Interesting vs. important; hard skill, teach them early.

Remember in school when you had to find the main idea?  If you were like me you highlighted the important parts as you read.  When you were done reading was the whole page highlighted?  Yep, that was me too.   I thought everything I read was important.  Guess what, they still teach that and it is still hard for kids to distinguish between what is important and what is interesting.  I am not suggesting that you teach a 4 or 5 year old how to determine the main idea.   I am suggesting that you plant that language in their brain through authentic situations.

In nonfiction books, authors write a lot of stuff that is really cool to get you hooked to keep reading.   That's the interesting part, not the main idea or important part.   Kids (and me) remember the really cool stuff and have a hard time distinguishing between the two.

Remember the inference lesson while standing in the checkout line?  That's what I am talking about; take a real life situation and plant language in your child's brain to build that background knowledge he or she will need later in school.

Recently my El Paso grandkids were coming to visit.  Parker, who is five, is a planner.  Weeks before they were coming he decided he would go ahead and pack.  He packed his suitcase and left it by the front door.  When his mother looked in it, you guessed, the suitcase was full of toys and books but no clothes.  She took the opportunity to informally teach interesting versus important.

She told him he had done a great job packing some really interesting things but what would be really important for a trip to G's house?   Things that he absolutely had to have?  There might be a problem if he didn't have it?  So they discussed the items in the suitcase, each time asking, Is this important or interesting?   Can I go to G's house if I have this or no?  Obviously, he really doesn't need anything because we could buy whatever he needed but it's the thinking process.  It would be interesting (or fun) to take his entire super hero collection, but not important because G has toys at her house.   It would be very important to take some clothes, though.   It's very important to take a pair of shoes.   Get the idea?

Where are you going or what are you doing that you could engage your child in a discussion of interesting or important?  Maybe you are going to the pool.  What is very important to take as opposed to what would be fun but it's okay if you don't have it?  Going on a walk?  It's important to take your keys and some water.  It would be fun (or interesting) to have your camera, but it's not important.

The fun part is weeks later when you are getting ready to do something and your child initiates the interesting and important conversation.  What's even more fun is when your child goes to school with the background knowledge to determine what is interesting and what is important when he or she reads.

In my example, my El Paso grandkids coming to visit and Parker packing weeks in advance was interesting but not important to my message.   Did you catch that?   I knew you would.