i will admit that i'm about to share a very proud moment as a mother.
but it's not with any conceit. it's because i usually wonder how much i'm screwing up my own kid.
parenting is hard. period.
every now and then, there are moments that remind me that i'm not doing half bad. that while i'm certainly not perfect nor ever will be, the kid is doing alright.
last night was one of those moments.
just to back-track, chaeli was a bit slow on learning how to read at the level she was suppose to be at. not because she couldn't do it, but because she was in an environment for JK and SK that didn't give her a kick-start. which really, wasn't a problem for doug and i. we were actually trying to allow her a childhood before she was forced to grow up five times faster then normal once she started grade one.
of course, due to a crappy school in our area with no before/after childcare support what-so-ever, we made the leap into enrolling her in a private school... one that was slightly more academic and had her put into a grade two and sometimes three level scenerio.
this caused massive panic attacks for me. i questioned myself day in and day out - was this the right move to make? am i putting too much pressure on her? perhaps i didn't worry about this daily - but it was on my mind a lot in the first month and a half.
well, last night, she was asking me if she could have some extra time to read that night. not wanting to ever take away the joy of reading, i told her that i would allow her 15-20 minutes before we had to get ready for bed.
and that's when i discovered that she was 2/3rds into her chapter book. granted, it was 'captain underpants' but as i watched her read, i could tell how much she was into it. she was laughing at the funny parts and serious at others. she wasn't just reading but completely absorbed into the story. so i asked her later, which book she was going to read next. her library shelf has a section where she organized all her chapter books - she showed me the next two she wanted to read with sheer excitement.
i think what made me proud was that she was showing so much enthusiasm. and i know i didn't get into reading until much later. grade three was probably when i started to enjoy it.
it's a valuable tool. i'm happy she's picked it up. reading has been a way for me to gain so much more knowledge. it makes me think about things and the way the world is... the way people are. and of course, the ability to escape... even if just for 15-20 minutes.
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