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Decoding the Secret Language
Jan. 28th, 2014 01:40 pmMy first grader is in there reading a Magic School Bus book to his sister, and I'm bursting with pride.
I don't know why it is, but I honestly think this has been the greatest reward of parenthood so far. I'm not even sure "reward" is the word I want. But you watch them grow and learn and experience so much, and it's all exciting and new, seeing the world through their eyes. You get their excitement, vicariously, when they learn to make their legs take them places (and they RUN, JUST BECAUSE THEY CAN), when they first taste a favorite food. But somehow THIS-- knowing he's decoded this SECRET LANGUAGE-- is a bigger thrill for me than anything else he's done.
Everywhere you look, there's print. Road signs and advertising and junk mail and cereal boxes and menus on electronics and instructions for toys. Even if you never open a single BOOK, there's so much to be READ. For the first five, six years of his life, he was surrounded by these seemingly random symbols, like decorative trim, and now suddenly they MEAN something. "This cereal has a Hint of Brown Sugar!" he announced this morning. Well, sure. Maybe he could have said that just by tasting it, but that's not the point. The point was that the cereal box had been telling him that ALL ALONG, and he'd only just noticed.
The world has opened UP for him in the past year! Everywhere he looks, there's a new story to discover! A few months back his dad and I were about to discuss something using the traditional S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G method, when I looked at Sam and laughed. "There's no hiding it from you, anymore!" I said, and we all laughed. It was like he'd been inducted into the club. HE KNOWS THE PASSWORD.
Sure, you say, I'm a children's librarian, it's my JOB to encourage kids to read, of course I'm happy about it. But it mostly drives home that this is about more than books, stories, school research. This is a WHOLE HUGE NEW WAY TO GATHER INFORMATION FROM ONES ENVIRONMENT. And it's just cool.
I don't know why it is, but I honestly think this has been the greatest reward of parenthood so far. I'm not even sure "reward" is the word I want. But you watch them grow and learn and experience so much, and it's all exciting and new, seeing the world through their eyes. You get their excitement, vicariously, when they learn to make their legs take them places (and they RUN, JUST BECAUSE THEY CAN), when they first taste a favorite food. But somehow THIS-- knowing he's decoded this SECRET LANGUAGE-- is a bigger thrill for me than anything else he's done.
Everywhere you look, there's print. Road signs and advertising and junk mail and cereal boxes and menus on electronics and instructions for toys. Even if you never open a single BOOK, there's so much to be READ. For the first five, six years of his life, he was surrounded by these seemingly random symbols, like decorative trim, and now suddenly they MEAN something. "This cereal has a Hint of Brown Sugar!" he announced this morning. Well, sure. Maybe he could have said that just by tasting it, but that's not the point. The point was that the cereal box had been telling him that ALL ALONG, and he'd only just noticed.
The world has opened UP for him in the past year! Everywhere he looks, there's a new story to discover! A few months back his dad and I were about to discuss something using the traditional S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G method, when I looked at Sam and laughed. "There's no hiding it from you, anymore!" I said, and we all laughed. It was like he'd been inducted into the club. HE KNOWS THE PASSWORD.
Sure, you say, I'm a children's librarian, it's my JOB to encourage kids to read, of course I'm happy about it. But it mostly drives home that this is about more than books, stories, school research. This is a WHOLE HUGE NEW WAY TO GATHER INFORMATION FROM ONES ENVIRONMENT. And it's just cool.
