They’ll See Us Digging
Image by aleksandarlittlewolf on Freepik
By Mark W.F. Condon, Unite for Literacy vice president
Our neighbor’s kids gave him, Fred, a truly precious young dog for his 85th birthday. Fred seems thrilled and has escape-proofed his picket-fenced yard with chicken wire and filled it with balls to entertain Coco.
As we observed his active new companion playing in its confines, my wife and I chatted about the totally darling pup and the increased responsibility it brings to Fred. Meanwhile, he kneeled on the ground and began digging up weeds with a hand trowel in his garden.
“Don’t let Coco see you digging!,” we warned quickly.
Our concern was that Coco’s interest in digging would be piqued simply by mimicking the activity she observed. Coco could swiftly become a master at earth-moving, eventually burrowing under the fence or just messing up the flowers and vegetables growing around the yard.
Children and puppies have much in common. Kids also are likely to try out anything they see adults doing or say whatever they hear adults saying. Every parent has found themselves having to explain to friends something that their child has said that we never intended to teach them. Upon observation children sensed the power in the language that dad thoughtlessly blurted out at an inopportune moment and the child picked up the strongly crass utterance immediately. Whoops.
This can work both ways of course. If children see their older siblings doing something deemed important, they’ll try it out, or at least their baby-fied version of it. For, example, one day a friend’s 3-year-old disappeared. Our friend/the mother frantically began searching, finally finding her daughter at a neighbor’s house. Mom’s chiding the youngster for creating such chaos was interrupted when the little girl, mom-like, folded her pudgy arms and said, “I wrote you a note.” Wait. What?
The child marched into the kitchen and pointed at a small note stuck about a foot off the floor on the front of the refrigerator. The note had a picture of a house on it. With a quizzical look her mother had said, “I don’t understand.” To which the youngster, indignant with hands on hips, dad-like, said, “That’s me, and that’s Margie’s house.”
The preschooler had watched her parents jot notes and stick reminders and messages on the ’fridge, and she used observances of this communication system to guide her own attempts at communicating.
Early reading can sprout in exactly the same way. Children who observe adults or older siblings reading books, magazines, newspapers, or something interesting on a digital tablet, will eventually mimic reading, and as a result, move down the road to literacy. Conversely, children who never observe anyone reading (even many teachers are never seen reading books for enjoyment) or writing, aren’t likely to be interested in either activity.
We need all of our “puppies” to see us joyfully digging into books and playing with writing. If they do, they’ll give both activities a try.