Ouch

That would rate … quite a conversation.

A friend of mine’s kid did the same thing as Tony, telling on a kid in his class for some minor infraction or another. (He might have done this more than once.) In any case, at some point when they were picking the kid up from school one day, the teacher told the kid’s parents what had happened. On the way home, the mother made an off-hand remark to the father about the kid’s future profession.

Cut to a few months later when the mother was taking the kid someplace which required an elevator ride. After they got on the elevator, one of the other passengers smiled at the kid and asked him that typical question: “So, what do you want to be when you grow up?” Without batting an eye, the kid replied: “I want to be an FBI informant!” (Needless to say, the mom turned all different shades of crimson and the elevator went silent, though I suspect the story was repeated quite a bit later that day!)

Thanks for the tip on the phonics book. I will keep this in mind for the future.

I’ve heard some good things about video-based teaching methods, but we’ve kept Tony away from video games so far — largely because I’ve seen a few kids his age with their creativity already knocked out of them by the things. That said, I don’t doubt that the approach works for many families.

Also, I gave a friend our old Nintendo Game Cube and he purchased the game Animal Crossing for his daughter a year or so ago. She is now in first grade and he credits the game with her ability to read well. Now, he is a writer and a former ESOL teacher, so I am sure that’s not the only reason. He would make her read what she was seeing on the screen. If you have a Wii you can also play the game cube games on that system if you are looking for something else to include.

Wendy is a tea drinker, too. Either way, Tony understands that neither of us is at our best until the caffeine delivery systems have done their work.