I am a worrier. I worry to my bones about anything and everything. I worry so much that I even grind my teeth at night in my sleep, much to Mr B’s annoyance. To be fair to him though it must sound HORRIFIC. Almost as horrific I imagine as the speech-intolerant jaw-ache I am left with for the first two hours of the morning.
“Tea?” “Yeshh pweerz.”
Now that the boy is on the move my worry, no my downright terror levels have hit a new high. I vaguely remember having a whinge on here at some point at how long it took him to learn to crawl. What was I thinking? Those days were bliss.
Now that he is walking and talking a plenty, scaling small buildings, clambering over fences, chatting to strangers in the street, saving the world, my tooth enamel is taking a beating. Seriously by the time he hits his teens I may well be a toothless wonder.
I don’t want him to be a worrier though. And given that he is showing every sign of being a total bad-ass I really don’t want to ruin it. Mr B and I studiously smile at him when he falls down or bumps his head. He generally dusts himself off and has another go at whatever particular death-defying stunt he was trying to master.
So, in my efforts not to be overly protective I recently was hit by a teeny dilemma.
You see the boy also LOVES books. ( I know…a BAD-ASS NERD! TOO brilliant!). His current favoutite is ‘Chicken Licken’. This was also a favourite of mine as a child. We have been reading it most nights for the last few weeks. For those of you that haven’t had the pleasure it goes like this…but with pictures…and better words…
- Chicken Licken gets hit on the head by an acorn.
- He thinks the sky is falling down so hurries off to tell the King.
- He is joined on the way by lots of friends…Turkey Lurkey, Lovey Dovey, Funny Bunny etc.
- A hungry fox dresses up as the King to try and lure them into his den.
- They realise just in the nick of time and escape.
” IT’S FOXY LOXY!! Quick as a flash, Henny Penny, Funny Bunny and Lovey Dovey slammed the door and locked it tight. So Chicken Licken and his friends were safe!”
Only last week I was back visiting the folks and just happened to come across MY old copy of Chicken Licken. It has a somewhat different outcome…
” Foxy Loxy led them straight into his den, where his wife and their little foxes were waiting for their dinners. Then the foxes ate Chicken Licken, Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Drakey Lakey, Goosey Loosey and Turkey Lurkey for their dinners. So Chicken Licken never found the King to tell him that he thought the sky was falling down.”
Ah! Right then.
Given his current love for these farmyard folks did I dare give my version a spin? DID I?
Too bloody right I did.
He didn’t bat an eyelid.
Told you…bad-ass.
So what do you think? Do we shelter our kids from the realities of life too much these days? Is it really in their best interests? I would love to hear your thoughts.
(There is also one extra character in my version who is notabley absent from the Boy’s. Can you guess which one? Mahaha.)
Such a good post! It is true that we are probably more protective than our parents were; the world has changed so much, but it does make me laugh how children’s books have become so PC! I mean real life isn’t that sugar coated, so I’m not sure why stories have to be edited.
I agree. I certainly don’t remember this book with any kind of horror or sadness. I think political correctness has gone a bit too far.
you mean they have ruined Chicken licken, the book I grew to detest as it was read every night, maybe twice a night every day for about 3 years?? Why change the names? or the ending?? My son neber had nightmares over the book – I did I thought of many many ways that I could be horrible to the book, son drove me mad with it, but then he loved it.
No I truly believe these days kids are too molly coddled, spared from the realities of life in far to many ways.
I must confess I love it too, both versions. Though he has only had it for about two weeks. I guess after three years I may not feel so fondly towards it either!
I agree with you too. Reality is just that…real…they will have to face it someday.
Like you I worry way too much. I agree we can be over protective but I look at it as my job to protect my children but perhaps the reins needs loosening now and then. The world is a scary place but I also need to let them find their own ways. AS for the book its not one I have come across but most childrens nursery rhymes are pretty gruesome! @Bobbity666
You are right about nursery rhymes! They are really quite terrifying. Thanks for commenting.
Great post. I assume the missing character is Cocky Locky? Although Loosey Goosey could be in with a shout!
Anyway, I would love Cam to be quite fearless when he grows up, but with me and his mum being such wusses it might take some serious work. Long may your little one remain a bad-ass nerd 🙂
Yep, Cocky Locky didn’t make the latest cut poor chap. I am just hoping we can guide the boy to stop somewhere before fearless becomes dangerously daft! We need a manual.
I think it depends entirely on the age and temperament of the child how a story should end. The world is often a very sad place and it does not harm children at all when we shelter the very young from sadness. They have to cope with it soon enough and at that stage the right story can help their understanding.
That is a very valid point and I am sure lots of others agree. It is great to hear a different point of view. Thanks for commenting.
Youre doing a grand job I think some to protect their kids too much, my little brother (11 in a week)is only allowed to go on climbing frames the ‘right way’ and has to walk carefully and not run on them! Imagine his horror when my youngest (12 in a week) ran and climbed up where ever he wanted to and jumped off the top of the slide.
The trick is as they get older to use the phrase ” go and give it a go, be careful and you know where I am if you get stuck” which is usually at the bottom of the tree trying to work out how the heck he got up so high, much to the horror of other parents. My response to most things, When faced with other parents ” but he could get hurt, break a leg, end up in hospital” is “or he could be just fine” … He has also been brought up on the stories of grim and old faery tales and fables… The new ones are softened down with the new changes they seem to make
And also thank you for posting this as I had the same version as you and have been trying to make others believe me that they got eaten at the end, there is another one too that I’m trying to find where the wolf or troll eats the goats and nanny goat ends up rescuing them but sews a sack of bricks into its tummy so it wouldn’t notice!
Here is to letting kids be kids and not wrapping them up in cotton wool.
Word of warning though… Learn calming breathing techniques for when he is older as you may need it as they explore the world around them, if he does decide to have no fear like mine it can lead to interesting experiences … Jumping on a stone wall and running along when there is a 60ft drop down the other side into a reservoir was the scariest thing he has done so far… I tend to also use the ” they are called accidents for a reason ” when I do have to bring the reigns in for his safety lol
Thanks so much! I think I better start the breathing exercises pretty soon. I seem to recall the goats being eaten too. My Mum has a huge pile of my old books so will have a dig through and see if I can find it. Will keep you posted.
And I think you are right about letting them give it a go. I figure he is going to somehow anyway so may as well encourage him to learn how to to do stuff competently rather than just trying to avoid it.
My youngest loves free running and climbing trees but most of his friends can’t do it, 12 year old boys who can not climb trees is wrong lol they like to sit in an play on the computer or want to play fighting both of which my youngest doesn’t really see the point in
Find like minded parents with kids of the same age if you can,
I think it depends on the child. It’s a great point to consider though, and not one I have given much thought to. I remember being very scared by certain books and tv shows as a kid, so maybe it’s not totally bad to edit them a little ?