A Proud Dad Says My Son Reads More Books Then I Ever Have

Last year Nicky was having a tough time with reading. Carrie and I struggled to help him learn his “sight words” and as a dad, I struggled with feeling that I didn’t do enough to help him. For the new parents, “sight words”  are words that kids should recognize visually without having to spell them out.  Some examples of these words are: who, what, the, at, to, there and so on. Carrie worked very hard over the summer to help get our son where he needed to be before beginning the 1st grade. She sat with him every day and went over his letters and words while I read to him as often as possible.

Nicky and his proud Dad at a game last summer

He wasn’t quite there when the school year began last month but he was certainly a lot closer to where the other kids were with their reading skills.

Nicky’s teacher is great and has a lot of patience with him. He is also pulled out of class two times per week for an extra 30 minutes of help strictly for reading by another teacher. In just 2 months, Nicky’s reading ability has improved so much that he continually reads books. He is always walking around with a book in his hand and goes to extraordinary lengths to hide these books from his sister and brother. He mostly reads children’s books that are age appropriate as well as various Star Wars books that are meant for adults but he tries his hardest with these.  This dad couldn’t be any prouder because I was not and still am not a big reader, so I encourage him all of the time.

The interest in reading is not only do to the fact that he can NOW read but also the types of books he is reading. Some of the books he is reading were given to him by a classmate and the others we purchased because a classmate brought them in to school and showed him “how cool” these new books were. I thought it might be worth mentioning these books because we also think these books are great from a parents perspective. I even found myself chuckling here and there when he read them to me. I have included the links to Amazon to make it easy in the event you want to purchase them or read their short description.

Ready Freddy! Tooth Trouble (Ready, Freddy!)
Ready, Freddy!: Stop That Hamster
Firehouse Fun (Ready, Freddy!)
Junie B., First Grader: Aloha-ha-ha! (Junie B. Jones, No. 26)
Junie B. Jones Is a Beauty Shop Guy (Junie B. Jones, No. 11)
Junie B. Jones Has a Monster Under Her Bed (Junie B. Jones, No.
Junie B., First Grader: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! (P.S. So Does May) (Junie B. Jones, No. 25)

He absolutely loves these books and this was kid that just a few months ago would not look at a book’s cover, never-mind open it up. Maybe your kids will enjoy them as much as our son has. I cannot wait to share with him my coveted The Kiss Album Focus, Vol. 1: Kings of the Night Time World, 1972-82but I guess that will come in time!