What I discovered was the equivalent of a candy-store (or rather, a candy-STORY) of entertainment. Our first purchase was a leather bound copy, which I still have in my closet, of Alice in Wonderland. Since we were often together on weekends, we would spend most of the afternoon eating his popcorn and peanut’s mixture and reading the book. He would read one page, I would read one page and on and on our Saturday’s and Sunday’s went until the book (my new found trophy and love of reading) was accomplished. To this day, it is something I remain proud of — conquering my fear and persevering through my frustration. The key to my shackles, was the time and love of one family member to inspire my success and a good book.
When my daughter was five, the summer before her first day at Kindergarten I panicked., WHAT IF she has the same problems I had reading?, I realized that I needed to help her gain confidence and get ahead of the curve. I enrolled us in a class together, so that I could learn how to help her and she could start the process with a bit more runway to work with in her arsenal. Happily I can report, she was a natural and frequently reads chapter books quickly and with ease. Fast forward, now Prima is a star reader in third grade….with the occasional problem of forgetting her homework assignments at home. (Hint: this is where a negative kid story, can turn around to have a good outcome). After my last warning that I WOULD NOT bring her homework back to school, I was put to the test. The day of her first big oral report, she forgets her presentation at home and we are one block from school. After saying I would not bring her homework back this time, I relented when Secondo pleaded, “But mom, can’t you just do this for her one more time? She worked so hard on her project and she made a mistake. We all make mistakes, even you mom. Please?” Who could say “No” to that plea? I agreed but under the conditions that all play dates for the week were canceled for Prima and she could not watch TV for a week. Much to my benefit this happened to be Read Across America month. Her ‘punishment’ actually benefited her class, her school, her personal reading goal and accomplished Secondo’s homework assignment of being read to daily. Books were flying off the shelf like cooked popcorn. And on the day she was home sick, well…you guessed it, she read most of the day and was just as proud of herself as I had been when I read my first book (only she had read four books!). I was proud of her too, even more so for taking her punishment and accepting that actions have consequences but this one was a good end result.
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