About five years ago, my eldest son was enjoying the last few weeks of summer before starting kindergarten.
One night, while reading a bedtime story together, it hit me—he wasn’t recognizing any words when I encouraged him to try. Not even the simple ones.
That familiar wave of mom-guilt crept in. Somewhere along the way, I’d absorbed the idea that kids should be able to read a few basic words before kindergarten. I worried that I hadn’t focused enough on “sight words”—those little connecting helper words like the, and, is, to, was and so on.
After some quick research, I learned these high-frequency words appear so often in books—and don’t always follow regular phonics rules—that it helps when children memorize them by sight.
So, I dove in. We started reading together every night, pointing out the sight words and recalling them as they appeared on the next page. I figured if we repeated them enough times, it would eventually click.
But it didn’t. Not right away.
Then a wise friend told me something that stuck: “When it comes to learning, kids are like popcorn—they pop when they’re ready.”
And that really clicked for me.
My son went off to kindergarten, and in his own time, began recognizing and reading those sight words. Before long, he was reading full books on his own, curled up before bed, softly reading aloud just for the joy of it.
That moment shifted something in me. “Have a little more trust in the universe,” I whispered to myself.
My firstborn taught me to have faith in the natural rhythm of learning and development. But then—my universe tested me again. With twins. Boy-girl twins, who I’ve been told countless times not to compare to one another. And yet, that’s easier said than done.
When you give life to two beings who once shared a womb—who’ve been in sync since their very first heartbeat—it’s hard not to compare. But as fraternal twins, they only share a birthday.
They’ve always had their own pace, their own way. My boy twin, Liam, was born one minute earlier and has often been weeks (sometimes months) ahead in things like crawling, walking and coordination. Mila, on the other hand, has always led with personality—sass, confidence and independence. She’s the boss, and he’s her biggest supporter.
My husband and I sometimes catch ourselves comparing their development to where our eldest was at that age and then remind ourselves that it’s neither constructive nor fair. They had completely different starting lines.
Twins often show what’s called developmental trading—one may advance in language while the other excels in physical or social skills, balancing each other out over time. They also tend to communicate more with each other than with adults, using shared cues, gestures or even their own mini language (which I can absolutely attest to!).
It’s one of my favourite parts of being a twin mom—even if it sometimes makes their speech appear delayed when, in truth, they’re communicating beautifully in their own way.
Now, a few months into kindergarten, I’ve noticed some of those same old worries creeping back in—especially around reading. But this time, I’m doing my best to quiet them. Because what I’ve learned about learning is that our children are our teachers, too. They’ve taught me to slow down, to have faith and to trust the process of popcorn—because they’re always learning. And they’ll pop when they’re ready.
