There is nothing sweeter than a first grader with no front teeth. I melt each time I see one of their toothless smiles. It's a sign of pure innocence. I wish we could freeze this smile for longer than it actually lasts, before those "grown up teeth" make their way in.
Addison is wiggling away at her front teeth, and they will surely fall out in the coming months. :)
Why am I writing a blog post about missing teeth?
It's because I'm saddened by how our children are being hurried along. It's been bothering me ever since I returned from Reggio Emilia last fall. Why are we trying to grow them up so fast? There's plenty of time to be old and do the things that old people do.
Like writing your letters "walking forward." Yes, we all learn to write our letters correctly at some point in time, usually by the end of 2nd grade, things are looking pretty legible. That's the point, right? Legibility. Kids in K, 1st, 2nd grades notoriously flip their letters and numbers backwards. Especially b's and d's, 6 and 9, etc. No matter how many times a teacher might remind children who flip their letters to make them "walk forward," they will still flip them. When you point it out, they notice, but when they are in the midst of writing, they'll still flip. There is some sort of switch that goes off in their brains, and suddenly everything walks forward. It's like magic. It's not because I've told them to flip their letters. It's because they were ready to do it, on their own time line.
So this brings me to sweet Jake. Jake is a first grader in my class this year. He's an August birthday boy, and as precious as they come. Full of energy, loves life, and cutest smile you've ever seen. Jake writes his name (often) with a flipped J. I could hover over him, reminding him each time he writes his name that his J needs to be walking forward. I could send home handwriting practice, and stress that his J needs to be flipped. Or.....I could just let him be. In the grand scheme of things, is this something to stress him out about? Nope.
I take that back, there is something cuter than a first grader with no front teeth. A first grader with no teeth and a backwards J.
He'll fix it eventually. But for now, I'm going to let him be 6.
