4-7: Unforgettable Firsts
Life is a neverending experience of personal firsts. But when we're in
the 4-to-7 age range, we really start to remember many of these events in
great detail (a child's first words and steps are things that parents
remember and later tell their kids about). And during the precious years
between birthdays No. 4 and 7 — a time when most everything in the world is new and awe-inspiring, and when our personalities and interests truly begin to take shape — life's firsts are numerous, sometimes humorous and often
momentous.
It's a time when most children first read a book on their own. Mine was the
P.D. Eastman-illustrated "Are You My Mother?" I vividly recall reading it during a one-on-one session with my kindergarten teacher, who sat beside me and helped out with the more difficult words. Wanna know which word gave me the most trouble? Mother, believe it or not. Each time I saw that grouping of six letters in a sentence, I would stop in my tracks, prompting my teacher to put her index finger on the word and say it for me. I'm happy to report that my mother never held a grudge over this, and I've since been able to recognize this unit of language, using it quite often in writing and in conversation. In fact, I've been known to place a choice expletive after it when I yell at someone who has cut me off on the highway.
American boys often are introduced to organized sports between the ages of 4
to 7. When I was 5, I attended my first baseball game — a 1974 contest
between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles. I found out right away
that I wasn't afraid of heights, as my Uncle Jay and I sat waaaaaay up high in
the upper deck that summer afternoon in New York. Also on that day, I learned
the basics of competition and athleticism, along with the feelings that go
along with victory and defeat. Shortly thereafter, my parents learned that
their oldest son was addicted to baseball — the Yankees, in particular — and who in later years could recall obscure details about players and games but was unable to remember his curfew or when it was his turn to take out the garbage.
The events differ from person to person, but everybody has a file of his or
her unforgettable firsts from ages 4 to 7 and knows how important they were in
shaping the course of one's life — for better or for worse. Hell, had my
parents not been close by our neighbor's pool that afternoon I decided on my
own to try swimming for the first time, someone else might be writing this
segment instead of me.
— Chris M. Junior (chrisjr@mindspring.com)
