A Parenting Lesson Learned:

It dawned on me while reading “Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale”, by Mo Willems. Many children’s books seem written for parents, as well as children.

In this story the child is screaming, kicking and yelling to get the father’s attention. The father continues to drag the child from the laundry, through the park to their house. The whole time the child is trying to let his/her father know that Knuffle Bunny is at the laundry. This could have been avoided if the father tried to understand exactly why the child was yelling. Instead, he pushed on, getting upset at the child and forcing him/her back to the house. All he had to do was kneel down, look the child in the eye and try to understand what was making the child upset. Instead of assuming the child was being “a child” and needed to dragged home.

After noticing this and taking the time to process and understand this, it kept coming up. The next time it stuck out was in a “Berenstain Bears” book. Mother Bear had to step in to tell Papa Bear not to lose him temper, as that wouldn’t set a good example to the cubs. Paraphrasing here: Yelling is no way to get a child to listen or understand, that will make them hurt or upset.

There it is again. A lesson for the parents, in a child’s book. These are two examples of noticing this. Once I became aware of this, it started popping up all over. When reading books to my daughter, I now pay attention to what its trying to teacher her. As well as what the story is trying to teach me.

Not every book is going to work this way, as nothing is all encompassing. Paying attention to what is being taught to the parent, has made me pay better attention to the story in general. I’m learning what it is trying to teacher her. How many of us could use a refresher in being more kind? Paying better attention to those around us? Having better manors? Listening more?

Being a parent isn’t easy. Being a person isn’t either.