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A red number six

My daughter started reading early.  As far as I could tell, she skipped right over the sounding-words-out stage and saw words as words early on.

She is a competent reader, now we are working on getting her to read for pleasure.  It was not a struggle to learn to read, I hope it is not a struggle to get her to read.

My son has gone through the first years of his life with the attitude that since my sister and parents know how to read already, what is the point in me even trying?  He's only five, he hasn't started school yet, so we're not expecting him to read yet, but the contrast has been noticeable.  Until recently we didn't even think it was on his radar.  He was too busy constructing tunnels and slides and running and jumping.  Fair enough. No worries.

However, over the past few months, he has begun to ask us to read to him frequently. He takes pride in remembering stories and re-reading them to younger cousins.  At the cottage, he and his friend spent a lot of time reading comics.  His interest in printed materials is growing.

We are starting to see that there is more than one street in that town.  Kids can approach reading and everything else in a variety of ways. Everyone has strategies and tricks and ways of seeing the world that make sense to them.

This morning, as we approached our daughter's day camp, she pointed it out to her brother. "It's that one with the sign, with all the words on it."

The sign read: "Like us on Facebook for a chance to win a 6 month gym membership."

He replied, "Oh yeah, the one with the red number six!"

Yes. That's right!

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