We used to have two young trees in our backyard that were about the same size. However, one of the trees starts blooming and sprouting leaves much faster in the Spring than the other. One Spring, I looked at the one that wasn’t sprouting and asked my husband if we needed to cut it down because I thought it might be dead. He assured me it wasn’t dead and that I just needed to wait. Sure enough, a few weeks later the tree completely bloomed and was right on par with the other tree.
I share this analogy because it was right about the same time that I was concerned about my son becoming a reader. As much as I try not to compare my two kiddos, let’s be honest, I do. And while my daughter has been an eager reader very early on, my son has been more reluctant and it has stressed me out just a tad. I was concerned that he wasn’t going to be the reader my daughter was going to be, and that it would affect his academics, his future, *insert any of my many mom exaggerations here*.
However, much like that tree that I was considering chopping down, my child bloomed. He’s still not an avid reader like his sister, and I’ve (basically) come to terms with the fact that he probably won’t be. But, he can read books, does get excited about them and even has some favorites. And most importantly, I’m no longer worried that he’s going to be homeless on the corner because he’s not a reader. I realized that he was just like the tree, and although he didn’t start as quickly, he is moving at his own pace and is doing just fine.
So, while you are #RaisingReaders and waiting for your flowers to bloom, be patient, it’ll happen when you aren’t even looking.
