Sometimes a difficult and rocky road makes the arrival that much sweeter. “It will click don’t worry Mom,” I was told by his teachers while he was in 2nd grade. Then in 3rd grade he fell further behind, the words he could read were from memorizing what was already read to him. Falling further behind continued into 3rd grade. When a child struggles with reading, it affects everything else. My youngest son could be classified as gifted when it comes to math, he thinks mathematically. But as parents we could not figure out why he was struggling in reading. I have always had a passion about reading, so has my husband. That was an area where, until then, we felt as parents we did good. We read to our boys every night.

As you know with a third child I am sure he was not read to as much as my first, life happens.  What is a Mom’s first reaction?

Guilt.

I began to heap tons of Mommy guilt on myself for possibly not reading to him enough.

By the end of 3rd grade we knew we had a problem, things were “not clicking.”  Many tears were shed by me and by my youngest.  He was frustrated.

We enrolled him into Sylvan Learning Center.  So for three days a week we would drive across town after school for reading tutoring.  He did make some progress, but not as we had hoped.   The counselors at the learning center said, “don’t worry it will click.”  As a mother I still felt guilty and many times after receiving a poor score I would cry behind the closed doors.

Father, help me, help my child.

As I mentioned earlier this week, God gave me three different boys.  My oldest had to study to get his A’s, my middle child only showed up and received his A’s, but my youngest who worked the hardest out of all three was struggling to even pass.

After spending a lot of money and realizing things were not improving as we had hoped, we made an appointment with a psychologist.  I wanted to walk into his office and throw myself on his couch and confess this was all my fault.  I did not read to my child enough.

Why do we mothers do this to ourself?  Maybe I am the only one?

After reviewing my son’s chart, he looked right in my eyes and he said, “Has anyone told you that you have done all you can and this is just something he will struggle with?” I began to cry.  I am sad this will be a struggle for my son, but I was released of my mommy guilty (which I should not have had in the first place).

My son has dyslexia.  I had a name for our problem.  The thing is, it was not evident to his teacher, or the learning center, or us (his parents), but the psychologist saw it right away.  Finally we found the help he needed.  We met with a private reading specialist that made all the difference in the world.

So why do I share this struggle with you?  Because I would love for you to share in my joy when I tell you FINALLY in his last year of elementary school my youngest child made….

HONOR ROLL.

When he brought home his report card, this Mom cried and Dad cheered.  All three of my boys have made honor roll, but this one is extra special.  The difficult, rocky road made the arrival so much sweeter!