Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36192 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

Customer Reviews

Inoculating Children Against Peer Comparisons and Set Backs

At bottom, people are inclined to like and approve of themselves. Psychological tests show that: Most people rate themselves in the top quartile of any human capability or activity. In addition, most people marry others who look a lot like them. Even peoples' dogs look a lot like the owners.

But there can be some painful years when we notice that some people are taller, run faster, have different hair and eyes, and can do things we can't so well when it seems like . . . well, maybe somebody made a mistake putting us together.

A parent's love can help inoculate a child's emotions from those assaults, especially when they begin as taunts from other children. As supportive as you might like to be as a parent, I doubt if you will be able to top what Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell have put together in this book for Celebrating a Child's Uniqueness!

Like the best children's books, the text and illustrations pay equal attention to the perspectives of both sexes. Although there is some sex-typing here, if your youngster relates more to rough-and-tumble and is a girl or nice-and-neat and is a boy . . . there's room to see oneself in this book.

As always, I have to praise the details in the illustrations for their extraordinary wit. The boy's bottom bunk contains a box for turning any pet into a Dalmatian-like creature by adding spots. Naturally, this boy is into being a fire fighter. He even uses "Cavity Xtinguisher" toothpaste in a package that looks like a fire extinguisher.

Many children are cowed into wearing whatever the crowd wears. I loved the double-page spread that showed the little girl walking down a runway to applause wearing a nurse's cap, plaid, and lots of flowers while saying, "I'm gonna like me wearing flowers and plaid. I have my own style. I don't follow some fad." As you can tell, she's into nursing.

A lot of children also find giving the wrong answers in school to be humiliating. This book addresses that by having the boy say, "I'm gonna like me when my answer is wrong, like thinking my ruler is ten inches long."

Another terrible experience can come on the playground, picking teams. In this book, here's the advice: "I'm gonna like me when I don't run so fast. Then they pick teams and I'm chosen last."

There's also encouragement for doing good things like returning a lost ring, making a get-well card for a friend, doing chores, running errand, and thanking people for gifts that don't please.

The book ends with this conversation starter:

"I'm gonna like me. I already do! But enough about me--How about YOU?"

Here's where you get to be the encouraging parent for an attentive child who has been warmed up to receive your love and kind thoughts. What could be nicer?