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Dear Reader,
Deborah Reber, today's guest author, is a New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and the founder of TiLT Parenting, a website, podcast, and global online community for parents raising differently wired children. Her TiLT Parenting Podcast--on which she interviews high-profile thought leaders in parenting and education--has grown to be a top podcast in iTunes' Kids and Family category, with more than 350,000 downloads. Her newest book is Differently Wired: Raising an Exceptional Child in a Conventional World. She hopes it sparks a revolution that will change the way neurologically atypical children experience the world.
Prior to launching TiLT, Debbie spent fifteen years writing inspiring books for teen girls, including her most recent, Doable: The Girls' Guide to Accomplishing Just About Anything. In 2013, she moved to Amsterdam, where she lives with her husband, Derin, and homeschools her 13-year-old son, Asher.
Three copies of Differently Wired: Raising an Exceptional Child in a Conventional World are waiting to be sent to readers. Enter the drawing right now. Email: [email protected]
Welcome to the book club Deborah...
I've always considered myself to be a lifelong learner. Yet, when we moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 2013, I had zero intention of learning Dutch. For starters, we didn't plan to stay more than a few years, so it didn't seem worth the effort to tackle a language with so many vowels, five-syllable words, and a difficult-to-recreate guttural "g" sound. And in a city where fifty-one percent of the residents are expats--more than 170 nationalities are represented here--English is the common denominator that keeps everything flowing. Truth be told, it's easy enough to get by without learning a single word of Nederlands.
But once we realized we'd be staying longer than we'd anticipated, I decided I wasn't okay with not learning Dutch. Not only did it feel disrespectful to expect the natives to speak my language just so I could order food or make a haircut appointment, but I was suddenly sparked by the idea of becoming fluent in a new language as an adult. In fact, mastering Dutch in my mid-forties felt like mission impossible. Which is probably why I made it my new goal.
I dove into several language apps and made slow and steady (and slow) progress. (Did I mention it was slow?). Twelve months later, I challenged myself to only speak Dutch anytime I was out "in the world"--at the grocery store, in a cafe, at the bike shop; a decision which led to many apologies and embarrassments. A year later, I hired a Dutch tutor and my learning took on a new trajectory, one in which split and reflexive verbs (schiedbare en reflexieven werkwoorden) would nearly push me over the edge, followed by small, and satisfying, breakthroughs. Overall, learning Dutch has been a very two steps forward, one step back kind of thing.
Today, I'm five years in. And truth be told? I thought I'd be fluent by now. But I'm not. In fact, learning Dutch has been harder than I ever could have imagined. My usual learning strategies haven't worked. And my breakthroughs have come out of a willingness to fail, over and over. Which is why learning Dutch has also become the perfect accompaniment to the other biggest challenge of my life--parenting and homeschooling a differently wired child.
Ultimately, they both require letting go of control. Trusting in the process. And getting used to being uncomfortable. Which is somehow perfect. Because that's the kind of learning I'll hold onto, long after we've packed up our bags and said Tot Ziens to the Netherlands.
--Deborah Reber
Email Deborah at [email protected] for a chance to win a copy of Differently Wired: Raising an Exceptional Child in a Conventional World.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
KIDS BUZZ: Two books: SUMMER SUPPER by Rubin Pfeffer, a bold and graphic farm-to-table story, told entirely in words beginning with the letter "s" for kids ages 3-7; and Barbara Dee's EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT YOU, a novel for ages 9-13 about a timely, important topic told in an entertaining kid-friendly way. For a chance to win a free copy and learn more, see http://www.authorbuzz.com/kidsbuzz.
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