Sounding out

Danielle Bean has a nice article in which she analogizes the process of learning to read with the process of raising children. An excerpt:

I sometimes feel that my day-to-day life has a lot in common with the painful process of learning to read. It's easy for me to get lost in the tiny tasks that fill my days: Change this diaper. Fold these clothes. Chop these vegetables. Sweep this floor. Grade this math work. With my attention on these smaller tasks alone, though, I risk losing sight of the whole picture of my motherly vocation. All the little things a mother does in a day are necessary parts that make up a whole, just as learning letters and sounding out m-u-d was a necessary part of Stephen's first sentence.

Read the whole thing here.