Do parents of today let their kids read "Curious George"?

[jmowreader]

Today my wife went to a craft store. I went with her.

Because I was bored, I was flipping through the copy of "Curious George" they had on display. (Hopefully this book is a metaphor for the Bush administration, because after they caught George they put him in jail, then in a zoo.)

In this book is one page about George in the Man In The Yellow Hat's home: "after a good meal and a good pipe, George was very sleepy."

And there was a picture of George smoking a pipe!

Now understand, in the era when the book was written it was perfectly normal to smoke a pipe after dinner, and I doubt any children were led to smoking by reading this book...but today's era isn't that era.

[Redstone]

1. I always hated those fucking books. Their consistent message is this:

"It doesn't matter how badly you fuck things up because of being stupid or greedy or impulsive, as long as you TRY to clean up the mess afterward."

I, for one, don't think that's the right message to convey to kids.

Redstone

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. I guess you've got your answer, jmow.

Redstone, I can't remember, were you the person who didn't want his/her kids watching Disney films because they weretrite remakes of age-old fairy tales, and didn't want the kids reading fairy tales because they were too violent?

[Redstone]

3. No, that wasn't me. You're letting your dislike of me, for whatever reason

you have it, make you look for things to attack me about, and finding the wrong ones.

Sorry, but this time you're barking up the wrong tree. Maybe it's time for you to clean up your "Redstone's Faults" database?

Redstone

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. I don't like you?!

:cry:

Must have been another "red."

:shrug:

After searching: OK, it was Crim son.

:rofl:

[Redstone]

5. Guess so.

Redstone

[Redstone]

12. Gee, SO happy it was her and not me. I'd not ever want to be the target

of your disapproval, after all.

And I'll send her my sympathy for the fact that you disapprove of her as well. She must be devastated about that.

Redstone

[crim son]

14. Yeah, I just read his post and now I need to go take

a valium. Ouch!

[idgiehkt]

9. not getting in between anything here

but I have to say...Fairy tales are fucked up. I read some when I got older and I was utterly and completely horrified.

[Redstone]

11. They're damn grim when you read them from the perspective of

adulthood. As are the "Nursery Rhymes."

I mean, "rock-a-by baby?" Singing to a kid about how he or she will fall out of a tree in his or her cradle? Is that sick enough?

Is it the kind of thing that will make the kid WANT to go to sleep?

Redstone

[crim son]

16. And they are too religious, violent

and misogynistic. But I read the originals as a child and never noticed or cared about any of that. Nor did I end up being either religious, angry, or a womanly doormat as a consequence of my readings.

[crim son]

13. Nope, that was me.

Although you aren't quite remembering the conversation as I do. :think:

[reyd reid reed]

6. My oldest and my youngest are HUGE Curious George fans

And so what if he smokes a pipe? He floats around holding on to big bunches of balloons too, and the kids have been able to tell what's what. He's a classic. And we've built more than one newspaper boat together, thanks to Curious George.

:hi:

[RiffRandell]

7. I liked the books when I was a kid, but

now that I'm older and wiser, I hate the fact this guy took a monkey from his natural habitat to stick him behind bars in a zoo.

[LeftyMom]

8. That's why I like Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr Seuss so much

Horton gets captured by men with guns (it's Seuss, so they're goofy musket-looking things) who take him to the circus, but in the end they realize how great he is and where he belongs and they take him home.

[LisaM]

10. Curious George does lots of things that aren't very realistic

The whole scenario of his life with the Man With the Yellow Hat is kind of odd.

I don't think the point of the book is that bad behavior gets rewarded. It's that it's natural to be interested in the world around you and important for the people in charge to encourage it and not flip out. I know some people named George who could do with a little more curiousity.

[crim son]

15. PBS is now showing an animated Curious George cartoon.

I've allowed my kids to read the books. The man in the yellow hat has stolen a monkey from the jungle, and he smokes. I've had to explain the historical context. Otherwise, Curious George doesn't bother me.