It was a surprise and excitement! From very early years, I knew that it is good to read together with the children, when they were still young. This can create a good habit for them.
There is an old saying something like this, “ A child whom love to read good books will not become a bad person when they grow up.” I know this is true, just I myself do not have the patience and the persistence to grow this habit together with Issac and Annabelle when they were small.
Not until when Issac going to Primary 3 that time, he was not good at all especially in learning the Mandarin characters. I was holding my breath the whole time. I was battling tremendous self-doubt. I must be an awful mother.
Some folks advised me to take Issac to specialists, test his hearing, eyesight, cognitive abilities, look into reading labs for him.
Deep in my soul, those didn't feel right and I never took Issac to any of those things. I knew mainly is due to my attentions to his schooling and homework after what Daddy and I have been through.
And then the miracle happened just recently, may be a month back. Daddy and I were trying to make him interest in some comics books at least.
He was started with The Three Kingdom which we bought in the Popular Bookstore, I was searching for some reading books for him, and co-incidentally I found Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I was quite excited and wanted to know more about the author’s works, as we had watched the movie before.
I love the way the author take the young children to his imaginative world. Roald Dahl is the famous the world no. 1 story teller! I bought The BFG, the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Charlie and the Glass Elevator, Boy and Going Solo.
I told Issac that it is better that if he can finish reading the BFG before the movie is going on screen middle of August. Then he can tell me more about the story or the movie is much more nicer. He loves the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Right after this chit-chatting, reading clicked in his mind and he just began reading. Within a few days he was reading easily and completed on the BFG at his grade level. He found the story is adventurous and interesting.
Then something happened. I have no idea what. May be it was long boring at home besides playing their tablet games. May be it was just the right time, and the parts of their brains that can process the written word had a growth spurt. It doesn’t matter to me. Issac continued his Charlie and the Chocolate Factory adventure. I breathed a sigh of relief. The muscles in my stomach could finally relax. I could let my shoulders drop and I could unfurrow my brow. My boy, at long last, was reading.
Today he is still reading Roald Dahl’s books which I managed to grab during book fair at a cheaper price. At long last my kids are reading. I can stop holding my breath. I can breathe deeply and can actually dare to use both my lungs. It has been many years of waiting to exhale. The wonderful world of books has opened to him.
A book a week! Do you know what that means? He always have their noses in books! I breathe a silent prayer of thanks for my boy and for the patience it took for me to wait until he read. And, for my dear husband and I encourage each other in not giving up of our boy in reading. The Lord have answered our prayer! We are grateful for His grace and kindness in touching our boy’s heart and open up his mind into this good habit.
