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Caillou: Baby Sister
When Rosie is born, Caillou is happy at first. Then, seeing all the attention given to the baby, he feels neglected. Caillou behaves like a baby again until he realizes that being a big boy has its own advantages.
The arrival of a newborn in the family comes as a shock to an older child who has had no rivals so far. The older child feels neglected. It is important to let him express his feelings of resentment and jealousy. Scolding will only lead to a loss of self-esteem.
Baby Sister reflects the conflicting emotions older children experience when a sibling is born. Caillou watches as all the adults in his life admire this unformed, insignificant infant that is his sister. Rosie really cannot do anything: she cannot talk, walk, or play.
Since adults seem to find the baby so fascinating, the older child sees no point in being a big boy: “Caillou wishes he were little like Rosie.” Being little, after all, is easier. Caillou regresses. “He wets the bed. He asks his mother to rock him. He wants his bottle.”
The scene in which Caillou bites Rosie reflects Caillou’s feelings of intense happiness toward this new arrival. This scene, a common occurrence in reality, illustrates the particular way children choose to display their happiness. Children experience life first through their mouth: milk from their mother’s breasts sustains them. For a very young child, biting is a way of claiming possession. Caillou “wants his sister.”
This story is not meant to condone children biting. The purpose is to explain the older child’s behavior. Daddy does not punish Caillou for biting. Instead, he helps him understand that, in this case, biting serves no purpose. “You think your sister is so sweet you want to eat her up. But if you do, you will not have her to love. You can bite an apple, but not your sister.”
The arrival of a newborn in the family comes as a shock to an older child who has had no rivals so far. The older child feels neglected. It is important to let him express his feelings of resentment and jealousy. Scolding will only lead to a loss of self-esteem.
Baby Sister reflects the conflicting emotions older children experience when a sibling is born. Caillou watches as all the adults in his life admire this unformed, insignificant infant that is his sister. Rosie really cannot do anything: she cannot talk, walk, or play.
Since adults seem to find the baby so fascinating, the older child sees no point in being a big boy: “Caillou wishes he were little like Rosie.” Being little, after all, is easier. Caillou regresses. “He wets the bed. He asks his mother to rock him. He wants his bottle.”
The scene in which Caillou bites Rosie reflects Caillou’s feelings of intense happiness toward this new arrival. This scene, a common occurrence in reality, illustrates the particular way children choose to display their happiness. Children experience life first through their mouth: milk from their mother’s breasts sustains them. For a very young child, biting is a way of claiming possession. Caillou “wants his sister.”
This story is not meant to condone children biting. The purpose is to explain the older child’s behavior. Daddy does not punish Caillou for biting. Instead, he helps him understand that, in this case, biting serves no purpose. “You think your sister is so sweet you want to eat her up. But if you do, you will not have her to love. You can bite an apple, but not your sister.”
- GenresChildrens
24 pages, Hardcover
First published September 16, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 27, 2012
This is not your PBS Kids' Caillou. This 1980s version, while still bald and whiny, is a bit of a psychopath. The most troubling aspect to me was that my 2 1/2 year old son laughed hysterically at a very disturbing scene in which Caillou picked up a baby doll (a surrogate newborn Rosie) and slammed it against a wall. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I prefer the sissypants Caillou who whines when Jason and Jeffrey put weird toppings on their pizza.
August 1, 2012
This a disturbing book. My husband check it out for our 3 year old daughter because she' about to be a big sister. It talks about Caillou biting Baby Rosie, and throwing his doll at the wall because it looks like baby Rosie. I have to skip those parts of the book because I don't want her to get any ideas. It's like they don't put any thought into what they write in these Caillou books.
January 3, 2010
Caillou is not my favorite series, but our 3-year old likes it, and is often saying how he will show Caillou how to behave.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews