For Kai's 5th birthday Scott and I decided to splurge and buy him a bike. We thought 5 was probably the right age for learning to ride a 2-wheeler and many of his peers already knew how. Much to my dismay Kai pedaled around the garage a few times with the training wheels on, but for the most part the bike sat there unused. He didn't have a lot of interest in the bike and it never held his attention for very long.
Well about a month ago, at the age of 6 1/2, Kai decided on his own that he wanted to ride his bike. One Saturday morning he asked Scott to take the training wheels off and after a few pushes to get going he took off riding down the street just like that.
I am intrigued by this notion of the "optimum learning time." I think there is something innate inside us parents that wants to push our kids into a new skill based on our own timeline, agenda, or comparison to their peers not our child's readiness.
The same thing has now happened to Kai with reading, completely unintentionally on my part. I was actually beating myself up the last few years for not being involved in teaching Kai reading. I was afraid that because of my lack of involvement he was falling behind his age mates. Finally these past few months I've been able to focus on his reading and surprisingly it has been a breeze. He is speeding through the process at double time because he has the desire, motivation, skills and capabilities to succeed. It has been an enjoyable process for him with almost no frustration. I think by waiting until now we've spared ourselves a lot of time and work. Currently he's spending lots of time reading tons of easy readers on his own without prompting from me. He's progressing and improving completely initiated on his own. I'm kind of amazed.
I'm reading another book now - The Three R's. In it Dr. Ruth Beechick says, "When you wait for the optimum time, things go easier, faster and better."
It's funny, though, because seeing Kai's success, my initial reaction is to want to get Ezzy now up on a bike - even though he's very happy and content with his scooter. "Since it was so easy," I think to myself, "Why not get Ezzy started reading now?" But then I have to stop myself and remember this concept of optimum learning time. I have to remember that things will go easier, faster and better if I'm careful not to rush my kids and to move at their own pace.
