The other day Max and I were watching PBS. The show had a version of the Little Red Hen story. You know--the one where the hen needs to make bread and none of her friends would help her. They keep saying "Not I, Not I" to everything she asks for. Except then when she asks who will help her eat the food they all say they will. And she says no.
And the idea is that when somebody hears this story they'll realize that they need to help, right?
Well later that day I needed to make dinner. And I wanted to give Max something to do. So I asked him to come and help me make dinner. Guess what he said? Yep, "Not I" In those very words. You can imagine that didn't make me too happy.
And I thought, WOW. Can a story with a moral like that just completely fail? Fail so much that somehow it teaches him to do the opposite thing?
It reminded me of my parents friends a long time ago. Their little daughter loved the Sound of Music and watched it all the time. But did she love and pretend to be a Von Trap child? Or Maria? No. She pretended to be a nazi. She wore a little black leather jacket someone had given them all the time, and she would say "Heil Hitler" to people.
Not exactly the message the Sound of Music was going for.
So I'm thinking we'll be talking through the things we read and watch for a while. Let's get the right message, shall we?
Goofball.
9 comments:
Maybe he was just thinking he didn't want to eat your dinner... so if he didn't help he wouldn't have to eat it. jk.
This reminds me of Beth's older brother who only wanted to have church movies in his home to protect his children from worldly influences. But do you know what scene his daughter decided to reinact? The one where the girl takes off her clothes to seduce the missionary in The Other Side of Heaven. They always pick up on what you don't want them to... :-)
When I was reading this story to isobel, she couldn't stop talking about how mean the Little Red Hen was for not sharing at the end. I guess she didn't quit get it either.
You just needed to follow up with the rest of the story - when it was time for dinner, you needed to say, "Sorry. You can't share in it." Then the moral would have come through loud and clear. You KNOW I would have done exactly that. But then, I'm the meanest mother on the planet.
Oh, carie. How I love Isobel. LOL
That is really funny. At least Max isn't the Nazi child.
Max is hilarious. I like him. And you. :)
My son often seems to identify with the monsters in movies and stories and feels bad when they get killed.
I can't tell you how many movies or stories my kids have done exactly that or like in the case of this story, have been mad at the little red hen for not sharing cuz wee shware mommy!
Yes, I let Bryce watch Ghostbusters. The unedited version (mistake #1). One day I asked him what Ghostbusters say (mistake #2). I was thinking somewhat along the lines of "I'm not afraid of no ghosts." But no. He said the expletive that begins with an "s" LOUD and CLEAR. With the same emphasis as the Ghostbusters. They say that when the giant Sta-Puffed marshmallow man starts to destroy the city. This scene terrified him and he would always run into the kitchen or go behind the couch until the Ghostbuster toasted him with their backpacks and whatever the weapon was called. Bryce had a backpack too. First, it was a cardboard box we made for Halloween, then the "real" plastic version. We never rented it or watched it again until it came out on TV, then we taped the edited version.
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