Since I’m a play-at-home mommy, I spend a lot of time reading children’s books and occasionally watch a few children’s PBS shows. I’m pretty picky about books and shows that I let Drew read and watch.
That means he watches Dexter regularly and we read murder mysteries before bedtime.
JUST KIDDING.
We actually love Word World (he can’t stand Sesame Street and I’m not a big fan either). And Tigger & Pooh. And we read a gargantuan amount of children’s books.
Drew was given a collection of books for Christmas that he has fallen in love with – mostly because they have stickers sheets in the front.
But I’ve been really bothered by one of the books titled I’m Sorry. I can appreciate the theme of the book – children need to have manners. But the story is rather awful, I think. And not just awful like most Christian fiction, but awful because it is WRONG.
This is the poem throughout the book:
What naughty monkeys at the zoo!
They’re dropping their food and throwing it, too.
The monkeys don’t speak, but if they could,
they should say sorry for not being good.If you drop your food like the monkeys do…
What should you say?
Say “I’m sorry!” too.What noisy hippos at the zoo!
They’ve woken the sleepy old gnu.
The hippos don’t speak, but if they could,
they should say sorry for not being good.If you make a noisy hullabaloo…
What should you say?
Say “I’m sorry!” too.What silly penguins at the zoo!
They’re splashing the lions and the tigers, too.
The penguins don’t speak, but if they could,
they should say sorry for not being good.If you splash your friends when you shouldn’t do…
What should you say?
Say “I’m sorry!” too.What grumpy zebras at the zoo!
They’re pushing in front of the kangaroo.
The zebras don’t speak, but if they could,
They should say sorry for not being good.If you push someone like the zebras do…
What should you say?
Say “I’m sorry!” too.None of the animals in the zoo
know good manners like you do.
But just imagine if they could…
What should they say for not being good?“Sorry!”
Is it just me or is this book teaching that animals are bad for…being animals?!
I will certainly teach Drew that we don’t throw food unless it’s a proper Food Fight, and that being noisy is best when we are at home and it’s just with Mommy and Daddy, and that splashing is FINE when you are in water, and that grumpiness is a normal feeling and instead of pushing other kids around, that pushing his stuffed animals or pillows is best. Or, just don’t push.
But using animals that have these completely natural instincts that aren’t “morally wrong” to teach children manners – seriously? Am I the only one who thinks this is weird and wrong?
This morning while we were eating breakfast, Drew asked if we could “peese boo boo.” I smiled and said sure, so we carried our breakfast into the living room and curled up on the couch and slowly woke up while watching Thomas the Tank Engine and eating yummy cereal and bananas and cheerios and juice and okay, so we ate a lot.
But this particular episode of Thomas the Tank Engine completely floored me.
The episode starts with Thomas’ driver mentioning that Thomas could probably manage without him because the engine knows the route so well. Thomas gets pretty cocky about it and giggles to his friends that he knows he could totally drive his route without a driver. Both of his friends tell him that he is crazy but Thomas starts to waken early the next morning when he feels warm coal inside of him.
Thomas decides that he’s going to prove to his driver and his friends that he really CAN do the whole route on his very own. His plan is to start out early before they wake up. He starts moving but the only reason he is moving is because a careless cleaner had meddled with his controls. But Thomas starts to panic because he realizes he can’t toot his horn or use his brakes. He keeps rolling along, gaining momentum, until he slams into the Station Master’s house!
The Station Master’s family was about to have breakfast. The house rocks, glass goes everywhere, and Thomas’s nose smashes right into the table where they are sitting. The Station Master is furious and his wife sharply criticizes Thomas by saying, “you miserable engine! Just look what you’ve done to our breakfast! I shall have to cook some more!”
The narrator of the episode said “Thomas felt depressed.” Ha. No kidding.
Two Scottish twin engines, Donald and Douglas, arrive and pull Thomas back onto the tracks. They laugh at him and leave him there. And when Thomas arrives at the train yard, there is worse to come.
His driver says “you are in a lot of trouble! You must go to the works and have your front mended. And a diesel rail car will do your work.”
Thomas balks and says, “a DIESEL CAR?”
“Yes, a diesel car. They always stay in their sheds until they are wanted. Diesels never galavant off to breakfast in their Station Master’s houses.”
And then, THE STORY ENDS. That’s all.
I just sat there and stared. Seriously???
Thomas only left the train yard because a stupid cleaner meddled with his controls!!! And yet he got criticized, laughed at, and ended up depressed. And don’t even get me started on the whole “a DIESEL CAR?” Discrimination, anyone?
Drew really thought the episode was hilarious and shouted “WHEELS!” every time the train rolled by and he thought the wreck at the Station Master’s house was funny.
I don’t think he was harmed by viewing it. 🙂
But between the manners book, and this episode, AUGH. Am I being paranoid? Aren’t both of these potentially harmful for a child to read or watch? Or am I just being silly and need to get back to finishing watching Dexter?
Every time I watch Dexter… I love it yet am bothered that I’m pulling for the serial killer. It makes me feel guilty while enjoying the plot line at the same time.
I think you’re completely correct to think along these lines! I think the same way you do given what you told us. Sheesh! Just more evidence for me that I should know what my kid is seeing/reading in case I need to correct or explain some of the messages.
I know what you mean, Joe. I haven’t seen a LOT of Dexter. I keep wanting to start at the beginning and watch it all but I haven’t. It’s a pretty good show, imho.
And beck, I was hoping you all would see that I’m not just being paranoid and weird – going through Drew’s books with a magic marker, looking for the moral errors that I can ELIMINATE. 😛 I just thought who on earth produced that episode and who wrote that book?! Could they have seriously not seen the problems that I did?
😉 Anyway. Glad I’m not alone.
Oh my gosh! I wouldn’t want my kids reading that book either. To me, the book was saying, go ahead and do something like this, but make sure you say, “I’m Sorry” because that will make it okay. As for Thomas… I hadn’t seen that episode, but I’ve had some problems with some other episodes. These make for some good discussions about what was wrong with the story though. At first, when we’d see something that I didn’t like, I would just mention it to the kids and talk about what I thought was wrong, but now I find them bringing things up before I do. You are doing very well with Drew and he’ll surprise you in a few years by saying, “Mom, he shouldn’t be doing that” or “They shouldn’t be blaming him for all of that since it wasn’t just his fault” or whatever.
We were given a book for Amie a few years ago that seemed harmless enough. A biography because she loves reading those. I usually read through books before she does to make sure there isn’t anything in them that I don’t want her to read, but she read it before me and then came to me and said, “Mom, I don’t like this book. Please read it so we can talk about it.” It was about some woman who was very anti-Christian, anti-marriage, and anti-children. She thought women who got married and became moms were spine-less and it came through very strongly in the book. If I’d gotten ahold of that book beforehand, I probably would have never let Amie read it, but we had a really great discussion and I was proud of her for being able to read this and come to me and talk about it. I’m still very, very cautious about movies, TV shows, and books, but I feel that if something slips through that my kids are prepared and I know that you are doing well preparing Drew. Keep it up, Jennifer and Daniel! That boy has awesome parents.