The Adventures of Dork Mommy

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

A New Chapter?

Some members of my family have a way of thinking Noah is much older than his 4-1/2 years. His mother, in particular, is always trying to buy things for him made for ages 8 and up, including video games. (As punishment, I make them stay at her house for their visit time, so she can be the one listening to his cries of frustration.) I believe that toys, LeapPad games, and books have age levels on them because there's only so much you can reasonably expect a child to do before she or he gets discouraged. I don't want to turn Noah off from learning by setting expectations he probably won't be able to reach. (Note: this doesn't mean he shouldn't be challenged, just that he shouldn't be expected to identify words by sight when he's just learning letters.)

My father did it about 6 months ago when he bought Noah a children's version of Treasure Island - complete with very few pictures and *gasp* chapters. Noah wanted me to read it to him when we first got it, but quickly lost interest, which I thought he might. You can imagine my surprise Monday night when he wanted it again - and liked it so much he was disappointed we could only read three chapters before bedtime. He's been bugging me the past two days to read more of it. I actually sent it to daycare with him today and his teacher agreed to read it to him during nap time, since he's given up his nap recently.

I can't believe he's into a chapter book! I'm psyched, simply because I'm a big reader myself. We read three books nearly every night before bedtime. I'm not one of those parents who wishes that her child were a genius - I just want him to be normal and happy. But I have to say this thrills me. And maybe he'll go back to Dr. Suess before the week is out. I just think it's cool he's interested in something so beyond him.

Now I'm thinking maybe I will revisit the stuff we have that's labeled for children a little older...and do it together. Who knows? Maybe he'll love it.

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