When I asked my 5YO why she hated writing in lower case, she said she could never remember whether the b’s or the d’s faced forward. It turns out, this is a very common problem for kindergarteners, and not necessarily an early sign of dyslexia.
While I enjoy all the little games around Santa, and I will be sorry to see them go, it is much harder to teach your child that it’s important to care for others when your child’s world is populated by magical beings who are perfectly capable of doing all that work on their own.
The Five-Year-Old and I are fired up about our chance to go vote this morning. I’ve taken her with me to vote in every election since…
Overheard in The Five-Year-Old’s room during storytime… The Five-Year-Old, curiously: “Daddyo, do you have an imaginary friend?” Daddyo, carefully: “No.” The Five-Year-Old, sadly: “Oh.” A slight…
In line with my commitment to share with you important news pretty soon after it happens, I present this breaking news report on The Five-Year-Old’s scholastic progress. This morning at 8:07 a.m. The Five-Year-Old tried to convince me she was too sick to go to school for the very first time.
Dear Readers, I need your help. When The Five-Year-Old turned five, we bought her a bike, which she adores. For the first week or two she…
At every organized function The Five-Year-Old attends, someone invariably says, “Remember, we are all friends here.” It’s a lovely idea, and one that The Five-Year-Old used to agree with completely. But lately she has started to question it, because (shhh!) she has figured out that she doesn’t actually like everyone she meets. How’s a parent supposed to help her child navigate that?
This week, I’ve been mulling over the Trophies for Everyone approach to childhood. Granted, a lot of life is simply showing up. But eventually I’m going to need my daughter to want to do more than that.
School may be out, but that doesn’t mean I want The Five-Year-Old to lose ground when it comes to her new-found writing and reading skills. That where Harriet Ziefert’s I’m Going to Write! Upper Case Letters comes in.
In which The Five-Year-Old and I have a conversation about the right age to begin reading Jane Austen.
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