Advice that feels like Xanax
Friday, January 15th, 2010This past week I’ve been writing a story for Parents about what happens when your child turns 7 year’s old. I was talking with an amazing psychologist, Susan Linda Rose, Ph.D., director of the Child & Family Center at the William Alanson White Institute in New York City and she told me, “You know when I think of seven year old, I think of a kid who is missing his two front-teeth.” Then she said that the Waldorf school considers a child ready to read when he has lost his two front teeth.
Conrad has only lost one tooth— the bottom left center tooth—and he is struggling with reading. He can do it, he just doesn’t think he can. What’s wild is while the science is loose, its reassuring. If you have a seven year old, look at your kid’s friends and you are bound to see the theory in action. Wednesday, Conrad had a playdate with a friend in his class who is reading on the highest level—purple— and both his front top teeth are dangling by threads in his mouth. I wanted to tie a string around each tooth and then to door and shut it to pull the teeth out and put him out of his misery. Then the tooth fairy could come and leave a few copies of Magic Treehouse book under his pillow.