Reading Reader

I was over the moon ecstatic when Aidan fell in love with books. He loves to read. He brings a book with him everywhere, from the car, the school bus, the kitchen table to his bedroom. Aidan devours books faster than we can keep them in stock. And there is nothing that makes a reading mom prouder than having a reader child.

Books are good. Reading is fantastic. How could it ever be a bad thing?

It started a few weeks ago with a few test grades that were below Aidan's normal grades. Aidan does well in school. He enjoys it and works hard and his grades reflect that fact. But the weekly test folder started to show a few Bs mixed in with his normal As, until finally last week he brought home his first C. The mistakes on the tests were not from a lack of comprehension, but rather it just seemed like Aidan was rushing through his work to get it done as quickly as possible. He even skipped a full page on one of his tests.

We set up a meeting with his teacher. His teacher confirmed that he did seem to be rushing through his work, trying to be one of the first students done in the class.

"Well, what does he get as a reward if he does finish his work quickly? What does he get to do with his free time?" I asked the teacher.

I think you know the answer. He gets to read.

It may have been the first parent/teacher conference that ended with the teacher agreeing to ban a child from reading during free time in class. I almost can't believe it myself. But then I remember, back in the day, how I used to sneak books into my textbooks to read during class in grade school. And well, it all made sense then.