A Brief Literary Criticism
My children have started referring to each other as "brother worker" and "sister worker." If they weren't still so possessive of their toys, I might think they were becoming little communists.
Of course, if they were to become communists, l would blame Dr. Suess for his subversive messages of respect, equality, and environmentalism.
There is a lot for which I could blame the good doctor: a couple of months ago, Jettie was so far behind other twenty-month-olds in broad mastery of vocabulary words that my sister was recommending we pursue speech therapy. We read to her every night, but I worried that maybe the book selection was a little beyond a one year old's ability. (Josh, tired of reading kid favorites again and again, had moved on to The Hobbit.) Sure enough, one week after I bought Hop On Pop, the "Simplest Suess for Youngest Use," she began using real, little, dictionary endorsed words. She hasn't been quiet since.
Henry, on the other hand, sometimes stops using dictionary words altogether.
"Do you want some cereal?" I ask him.
"Cereal pereal hobble dobble" he tells me.
As I pour the Cheerios he expounds,"hobble dobble is a way of adding milk and honey to your cereal."
"And pereal?"
"that means Cheerios, and also let me put the honey on top."
We tell him that it is important that he use real words, to help Jettie speak properly.
"Can you say cat?" he prompts, "can you say box?"
"Can you say grocery store?"
As far as I can tell, the non-English words in which Dr. Suess dabbles are the major causes of concern for some educators. A couple of weeks ago we borrowed "Wocket in My Pocket" from the library. At checkout, the librarian leaned in and quietly told me that she "wasn't sure why kids liked Dr. Suess so much" as she was "pretty sure that he was making up some of those words."
As long as I can get a translation for my son's own diction, l really don't mind the doctor's liberal rhyming license.
What I do mind is when the little girl - almost fluent in English and equally proficient in snaps - uses her skills to remove all of her clothing and then runs around the library shouting "Stop no mama okay!"
That makes me want to level crevel, which means to hide your face so that no one can see how embarrassed you are, and also so you can disguise your laughter.
Of course, if they were to become communists, l would blame Dr. Suess for his subversive messages of respect, equality, and environmentalism.
There is a lot for which I could blame the good doctor: a couple of months ago, Jettie was so far behind other twenty-month-olds in broad mastery of vocabulary words that my sister was recommending we pursue speech therapy. We read to her every night, but I worried that maybe the book selection was a little beyond a one year old's ability. (Josh, tired of reading kid favorites again and again, had moved on to The Hobbit.) Sure enough, one week after I bought Hop On Pop, the "Simplest Suess for Youngest Use," she began using real, little, dictionary endorsed words. She hasn't been quiet since.
Henry, on the other hand, sometimes stops using dictionary words altogether.
"Do you want some cereal?" I ask him.
"Cereal pereal hobble dobble" he tells me.
As I pour the Cheerios he expounds,"hobble dobble is a way of adding milk and honey to your cereal."
"And pereal?"
"that means Cheerios, and also let me put the honey on top."
We tell him that it is important that he use real words, to help Jettie speak properly.
"Can you say cat?" he prompts, "can you say box?"
"Can you say grocery store?"
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| Brother worker and sister worker learning to speak with proper mouth positioning. |
As long as I can get a translation for my son's own diction, l really don't mind the doctor's liberal rhyming license.
What I do mind is when the little girl - almost fluent in English and equally proficient in snaps - uses her skills to remove all of her clothing and then runs around the library shouting "Stop no mama okay!"
That makes me want to level crevel, which means to hide your face so that no one can see how embarrassed you are, and also so you can disguise your laughter.
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