Uncomfort

My 5 year old son C is reading chapter books now. I think he likes trying to keep up with his 7 year old sister E, so whatever she is doing, he wants to do. I’m not sure he knows everything he is reading, but he is pretty good at sounding out all the words.

C has been reading The Magic School Bus, Dragon Masters, Magic Tree House, and whatever is around (but staying away from Wings of Fire because it gives him nightmares after reading). We had a streak of mornings where he was obsessed with reading right when he wakes up. It was great because he was reading (and I actually mean that it was because he was occupied and not bothering anyone because he is usually the first one up!).

One night around dinnertime, C was reading a book out loud and the last word he said on the page was uncomfort. I corrected him and said it was uncomfortable. He was adamant about the word being uncomfort and doubled down on it. Being the adult, I also doubled down and explained that there was no such word as uncomfort. He told me that was writing on the page, so I came over to the book and glanced at the last word. I was uncomfort-ed.

C was smiling when I told him he was right. There was a hyphen and the -able was on the next page. Technically we were both right, but he had his moment because he was more right. This goes to show that adults don’t always know better and if more adults thought like that, maybe they might learn a thing or two from kids!