My wife doesn't like to talk politics, so sometimes I gently spoke to my grade school daughter about it. (Of course, gentle for me is not the same as gentle for everyone else).
At one point she said: "Daddy, you talk to me about politics but I really don't understand what you're talking about."
I pulled Animal Farm off the shelf and read it to her. Gently. (for me). Did the voices. Paused to explain things. I think she got it. Well.... some of it, anyway.
I don't know if that was the best approach. But now when she asks why I disagree with grandma and grandpa, I can say: "Grandma and Grandpa believe everything Squealer tells them."
I actually never read Hunger Games or seen the movies....
Brave New World... eh... she's too young for the sex parts. Same reason I'm not jumping into 1984.
Lately she's been burning through the Encyclopedia Brown books I got for her. Finishes a book in like an hour.
When I read her little sister my favorite Dr. Seuss book -- the little known "Trouble to Salla Sallew" (something like that) I gave her a little quiz. "Hey, that guy is making the main character pull the cart by himself, saying the MC will provide the muscle and the old guy will provide the brains! What does that remind you of?"
Oh, she saw Studio Ghibli's "Howl's moving castle." She and her little sister love them. I love the Studio Ghibli movies myself. Japanese animation, generally very child-friendly, many of the movies without a real antagonist.
She liked a Nancy Drew so I bought more of them.
I started telling her the story of my favorite Agatha Christie "And then there were none." But I was getting into the bad things the suspects did that put them on the killer's hit list, and she started getting scared and my wife gave me that look of "why the hell are you telling her this?"
Going back to what I said about "Gentle."
Oh, Studio Ghibli had Rojna the Robber's Daughter as a series. I bought her the book. And learned the author also wrote Pippi Longstocking, so I got her some of those books too. She loved them.
I loved Encyclopedia Brown as a kid. That's how I learned what ambergris (whale puke) was. Also the Great Brain books. Learned a lot about Mormons that way.
My wife doesn't like to talk politics, so sometimes I gently spoke to my grade school daughter about it. (Of course, gentle for me is not the same as gentle for everyone else).
At one point she said: "Daddy, you talk to me about politics but I really don't understand what you're talking about."
I pulled Animal Farm off the shelf and read it to her. Gently. (for me). Did the voices. Paused to explain things. I think she got it. Well.... some of it, anyway.
I don't know if that was the best approach. But now when she asks why I disagree with grandma and grandpa, I can say: "Grandma and Grandpa believe everything Squealer tells them."
I actually never read Hunger Games or seen the movies....
Brave New World... eh... she's too young for the sex parts. Same reason I'm not jumping into 1984.
Lately she's been burning through the Encyclopedia Brown books I got for her. Finishes a book in like an hour.
When I read her little sister my favorite Dr. Seuss book -- the little known "Trouble to Salla Sallew" (something like that) I gave her a little quiz. "Hey, that guy is making the main character pull the cart by himself, saying the MC will provide the muscle and the old guy will provide the brains! What does that remind you of?"
And she shouted: "The pigs!!!"
Oh, she saw Studio Ghibli's "Howl's moving castle." She and her little sister love them. I love the Studio Ghibli movies myself. Japanese animation, generally very child-friendly, many of the movies without a real antagonist.
She liked a Nancy Drew so I bought more of them.
I started telling her the story of my favorite Agatha Christie "And then there were none." But I was getting into the bad things the suspects did that put them on the killer's hit list, and she started getting scared and my wife gave me that look of "why the hell are you telling her this?"
Going back to what I said about "Gentle."
Oh, Studio Ghibli had Rojna the Robber's Daughter as a series. I bought her the book. And learned the author also wrote Pippi Longstocking, so I got her some of those books too. She loved them.
I loved Encyclopedia Brown as a kid. That's how I learned what ambergris (whale puke) was. Also the Great Brain books. Learned a lot about Mormons that way.