fuzzynecromancer:

literallyaflame:

when i was a little kid, i didn’t care for movies. my parents always admonished me for sitting too close to the screen or fidgeting too much, so i turned to books instead. when i was four, i tried to watch the first harry potter movie. i absolutely loved it, but it wasn’t enough for me. i had to get my hands on that book. the teachers at pre-school said it was a horrible idea, but i read the first two books anyway.

then came kindergarten. the teachers scolded my parents for letting me bring novels to school. “she can’t possibly understand them,” they said. so they gave me tests on the books. i made perfect scores on all of them. i preferred books to movies and television; movies didn’t do justice to the stories i loved.

so, they marked me down as a “gifted child.” they tested my IQ and everything. i was the perfect student, in their eyes. i sat in the front and listened to the teachers as intently as i could.

one day after school, i ran up to my mother and hugged her. then, i turned my head and saw my mother walking towards me. i looked up at the woman i had hugged. “you’re not my mother,” i said, astutely.

my mother, a clever woman, thought to have my eyesight tested. turns out, i had horrible vision. somewhere around 20/450. functionally blind without glasses. not ideal for anyone, especially a six year old.

all my life until that point, people thought i must be some sort of brilliant prodigy, eschewing television and movies for more intellectual pursuits, but actually i just couldn’t fucking see lol

This took a different direction than I was expecting.

This is such a good story and weirdly relateable to me:

I wasn’t a great student in early elementary school. I couldn’t read until 2nd grade, and though I aced a test that year, I still couldn’t spell. We’d never had a tv, and i went to an alternative school where there were no desks.

Then came third grade, a new school, and most importantly, new Hebrew school, where I had to read things on a board.

No one could figure out why I did so well on tests and reading, but couldn’t get anything from lessons.

Then they realized I couldn’t see the board. Not at all. In one year I went from being one of the worst, the slow kids, to being in the most advanced group, all cause I got glasses.

Moral of these stories: get your kids’ eyesight tested.