Just one step forward.
I started having my twins read me a book every morning last week to earn a coveted piece of candy from my office. I picked one little book last Monday and had them take turns reading it to me.
“Moommmmm…” they whined. “This is soooo hard. This will take forever. We can’t read this one! Give us something easier.”
They are pretty good at the whining… good enough I almost gave up entirely. It was a slog, but we pushed on through that first laborious reading of the Cat and the Cap.
The next day, we did it again. There was less grumbling, but they still weren’t super thrilled to do it. Candy, apparently, is a strong motivator.
They took turns reading me that same book every single morning last week. By the end, they were so excited to show me how fast they could read it. They were so proud of themselves.
Monday, the task looked pretty grim from their perspective and mine.
But by Friday, we had moved forward on the reading journey, and they were elated.
Sometimes taking that small starting step forward is so hard… especially when I can’t see the whole road ahead.
I don’t know how difficult it will be to teach them to be confident in reading. I don’t know what hurdles they may have to overcome along the way. I don’t know how they’ll react as the challenge increases week to week. I don’t know if it’ll take them a long time or a short one.
But I don’t have to know all that, do I?
I just have to take one small step forward.
And have a little faith.
There’s always enough light for that.
