I know why your kid can't read -- it's you!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

We were at L.S. Ayers getting my husband some jeans. He hasn’t worn jeans in nearly five years, so we were kind of taking our time. I had given him four pairs to try on (all Levi’s, because he refuses, refuses, to wear anything else) and he was busy putting on one, going out and modeling it to me, and then another…you know the drill.

These people came up. It was a mother, a daughter, and a son. The son went into the changing rooms and started doing the same thing as my husband. He was a husky child – his waist size was 38 inches on a 5 foot, 3 inch frame – and it’s harder for me to tell children’s ages when they are rotund, so I’m not sure how old he was. But older than nine. Probably between ten and thirteen years old.

During the time her son was modeling, the mother sent her daughter out to find some t-shirts for the son to wear. The daughter came back with five shirts. The mother flipped through them and discarded three of them because she didn’t like the mottos. I wondered idly what they had said.

The next time the son came out, the daughter showed him the two remaining shirts. She held up the red one and said, “Do you like this? I picked it out for you.”

“What’s it say?” he asked. “I…it’s. T…t….”

“Time to party,” said the daughter. “How about this one?” She held up a blue shirt.

“It says, ‘I heard you but I still think you’re stupid,’” said the mother.

“Oh! I like that one,” said the son.

My mind kind of went blank. I wanted to ask the mother, do you know your son can’t read? Of course you do, how silly of me….How old is he? He should read by now. Have you thought about tutoring? Maybe switching to a different school? How much time do you spend with him going through his homework?

The next thing I wanted to say was, you are giving your son, who can’t read, a shirt that tells everyone that they are stupid. And another that says he wants to party. Do you realize what you are telling him? Do you?

And then I would have grabbed her by the shoulders and shaken her until her teeth rattled, but thankfully my husband came outside at that point. When we were walking away I asked how old he thought that boy was. He said nine or ten, maybe. He couldn’t tell either, and was guessing low.

I don’t think I have a point with this post. I am just flabbergasted.

2

I’d like to say I’m suprised, but…

My wife spent a year or two working as a reading assistant in an elementary school. Kids who had trouble reading would come to her office at a scheduled time a couple times a week.

Every time she suggested to a parent that they needed to spend time at home reading with their child they all said “That’s your job!”

3

I think Faber’s president said it best.

4

You’re going to have to explain that one to me, lieu…

5

Well, lieu is thinking of either:

The Faber College motto - “Learning Is Good”

or more likely Dean Wormer’s quote - “Fat drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”

I’m betting on the latter. :smiley:

6

Was the kid obviously normal? The story makes me think he might have been a little retarded, although I can’t quite decide why. Maybe just because I can’t imagine a normal 12-13 year old boy who would allow their mom and sister to play paper-doll with them like that.

Regardless, it’s not like illiterate kids don’t exist. My stepson is 9 now, and he can barely write his name and recognize very common words. It makes me want to strangle his mother, but she’s very stupid so it’s not like her working with him would help much. I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be for teachers to get kids like this in your classes when they obviously shouldn’t have been released from 2nd grade.

7

Did you check the shirt to see if the font was strange or unusual? Is it still called a font on a tshirt?

8

I posted this one recently in one of the “Stupid” threads – sorry if you’ve heard it before.

A coworker arrived at work, absolutely fuming. She had taken her son to be registered for kindergarten, but had been told he wasn’t ready because there were certain skills he lacked (things like counting to 10, writing his name, recognizing shapes, etc). Coworker demanded angrily, “Where do they think he’s supposed to learn these things if they won’t let him in kindergarten?”

This was the expression on the face of everyone who heard her: :eek:

9

Thanks to hearing Levi’s® used as a synonym for denims all these years, I came away from my first reading of the OP with the impression that Anaamika’s husband had not worn pants of any kind in the past five years.

10

:smack: And also that Elysian is spelled A-n-a-a-m-i-k-a. (Sorry. I had just read a posting by her in another thread before coming here.)

11

I am so thankful I have the parents I did. We always had books and magazines and I started learning to read by looking at the funnies and the rest of the paper with my dad. By the time I got to first grade the teacher would have to ask me to slow down when taking turns reading in groups because the other kids coulnd’t keep up. My nearest cousin grew up in a house where there might be a daily racing form. He is still functionally illiterate. Of my dad and his three brothers only the youngest brother graduated from high school. The youngest brother is illiterate.

12

Padeye, I hear you! My mom was a school librarian and my dad taught high school science. Between the two of them reading to (and later with) me every night, I was 5 grades ahead of my peers right through high school. I can’t understand why some people can’t, or won’t, read. I mean, I know why in my mind, my my gut refuses to accept it.

13

He looked and sounded absolutely normal. I was thinking it could be some rare form of dyslexia, but he read the first words.

It wasn’t in a crazy font. The words were in clear lettering. I could read them easily and I was much farther away than him.

His mother and sister kind of were using him as their cardboard doll, but he definitely had opinions. He didn’t like the shorts they picked out with him because he said the belt reminded him of his grandmother’s carpet. He had about twenty shorts in there with him, and chose five to buy. He bought both of the shirts because he thought the slogans were funny.

It would be nice to believe that he was illiterate for some other reason than poor parenting, inherited stupidity, or inadequate education. But it wasn’t. I feel so sorry for that poor kid.

14

Hee hee! I was trying to think of a snarky answer when I saw the next post. I’m not even married!

15

Maybe the boy was dislexic.

But, if the mom and sister appear to be normal sized, I’ve vote for Too Much TV and Video Games and not enough of everything else.

Anyone who lets their kid wear a " I’m with stupid’ or " It’s not that I don’t hear you…I’m ignoring you" style t-shirt needs a firm beating about the head and shoulders.

Thank you for allowing me to vent.

16

No, his mother was huge also, and his sister was borderline huge. I wasn’t going to elaborate about the weight of his entire family because I didn’t want it to be one of those threads. I mentioned his size because I wanted to figure out how old he was. 5’4", 38" around the waist, that’s about twelve, maybe? Big kid.

17

But admit it: If they let their kids wear an “I’m with stupid” shirt as they’re walking down the street with them … thre’s a certain poetic justice, there.

18

The one thing I shall always be grateful to my mother for is teaching me how to read before I started kindergarten. So, for Show and Tell, I would get up and read a book aloud to the class.

Ivyboy and Ivygirl are voracious readers, so much so that I have to warn them about inappropriate reading (Ivygirl will attempt to do chores with a book in her hand and Ivyboy has been known to read during math class instead of paying attention to the lesson.

Knowing how to read opens up so much potential and avenues for children. My nephews never go anywhere without a Gameboy in their hands, and now one of them is having problems reading.

For me, reading is like breathing. I must read. I have no choice in the matter. I can’t comprehend how other people don’t want to dive into books.

19

I didn’t know how to read when I entered kindergarten, but that was in 1960. We weren’t really taught to read until first grade. But I could recognize my name, if it was written out.

I remember second grade, figuring out my first word by myself. It was “hiccup”. I was looking through our reading book, didn’t know it, so started sounding it out, as we’d been taught, and I did know “cup”. When the light bulb went on I was so pleased that I took my book and trotted up to the teacher’s desk, to show her what I’d done. She looked at it, and me, and told me “Go sit back down, we’re not up to that part yet.” Talk about feeling crushed!

20

Well hey…Like guys with pants? Without? I’m fine either way. :wink: