As I have mentioned on several occasions, one of the toughest parts of being a parent (for me) is trying to teach Addi right from wrong. It's such a hard job, and anyone and everyone has an opinion on how to stop her from hitting, biting, yelling, lying, etc. Finding the right approach that will work for your kids is pretty tough... Just walk through Walmart on a Saturday afternoon and you can see examples of parenting gone bad on any given aisle.
Basically, I am always looking for ideas to ensure my girls don't hold up a liquor store one day. So, when I got invited to an Usborne book party and saw a set of books with the description "Cautionary tales for children everywhere to warn of the perils of behaving badly and not doing what you're told," you can bet I snatched those bad boys up faster than you can say "time out". Addi loves to read each night before bed, so I excitedly waited for these illustrated life lessons to hit my mailbox, knowing that she would be a better person because of them.
And then they showed up. Wow.
The first one we read together was titled "Give that back, Jack!" Addi has trouble sharing, so this one seemed like a definite winner. Jack, like Addi, likes to take things from other kids, so I was very interested in seeing exactly HOW Addi would learn the joy of sharing.
Apparently, in this children's book, if you don't share, you get eaten by a snake. A LARGE snake.
I hoped this was a mistake, just a bedtime tale gone bad, so on to "Don't tell lies, Lucy" we went. And Lucy got swept off to sea by a tidal wave. Then, Billy the bully got taken into outer space by an alien. The tamest of them all was Graham, who was greedy.... he got carried off by pigs to live on a farm, which on some days doesn't sound like a bad place to send a two year old.
Addi, of course, LOVES these books. Each night she yells out "Billy!" or "Lucy!" and demands we read them to her. Needless to say, it's pretty difficult to tell her straight faced to behave or risk ending up like one of her storybook friends, so we are back to gentle persuasion and begging for good behavior. Although, if she had ever seen an episode of the X-Files, these books might actually work.
Basically, I am always looking for ideas to ensure my girls don't hold up a liquor store one day. So, when I got invited to an Usborne book party and saw a set of books with the description "Cautionary tales for children everywhere to warn of the perils of behaving badly and not doing what you're told," you can bet I snatched those bad boys up faster than you can say "time out". Addi loves to read each night before bed, so I excitedly waited for these illustrated life lessons to hit my mailbox, knowing that she would be a better person because of them.
And then they showed up. Wow.
The first one we read together was titled "Give that back, Jack!" Addi has trouble sharing, so this one seemed like a definite winner. Jack, like Addi, likes to take things from other kids, so I was very interested in seeing exactly HOW Addi would learn the joy of sharing.
Apparently, in this children's book, if you don't share, you get eaten by a snake. A LARGE snake.
I hoped this was a mistake, just a bedtime tale gone bad, so on to "Don't tell lies, Lucy" we went. And Lucy got swept off to sea by a tidal wave. Then, Billy the bully got taken into outer space by an alien. The tamest of them all was Graham, who was greedy.... he got carried off by pigs to live on a farm, which on some days doesn't sound like a bad place to send a two year old.
Addi, of course, LOVES these books. Each night she yells out "Billy!" or "Lucy!" and demands we read them to her. Needless to say, it's pretty difficult to tell her straight faced to behave or risk ending up like one of her storybook friends, so we are back to gentle persuasion and begging for good behavior. Although, if she had ever seen an episode of the X-Files, these books might actually work.
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