Kids may surprise us many times over if we are open to the possibilities. I don’t presume to know what they will do in life, even as I notice inclinations, interests, aptitudes. It is delightful to notice and image the possibilities.
My left-handed junior, the visual learner, the technical and the architect type, she struggled a long time to read fluently. Even as we practiced at home, even as I read to her, even as she cried with frustration and I cried with frustration. She is now grasping this reading thing and she write cursive beautifully. More beautiful than Jackie ever did. And Jackie is a good memorizer, an audio learner, so she has her own unique gifts.
Ivy has a chaotic class and a struggling leader. I’m sure the patching we do at home is not perfect. We compensate for a lot of missed information, a lack of practice as a group. But she will make do. My biggest concern was her becoming smaller, almost invisible and silent. At school she was lost in the sea of talkers and troublemakers. And she would never impose, disrupt, ask questions. But on vacations she would start to blossom. And assert herself and be vocal, and daring and have ideas and express them and try them out.
This easter vacation I needed help with a quick pick up from sa neighbor. Ivy offered to do it in her bike and pretend she is “glovo”. I thought she is hilarious with her big yellow backpack. She transported a head of lamb from a neighbor to my mom. She felt so good being useful, she said. A few days ago I needed her to deliver a few books to my mom and get some money for the books she sold. It was the end of the day and she said she is tired, but it was only 8 pm. I told her I’ll give her 10 lei if she brings me the money from bunica. She instantly lit up. “How about 20?” She asked. I stood my ground. I said 10. “How about if I also deliver the books not just bring you the cash?” I just didn’t want to spend more than 10 and said no. She then agreed to 10 and did the run down and up the hill. She was so proud. The other day she dumped grass in the field after conrad cleaned the garden and made another 10 lei. And yesterday she had a limonade stand. First asked for permission to get the oranges from our fruit bowl and then she squeezed the juice right in front of the of the customers. She made 23 lei.
The confidence boost is amazing. And she is so proud of her ideas and the fact that she is applying them. If she stayed only at mercy of her teacher’s feedback, she would be a mess. Reading is hard. Memorization is hard. Math is hard. But I believe in her, in her determination and capacity to overcome challenges. May she go far!