Living and Loving it: Our five-year-old has got a bit of me in her

Our girls are very much like their papa. They are jolly people, seek adventure and generally look at most days as bright and beautiful, to be enjoyed – except for the days the older one wants to sleep more and not go to school. They also do not do sickness well, especially the five-year-old. By and large though, they love life.

And I am happy about this because I prayed for it. I wanted them to take after their dad. I tend to ponder too much over things and worry for nothing sometimes. I am too cautious and deliberate over making decisions for too long. So I prayed the girls would be more open to opportunities and not be held back by such things.

To be truthful though, I was a little sad that they did not seem to take after me in any aspect. The five-year-old I am told looks quite a bit like me. But that was where it ended. None of them seems to have my thoughtful character, or my (fairly) quiet disposition. I cannot see any trait of simplicity, you know, where one enjoys the simple things in life and does not get frustrated if they are not able to get what they want at that moment.

Those were my thoughts until a few weeks ago.

Our eldest daughter has always loved reading. When she was younger, she would sit down with me every evening and try to read the newspapers or magazines I took home, even though she did not understand a thing. When they started learning the alphabet at school, she started pointing the letters out wherever she saw them, in the papers, on the billboard and on T-shirts.

About that time, one of her teachers said to me, “This girl is going to be just like her mother. She loves to read.”

A year down the road and I believe the teacher predicted right. The girl cannot spend the day without reading a book. They are given books to read over the weekend. Most times they ask we the parents to let them read aloud to us up to a certain page but that will not do for her. She starts from the cover, from the title onto struggling to read who the illustrations are by and who the publishing company is, right up to the end, finishing with the index.

Her dad bought her some books recently. Two are for five year olds. The rest are for seven, eight and 10-year olds. But she is already reading the one for seven year olds. Every night, she insists on reading two pages from her Bible, however tired either of us is. She is keen to do her homework that she gets every Friday, as she likes to read and write and even work on numbers (drawing however, is not a favourite subject. We might have to drop any future plans of art).

I cannot begin to tell you how terribly proud I am of her. An avid reader myself, I believe everyone must do some reading everyday, whether it is just a page in a novel, or a whole magazine. It does well for keeping your brain engaged as well as keeping you informed, and we all know how important the right information is these days.

I am basking in this similarity between us and intend to fan her interest.

Now on to find another similarity!

cbeyanga@ug.nationmedia.com