P-man's Evolution as a Reader...thus far...Part 1

This spring I experienced the kind of mommy pride that makes you stand a little taller. P-man, age 4 1/2, was asked to read a picture book to the rest of his preschool class. His teachers were shocked that he knew how to read, and were very willing to dispense some extra positive reinforcement by asking him to read to the other students. Several other parents started asking me what we were "doing" to teach P-man how to read. I had to stop and think before answering that question. In my mind, we weren't really doing anything. I gave the standard, "We read at bedtime," answer and went on my merry way. I continued to think about it the rest of the week. What had we done with P-man that led to him reading picture books before even starting kindergarten? I had to go way back to when he was a baby, and so that is where we will start.

When P-man was born our little family was in a very different economical situation. I went back to work part-time when he was 6 weeks old and started working full-time again when he was 6 months old. Luckily, I was able to get him in to a wonderful daycare center that we loved. We would read his board books at home, but I have to give the daycare credit, because they started teaching the kids nursery rhymes and finger plays before I even thought P-man was old enough to "get it". Learning those nursery rhymes was truly the first stepping stone to making P-man the reader he is today. He was about 18 months old when we took this video of him doing 'The Itsy Bitsy Spider' and 'Wheels on the Bus'. Once Steven and I discovered that he knew these finger plays and songs, we began singing during dinner, during bath time, at major family gatherings, whenever we could. His exposure to the rhymes, cadence, repetition, and fun of the nursery rhymes and songs made up this first step and led to what I consider his next major milestone, story memorization.

As I mentioned, we had been reading board books to Parker from birth, but never with any consistency until he was about 16 months old. At that point our regular rotation of books consisted of those which annoyed Steven and I the least; a very important consideration when choosing children's books for purchase because you will read them over, and over, and over again. By his second birthday, Parker had several of his board books memorized. His vocabulary was still very limited, but he had heard us saying the words in those books time and time again. Of course he wasn't "reading" in the traditional sense, but he was able to look at the picture on the page and say the words he knew went with that picture. I called this his 'party trick' and made him "read" for both sets of grandparents, aunts and uncles, pretty much anyone who would humor me. Over time he would learn to not only recognize the picture on the page, but also the written word that went with it. That is why I find that milestone so important.

There were a couple other important things that we did before P-man was 2 years old in regards to literacy which I feel are worth mentioning. At about 20 months I started bringing P-man to storytime at the local library. A totally free activity that enriches your child's love of books? What is not to love? I was raised on storytime at the library and I highly suggest everyone with children hunt out a storytime session near them. We also began working on the alphabet and letter recognition around this age. I sang the alphabet to P-man several times daily since birth, mostly because it is one of the few songs I can sing in key (as you can tell from the 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' video). He could sing it along with me at about age 2 and so I began pointing out the print version of the letters when I saw them. These activities led to the next milestone in P-man's evolution as a reader. A milestone I will happily share with you in an upcoming post.

What I hope you take away from this post is that we did not invest in an 'As Seen on TV' system for teaching your child to read. We did not sit P-man at the table with flashcards and make him recite items over and over. We sang, we read, and we did a whole lot of 'The Wheels on the Bus'. All of which he found fun. The minute he got bored with it, we stopped. Wes-Wes is doing things at a slightly different pace. He gets bored with the board books more easily, but that's okay. He'll have his own evolution, and it will make this mommy very proud too.