(This is one of a series of posts in the Parentlode Book Club. You can also find a list of apps that help kids love to read or suggestions about what books they might like based on what they already love, or any of the other Bookclub offerings about how to help your children love to read).
The best books for young children are those that their parents also find charming. After all, children being lovers of repetition, you are likely to read any given book to them 97 million times. So it helps if you love it too.
Which brings us to the subject of children's books that parents hate. As I have learned writing about parenting over the years, we develop intense opinions and some dysfunctional relationships with the stories we read (or refuse to read) to our children every night.
Want to start an argument at preschool pickup? Mention any of the below. Click through and vote to let us know whether you love or hate them.
MORE PARENTLODE BOOK CLUB: If you're sick of reading the same old books, find new ideas and ways to read digitally here.
Well, of course both of your statements are true! I thought that was the point. ;)
My first made me read that one over and over and ....(..or was that my second...). Over and over and over....I never got tired of it. My first is going to college next year. If she asked me to read that book to her tonight, over and over and over, it would be one of the best things that ever happened to me. There was, somehow, so much about my own childhood that that book - which I never saw as a child - brought back.
So. If this list bummed you out, and for some reason you haven't tried "Wild Things" yet, do. If the nest's empty, you might actually ask them to come home so you can read it to them.
(Or not.)
1. "Oh, oh, you're overthinking them!" or "Oh, oh, don't you know about the deeper message?"
I suggest you guys talk to each other and find an accord. She is EITHER overthinking them OR she's NOT overthinking them (and thus missing the deeper message), but there's just no way she's doing both.
2. To tackle the overthinking part (aka the "Can't you just enjoy a book without analyzing it???" argument), this makes no sense to me. One of the fun things about books and movies and TV is that you bring your own perspective to it. I don't find it very fun to just read something and then go do something else. I enjoy thinking about it and forming opinions and trying to identify the hidden messages (even the unintentional ones). Maybe this isn't how everybody approaches media, but a lot of people do just that. To the rest of you, stop trying to ruin OUR fun. If we like to "overthink" and you don't, well, you enjoy these books in your own way.
And yes, everybody is criticizing the author for "thinking about it too much". Many of them with very strong language.
sexism is gender based discrimination. being a mother doesnt mean you cant be other things like business person or what ever you desire. so this isn't technically sexism against woman.
yes it doesn't help with that image that some in society cling to but I should point out it doesnt imply what a woman must do it merely places an association between women and parenting.
I
HCA may be the most depressing author in history. I heard his name so much, always spoken as if there were some sort of magic about him....then I READ him. OH MY GOD. I never read HCA to my kids, and would have refused on principle if they'd ever asked. I can't read my kids anything that depresses me.
So there you are. :-)
MY GOD. Folks. CONTEXT. Home invasion? The Cat In The Hat? HUNH?
That, plus.....most children now stop being children at like 5 years old. Between the tv programs (even the ones for kids are mostly horrible), video games, TV and peers at school (or older siblings, family members, etc) kids are growing up way too fast.
Being a child sadly isn't what it used to be.
"The Cat in the Hat" was said to be "the story of a home invasion, during which a fish is terrorized...," which makes more sense than kids inviting in their imagination, or any other interpretation?
Every point/comment you made only points out your own inability to make a point or teach a lesson. Not capitalizing on teaching opportunities is not the books fault fer crying out loud.
There is no controversy here. There are lessons to be learned in each of those books, YOU are supposed to be teaching those lessons and shaping their outlook and behavior and such. Thats sort of the whole point of parenthood I thought...
Except that there are other books that do that in a less creepy way, and make the point better. (Mind, I'm not sure what Shel Silverstein's message was in The Giving Tree, but I doubt it was the same one many people think.)
Nobody has enough money for an infinite library. They have to choose some books not to purchase. Why not choose to purchase another book if you're uncomfortable with that one?