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.
