{bits & pieces}
The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
(This will all look and work better if you click on the actual post and do not remain on the main page.)
It’s endlessly fascinating to me how different children are. Some can sit for hours playing with red lentils and funnels, and others just want to run.
By the way, here is my little child development tip for the day: children who are getting ready to toilet train often delve into this sort of tactile play. You will also find that they begin to show interest in lining up their toys — you may come upon nice rows of matchbox cars or dominoes laid out just so.
Certain folk tales help them with the toilet-training stage as well. Maybe someday I’ll write a dissertation on the hidden meaning of The Three Little Pigs and its importance in the child’s subconscious.
Think about it — the house is often a symbol for the body, and it takes great effort (represented by the three attempts to build an “un-blow-downable” house) to master the control necessary over the bowels.
Once you see it this way, every time you read the tale you will understand the appeal — not only the big bad wolf going down the “chimney” (narrow passage) into the “pot” (need I say more?!?) but even the necessity of each pig dying before the last one lives triumphantly in his new-found state of self-control. He doesn’t mourn his “brothers” because the subconscious recognizes them as symbols of his past selves, the incompetent ones whose demise is welcome so that his new, better self can emerge with mastery.
Let this be a lesson to you in meddling with time-tested stories. We take for granted the skills we have used for years — we have simply forgotten how difficult it was to attain them. But we’re robbing our children of valuable tools in the fight when we abandon the collective memory in favor of some bland doctrine of niceness that is utterly irrelevant to the situation.
Even the whimsical riffs on the Three Little Pigs might be amusing to adults, but they simply aren’t satisfying to that three-year-old struggling with his baby self. Save them for the five-year-olds who know the original well!
Our three-year-olds need this traditional story read to them over and over (and it’s simple enough that you can memorize it and just tell it as you are driving along or holding hands walking). Maybe it helps to see why! And break out the red lentils!
On to our links:
Just invite friends over: Stop Making Hospitality Complicated! (It’s so much fun when you have a book or something you are all reading in common, in addition to your normal reading. Making a St. Greg’s Pocket helps to organize all that.)
The Simony of Sacramental Preparation. With good intentions of getting everyone involved and excited about their faith and overtly demonstrating involvement and excitement, our directors of religious education are actually corrupting the sacraments — it needs to stop.
Robert Royal on MacBeth — and be sure to show your high school students the video he links to, Ian McKellen on how the (good) actor acts by thinking deeply about the meaning embodied in the structure of the words of the play.
Statues everywhere are coming down. Maybe some of them deserve to be removed. (I’m not sure that we are capable of replacing them with something equally artistic, but that’s neither here nor there, I suppose.) But sometimes people are just in an iconoclastic mood, without stopping to wonder if what they are doing makes sense. The statue of Stephen Foster was removed in Pittsburgh, according to this AP story. Linked within is this thought-provoking little essay about the statue and what it really depicts. Our confidence that we are enlightened — and see things clearly, with no filters of bigotry — and previous generations were hopelessly backward, brings to mind this observation of C. S. Lewis about chronological snobbery:
Every age has its own outlook. It is especially good at seeing certain truths and especially liable to make certain mistakes. We all therefore need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period…. None of us can fully escape this blindness, but we shall certainly increase it, and weaken our guard against it, if we read only modern books….The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds and this can only be done by reading old books. [Or, in the case of Foster, listening to old songs!]
The case of Alfie Evans does have importance on a wide scale, for our medical system has been almost completely taken over by utilitarianism, the approach that equates what is useful with what is good. (See C. S. Lewis’ Abolition of Man for a philosophical response.) Here are some links to help understand what is going on and what is at stake:
Alfie Versus the State, by David Warren — abortion and euthanasia have the same logic.
Alfie is a Victim of Secular Leftism, by Stephen Herreid
Alfie Evans: Liberty, Institutional Power and Family Life
What is morally required for care of those at the end of life?
Anthony Esolen on conscience and consent.
This dear little boy died in the night. May his memory be eternal.
From the archives:
How to be hospitable with your kids’ friends.
What can children do? A guide.
Several beautiful saints for today! And it’s still Easter!
While you’re sharing our links with your friends, why not tell them about Like Mother, Like Daughter too!
We’d like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we’re not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise).
Follow us:
Follow us on Twitter.
Like us on Facebook.
Auntie Leila’s Pinterest.
Rosie’s Pinterest.
Sukie’s Pinterest.
Deirdre’s Pinterest.
Habou’s Pinterest.
Bridget’s Pinterest.
Auntie Leila’s Ravelry.
Auntie Leila’s Instagram.
Rosie’s Instagram.
Sukie’s Instagram.
Deirdre’s Instagram.
Bridget’s Instagram.
Habou’s Instagram.
The post {bits & pieces} appeared first on Like Mother Like Daughter.
