Tales of Despereaux and GOM

In case you didn’t know, I’m at my home-away- from-home in Vancouver with LOML. It’s been two years since we were last here. Not much has changed in the neighbourhood. However, the volume of toys inhabiting the apartment has been drastically reduced. Granddaughter of mine is no longer a baby and doesn’t need baby toys anymore—or so she says. I haven’t seen GOM since January, when she and her parents visited the County during the Christmas break.

I suppose the biggest change in this neighbourhood is in GOM. In less than a year, she has grown a couple of inches. She sports a gap where two of her front teeth used to be, and she is more generous with her hugs and kisses. She has become something of a crossword and wordsearch expert, often helping LOML and I with our cryptic challenge in the morning. Her vocabulary is quite astonishing and sometimes she uses a well-placed, but softly spoken, “damn” when things don’t go as she had planned. Her knowledge of gemstones, general science, sewing and architecture has expanded. And at six years of age, she challenges a grownup’s notion of how a primary school student should behave and how much they should know. She and I have decided she must be an unconventional thinker and a bit of a nonconformist. Neither of us find this nonconformity or the detour from convention a problem. But our opinion, apparently, isn’t the one that counts during the school day. It’s difficult to be different, especially in a classroom.

Yep, being a six-year-old nonconformist, and an unconventional thinker is problematic in a world where the encouragement and support of creative thinkers is a great idea—on paper. But, teachers have far too many children in their classrooms to adequately deal with those, like GOM, who function on different levels. The conventional primary educational system doesn’t have the space, the time or resources for a six-yearold who can read as well as a 14- year-old, and whose comprehension of the material is close to that level, too.
Teachers are stretched to the limit just to teach to the norm. GOM is quiet and doesn’t get caught up with playground politics. She’s bored with grade-one level books, but hasn’t been encouraged to bring a book from her own library into the classroom. Her reading comprehension is quite astonishing. She has been taught phonics and grammar, and knows to to use a dictionary or a thesaurus when she’s flummoxed by a new word.

During this visit, GOM and I are reading and discussing The Tale of Despereaux. The book was chosen because a knowledgeable young woman at a Belleville bookstore said it was the best choice for the child we described. Little did I know how appropriate this novel would be for GOM and her adventures in the world of grade one.

Books have always been a comfort for LOML and me, so now it’s no surprise that books are a refuge for GOM too. So far this visit, we have done a lot of things, but this book and the creation of a word list has been the most interesting. Currently, the word list includes perfidy, ominous, dungeon, adieu, cripes, love and conformist—all words from The Tale of Despereaux.

GOM has done me and LOML a favour during this visit. She has taught us there are people in this world whose thought processes are not what we understand and accept as normal. She taught us to be patient while her lunch congeals as a book or weather map holds her captive. She has taught us not to be so quick to label people who do not fit the everyday mould.

“I’m just an average kid,” GOM told me, as she looked up from the newspaper and then explained how mountains and ocean currents affect weather. “I’m just an average kid.”

No other labels need be applied.

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca