Ryan Can Read, Workbooks, and Candyland

A few months back I decided to start doing flashcards with Ryan. He is always eager to learn, and I enjoy challenging him. I looked up a website on sight words. I wrote the words on flashcards and introduced 4- 6 words to him each day during lunch and dinner. By bedtime he knew all of the words on the flashcards for that particular day. Let me remind you that this is a boy who would memorize books at age 2. He has this crazy ability to memorize things so I figured, why not take advantage of it. As of today he knows all of the preschool sight words and more than half of the kindergarten words.

Since we go to the library weekly and check out books, I started to choose books that had the sight words in them and are designed to help kids recognize the words and essentially begin to read. Although he does struggle with a few words, he can read the books that I bring home each week. I am absolutely amazed that he has taken to reading and flashcards so easily. Today he was in time out and when I went to get him I find him in his chair going through his flashcards. He just really enjoys reviewing flashcards and reading books. To him, it is another "game" that we play. He has also recently got a few preschool workbooks and cannot get enough of them. If I tell him there is no time to do a workbook page, it upsets him. I love the fact that he loves to learn and looks forward to it everyday. He really impresses me and I am so proud of him.

As an early Christmas gift, Ryan received Candyland. He loves playing the game, but with it comes the concept of winning and losing. I'm sure this may upset some people, but I really believe children need to understand that in games and in life people win and lose. I feel like these days schools and parents are trying to get away from saying that there are "winners" and "losers." "Everybody wins," is a line I often hear from others and it drives me insane. At some point, maybe not at 3 years old, kids need to learn that they may fail at something. They need to learn how to cope with it and how to move on.

Ryan and I played Candyland a few times the first night we opened it. As I won the first game he began to get upset, which I expected. I told him when you lose you don't pout or complain, at the same time, if you win, you don't brag about it or celebrate excessively. I said, when the game is over, win or lose you shake the other person's hand and say,"Good game." He is only three and a half, but he needs to learn that things are not always going to go his way. I understand this is a big concept for him, so we are easing into it. Needless to say, we probably play between 3- 5 games every other day. I can tell he gets upset when he loses, but tries not to let it show and is super excited when he wins. This is a learning experience for him, but also a life skill that he should be aware of at this age. Regardless of winning or losing, Ryan really enjoys spending that quality time playing games with his dad or me.