Family Valued 10.19.05

Pink lemonade and polar bears

Daniel Pinkwater has been writing books for 35 years:
picture books, young adult novels, adult novels, essay collections, and dog
training manuals. During that time, he’s also become a familiar voice on NPR.
If you randomly select a 9-year-old from within your household, he will
probably be familiar with Pinkwater’s work, if not his name. Try it. I did.

What do you think of
when I say, “Pinkwater?”

I think of a big, bald man who writes silly books. He is a
writer who writes short or long silly books.

Most people would
think of pink lemonade.

Hmmph.

What’s your favorite
book by Daniel Pinkwater?

The Snarkout Boys and
the Avocado of Death. Stuff happened. It’s about two kids who sneak out
during the night and watch movies at the Snark Theatre and they go on this
adventure which involves them, like, going after the world’s most wanted
criminal.

Have you read any
other Pinkwater books?

Yes, lots of them, like the Werewolf Club, Young Larry,
I was a Second Grade Werewolf and The Frankenbagel Monster. They’re silly
and they have nice plots. I would recommend them for kids who like reading and
like silly stories.

What do you think of
his obsession with polar bears?

I think it’s kind of strange, but I like the books he writes
about them.

Silly seems very
important to you.

Yes, because, I don’t know, I just have a sense of humor
probably. I like having one ’cause I can understand all their jokes now.

— Craig Brownlie

Thou shalt honor

I was instructing 6-year-olds in a Sunday school class with
a curriculum of Bible stories. We were making clay tablets of the Ten
Commandments with etched Hebrew letters. With each new letter we studied the
gist of its matching commandment. The kids ranged from argumentative agitators
to docile partisans. There was lots of good disagreement about coveting,
stealing, and even adultery.

We arrived at “Thou shalt honor thy parents.” We figured
that “honor” meant to “value,” “respect,” “be polite,” “listen,” “follow
directions.” Then, unanimously, from the anarchist to the meek, every child in
that class suddenly exclaimed that the commandment is backwards: “They have to
honor us first!”

This pronouncement stunned me. First I was offended by the
nerve of their uniform rejection of a precept that was literally written in
stone. Then I was intimidated by their fresh perspective, allowing them to
question such a tenet. When I was their age this never would have occurred to
me. How was I cowed into such obedience?

Finally, listening to their dissent, I was inspired by the
nascent wisdom of these children. “Of course,” I thought. Why would kids care
to learn to listen, be polite, follow directions, and value another person
without feeling respected first? To honor our children does not mean to coddle,
cater to, and indulge them. Those behaviors can be dishonorable. But to teach
respect we must model it so our children feel its glow. Perhaps the commandment
should read “Earn the honor of thy children.”

— Laurence I. Sugarman, MD