Gearhead Mom

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Parenting by Allegory Part 2: Papa Bear, Preach

Posted by Jenny M. @ 4:37 AM

My almost five year old daughter recently went through a period of morbid fascination with the notion of strangers and kidnapping (presently she’s afraid of smokers—we’re handling that delicately). Our conversations and her nagging fears concerned me enough that I mentioned them to a coworker with a daughter the same age.  “Oh yeah, ” he nodded, “our daughter just went through that, too—it’s a fine balance between helping them be safe and not making them paranoid.”  Indeed. 

Then he mentioned the Berenstain Bears’ book on strangers—it was just enough nuanced that between multiple readings and calm reassurances from Mom and Dad, their daughter soon forgot to make any old stranger (including the one who checks your groceries) a potential enemy. 
Of course, the Berenstain Bears!  A few months ago we read and reread The Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies. How nice to see that Mama and Papa Bear are not the only ones with cubs who display rampant consumerism and dire need of all things plastic upon entering a store! We’ve also helped the Bears through Too Much Birthday (is that possible?  Ummm…how many birthday parties have YOU been to this summer?). 
Our latest fave is the Berenstain Bears and the Trouble with Grownups.  Like the other books, this one acknowledges that parents don’t know everything (and should be able to laugh at themselves) and that compromising between bears and cubs is essential. In some instances, though, I am not 100% behind the solution (in the Gimmies, the bears get to choose ONE thing when they visit the store. In our part of Bear Country, getting even ONE thing is rare treat). And while we’re not yet in league for some of the topics (Go Out for the Team, Go to Camp), I am thinking The Berenstain Bears (err, My Daughters) Get in a Fight might be our next volume…

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