Day Care and Stephen King

StephenKing.com - On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

What does Stephen King have to do with day care? I've never read his books because The Shining and Misery scared me to death. I loved Stand by Me. I thought what kind of man can write such scary stories? Along the way I heard he was in a band with Dave Barry, the Miami humor columnist. Hmm, maybe he wasn't scary.

Then at the Willamette Writers Conference I picked up his book On Writing.

Stephen spent first grade either in bed or housebound. He was six. There was no television. He read as he put it "approximately six tons of comic books" then progressed to Tom Swift...then moved on to Jack London. Six years old. He learned to write first by copying "Combat Casey comics word for word." He would add his own words of description from time to time.

When he showed his mom his copycat hybrids she liked it and said, "I bet you could do better. Write one of your own." When he did, his mother laughed in all the right places, the places he hoped she'd laugh. She paid him a quarter for his story. Then bought the next three. "That was the first buck I made in the business."

Stephen and his brother Dave had some horrible babysitters. His mom had to work. This is the thing about little ones, this is what I tell people in my classes, kids don't know if they are being abused if no one tells them what abuse is so the boys didn't report what was going on. He had one babysitter he described this way: "When I see those hidden camera sequences where real life babysitters and nannies just all of sudden wind up and clout the kids, it's my days with Eula-Beluah I always think of."

Eula tricked Stephen at age four into eating seven eggs. When he started throwing up, she laughed, she hit him upside his head, threw him in the closet and locked the door. His mother came home found her asleep and Stephen locked in the closet.

This belief that learning to learn to read is hard is not accurate. The public education system started in 1854 began the slide down, the dumbing down of America. Teachers are not aware of it anymore than many parents are aware of it. I wasn't aware of it when my son was in the first grade. Heck, now I know my father wasn't aware of it and he had an I.Q. of 149.

When my grandsons were in the first grade I read John Taylor Gatto's book, The Underground History of America Education and thus helped them by making secret code books. The boys started to love to read. They loved going to the library and they picked out books that didn't have pictures.

One day I was hanging out with them. The boys were allowed to ride their bikes on the sidewalks. I looked out the window and saw the oldest one reading a book while riding his bike. Sweet.

Remember in To Kill a Mockingbird Atticus was very brave in facing the whole county in representing a black man, but he couldn't stand up to Scout's teacher when Scout got in trouble at school for all ready knowing how to read. He didn't stand up for her...for his child. This is profound. It was the 1930s just after Dick and Jane came on the scene. Borrow Gatto's book from the library find out about old Dick and Jane.

It's that history we don't understand.

Whenever we can create joy and engagement with children they will be right there, right with us when we create that environment from which that can happen. Reach for the sky and let the kids reach for the sky.

And read Stephen King's book for inspiration.