I Never Thought About That Before

"I never thought about that before." One of my absolute favorite phrases to hear from my students. Especially when it is something that can be applied to their lives in the future.

I was teaching one of my students (19 year old kid trying to get his diploma) a concept about child development and he was genuinely excited about it. We were talking about reading to a child when they are young and how important it is to introduce books into a child's life from the time they are an infant. I asked what his favorite book was as a child and he said he had never been read a book.

Never been read a book? Never? I thought he was exaggerating for a second, but he sincerely could not think of a single book he liked or had been read his entire life.

We talked about how reading to young children helps their language development and encourages them to read on their own once they know how. He said, "I never thought about that before. I want to do that when I'm a dad."

My little teacher heart was very happy.