Final Kiddos & Books Story Time

This Saturday at The Common Cup - 1501 W. Morse, Chicago

11/21 @ 9:30am

Hope to see you there!

Article: Toddler Behavior - The Good, The Bad and The Picture Book

I have missed reading The New Yorker. Here are some excerpts from a fantastic overview of contemporary picture books that address toddler behavior.

Well worth the read. Key quotes:

"In this confrontation-averse age of parenting, in which the “escalation” of emotions is considered a mark of failure, a favorite way of inculcating discipline is the reading of picture books. The language of a good children’s story is precise and consistent, offering a genial way for parents to address misbehavior."

"Like the novel or the sitcom, the picture book records shifts in domestic life: newspaper-burrowing fathers have been replaced by eager, if bumbling, diaper-changers. Similarly, the stern disciplinarians of the past—in Robert McCloskey books, parents instruct children not to cry—have largely vanished. The parents in today’s stories suffer the same diminution in authority felt by the parents reading them aloud (an hour past bedtime). The typical adult in a contemporary picture book is harried and befuddled, scurrying to fulfill a child’s wishes and then hesitantly drawing the line. And the default temperament of the child is bratty, though often in a way so zesty and creative that the behavioral transgressions take on the quality of art."

"Many of today’s popular picture books don’t even bother with storytelling; they present misdeeds as pure spectacle."

"It goes without saying that we parents should love our children unconditionally, but the implication here is that the slightest gesture of sweetness trumps a day’s worth of belligerence."

Saturday Story Time

The View From The Chair

Scoot scoot
Spring has passed
Scamper scamper
Summer didn't last

Fidget fidget
Fall must be here
Wiggle wiggle
Winter is near

Books We Read:

Duck on a Bike

Mouse Paint

Click Clack Moo

Noted: Amelia Bedelia + Metaphors = Deep Thoughts

Took the words right out of my mouth

Thinking literally
Boston Globe, 9/27/09

Some tidbits:

"Metaphors aren’t just how we talk and write, they’re how we think...Deep down, we are all Amelia Bedelia."

"Friedrich Nietzsche scornfully described human understanding as nothing more than a web of expedient metaphors, stitched together from our shallow impressions of the world. In their ignorance, he charged, people mistake these familiar metaphors, deadened from overuse, for truths."

"...abstract thought would be meaningless without bodily experience. And primary metaphors, in their ubiquity (in English and other languages) and their physicality, are some of their most powerful evidence for this."

and of course,

"To the extent that metaphors reveal how we think, they also suggest ways that physical manipulation might be used to shape our thought."

Saturday Story Time

Visitors from outer space?!
Letters in a coconut tree chase?!
Extremes too preposterous to embrace?!
Story Time must be the place!

Books:

Beegu

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Fortunately


Songs:

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Sing After Me (Echo Song)

Book: Beegu

Beegu

by Alexis Deacon (author, illustrator)

Beegu Beegu in the sky

Trippy story gets me high

Slightly preachy E.T. tale

Lovely drawings still prevail

Beegu Beegu in the sky

Guess we’ll read this book tonight

Note: I did not expect this story about an alien crash-landing to be such a hit with Nick, but this is in regular rotation right now at bedtime. he message is simple enough - kids on this planet are sweet; the adults, not so much. Beegu looks a bit like a 3-eyed yellow rabbit crossed with the Shmoo, which, apparently, makes for a compelling protagonist.

Go figure.

Earth Day Schmerf Day

"Got Gaia?"

Up with Earth!
Of all things green!
Up with our planet!
Of the "eco-chic" scene!

Let's plant in our children
Seeds of hope and progress
And not terrify them
With nature's last gasp

Note: Nick just celebrated his 3rd B'Earth Day. But really, every morning when I see his face I am grateful for his existence. And while I get the idea of setting aside one day a year to raise awareness about the environment, I don't need an anvil to remind me that we live on a pretty cool planet and should take care of it.

Oh, and kids don't need that headache either.

Wall Street Journal columnist Meghan Cox Gurdon takes eco-writers to task in "Scary Green Monsters" - well worth the read for its on-target reviews of the most popular children's eco books.

I dig propoganda as much as the next one, but in my children's books, I like it light on the MESSAGE and heavy on the IMAGINATION.

(Thanks to Janice Harayda for the tip.)