because we need advice
Nothing is more irritating than being encouraged to do the obvious by experts. Nowhere is this more prevalent, IMHO, than in the world of learning. In so many ways are we told that we must turn to librarians and other researchers in the world of literacy and pedagogy to help us figure out how to take on that most monstrously important duty of...reading to our children.
Crabtot receives a subscription from an elderly couple to a little magazine called Wild Animal Baby. And while like all publications these days it is pushy about promoting serious learning to the wee ones via the huggability of the natural world (How many lemurs can you see?), Wild Animal Baby amuses Tot, so we tolerate it.
Except for one section. In which some person makes up incredibly dull-witted rhymes every month, e.g.:
I hear the gentle rain pit pat above my head.
I watch the flowers open in my flowerbed.
When the sun comes out and raindrops shine like jewels
I run and jump and splash in all the raindrop pools.
The poems are bad enough, but what really gets me are the advice on appropriate hand movements for each line, and the instruction "Parents: encourage your child to mimic you as you perform the illustrated motions." There is the hand next to the ear for hearing the gentle rain; then the fingers making binocs around the eyes for the watching of the flower and then various ridiculous splashing and leaping motions.
In its earnestness factor, this reminds me of well-meaning librarians who say, at Storytime, "It's a good idea to show your child the front and back of the book, as well as the blank pages before the story starts. I always ask, what color is this? Can you say it Spanish?"
Give me a break. Get me a drink.
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