The Way I See It #181

Yes, blast it, I'm writing about coffee again. Well, I suppose it is related to coffee in a "Six Degrees Of-" sort of way...

As I check my morning email [delete 99.9% of my unreads due to spam], I glance down at my Starbucks venti vanilla latte. The words "The Way I See It" jump out at me in bold Starbucks green letters. Why on earth have I not read these before?! Apparently I have a lot of catching up to do if the particular one I was handed today is numbered 181!! I'm going to share it with you:

"A child's mind isn't a blank slate; it's more of a jungle. Each time a parent helps a toddler read, the child is walked through this jungle from one side to the other. Trip after trip, a seemingly impossible passage becomes a well-worn path. Children sent to kindergarten skipping merrily along this path to literacy fare far better than those sent to school with machetes.
-Keith Mastrion
"Reading Man" and 1998 National Teacher of the Year

Fabulous. What an amazing analogy. I love analogies. Always have. I find it interesting that I received #181 on this fine Wednesday morning, as I just picked up a large bag containing my son's Scholastic book order today from his little happy preschool. Such fun. When I noticed the flimsy brightly-colored book catalogue a month ago in his brightly painted cubby, I was taken back instantly to the hours I had spent pouring over my own Scholastic book order form on the school bus on my way home. I would sit scrunched down in my brown plastic seat, rest my knees on the anterior seat, and get out my pale pink ten color pen... (Hmmm... I wonder whatever happened to that thing?) There I'd sit, analyzing each and every title, circling the ones that were "must-haves"...

Fast forward to a month ago, and one would see me circling away again as I chuckle to myself... Ah, the memories...

No machete needed at this house.