I learned a new word today. VAMOOSED. Over breakfast of apple tart and tea with the kids, my 10-year old used the word “vamoosed”.
I immediately questioned, “Is that a word?”
He said it was. The 8-yo concurrred.
“Where did you read that?”
“I don’t remember.”
“I’ve never heard that before. Are you sure it’s a word?”
“Yes!”
“What does it mean?”
“Be gone!”
Mom goes to the laptop and looks it up. Well whaddaya know… the kid’s right!
“Where did you read that?”
8-yo: “Hardy Boys”
Mom thinks: Oh, so they actually learn stuff from Hardy Boys. Fancy that!
Mom: That word reminds me of “Vamos”? Spanish for “let’s go”. They look at me, no response. Maybe they were just absorbing.
The conversation turns to the apple tart we’re enjoying.
Migi: I give Ate a 10. (Ate is Tagalog for “big sister”)
Me: Ate, or the tart?
Paco: Me too.
Yena: I give her a 500 or 600.
Paco: I give her a 20.
Paco: No, I give her a 19.
Me: 10 for the tart and 9 for her?
Paco: No. 10 for her and 9 for the tart. It is a bit sour.
Me: You know what would be good with this? Whipped cream!
Paco and Yena: YEAH!!!!
Migi: We have some.
Paco: It’s expired.
Migi: Sugar.
Me: It’s already got a lot of sugar in it.
So anyway, that apple tart? Has vamoosed.
And that made me think again about reading. These kids LOVE to read. And we all place so much importance on teaching a child to read (some insist, as early as possible). But what’s more important to cultivate is a LOVE of reading. Because let’s face it, out of the millions of people that are able to read, how many do read (other than the newspaper, or junkie mags), and how many read because they simply love to read? The love of reading comes even before the child KNOWS HOW. When this is the case, the knowledge of reading becomes a natural offshoot of that love. How does a child fall in love with reading? By being read to, over and over and over again.
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