Reading

Assalamualaikum...

There's been a debate recently on Primary 1 literacy in Singapore eversince an educator vent out her emotions on social media regarding parents who do not spend reading time with their child.

Firstly & foremost, dont and never ever vent your unhappiness or anger online. Because they way she phrase it is so judgemental and netizens will tend to take it the hard way.

For a 7 year old kid in Singapore, you are expected to read, write & spell. 20 plus years ago, I remember that at that age we just start to learn how to write leh... not even spelling, let alone reading. Must be super stressful kids nowdays. No wonder la there's many enrichment classes & tuiton centres being set up.

I am a mother of a 3 years old son who is turning 4 soon. I am amazed of my son wide english vocabulary, his capability to remember thing & his joy for reading. He can spell 3 to 4 letter words and fill up a missing letter to a missing word. Do I read to my son? Yes, since he was 3 months old. But not because I expected him to catch up in the rat race. I am not a kiasu parent. My intention was to see his reaction when I read to him. He naturally loves it whenever I read to him or when he sees books. He will smile & go "goo-ga". Babbling.

When he started to walk, I brought him to the library. He sees it as heaven. He will took several books and diligently read by himself. He will ask me if he doesnt know. His loves for reading is not only e
in English language but Malay too. Every month, I will borrow library books for him and bought flashcards. By 3 years old he can read in sentence.

I didnt force, punished or threathen him into reading. When he was toddler I expose him to many things like going to a playground, art & crafts, music, dancing & toys. But it was very obvious that his favorite was reading. He reads when he wakes up, anytime of the day, asking me to buy books &  he always look through the bookshelf compare to his toy box.

Yes, I may be lucky that my son has a natural joy of reading. Now it is just is writing skills development which he struggles. But I never ever compare my child capability with other kids. That's just not right. Expecting a child to be like other kids is like we are producing robots instead of talents.

If the child cant read by the age of 7, its okay. Every child have their own learning journey. Some graduate by the age of 18, some graduate by the age of 32 like my husband but we are still doing well in life. I was a repeated poly student, twice but I dont feel ashame about it. In fact, I really dont use my diploma to look for a job. Because I want to learn while working.

I took low pay but it gets higher over the years because I learn and pick up things quickly hands on. I am a independent self learner when someone give a task to me, I will look for a learning resource myself. To me, thats how you succeed in the working world. School only spoon feed you and expect you to be like everyone else.

You see but everyone do well in school. What's most important is that everyone has to do well in life. Bringing up a child with a good character is more important than bringing up a smart child.

Every single day I am very thankful to have not only a smart child, but a child who speaks with kind words & have good manners.

So dont stress too much on this debate issue. What should be debate is how the child "survive" after graduation.