Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Men in Yellow Hats make Terrible Babysitters


I read three stories to my little Princess each night at bedtime, and she always enjoys the task of choosing which three make the cut for any given evening. I've noticed that she tends to favor certain books in cycles, sometimes she is in a Goodnight Moon mood and other times she wants to read the "Little Critter" series, or see what the Berenstain Bears are up to. Last night, she decided on some Curious George books, of which I am certain we possess the entire series.

It seems our little friend is at it again. Last night, we read of the exploits of George in the Ice Cream Shop run by Mr. Herb, who apparently doesn't refer to the OSHA handbook as far as the rules of having a monkey running around in an eating establishment.

Well, anyway. So George is left alone AGAIN by his friend, the Man with the Yellow Hat, as he is told to "Be a good little monkey. Goodbye."
After all this time, doesn't this man realize that this monkey is gonna get in trouble because that's what he always does! This man with the yellow hat who has no other name is either very trusting or very stupid. I mean, sometimes I think that someone should call the MPS (monkey protective services) to investigate and, at the very least, put this man in some monkey parenting classes. In this day and age, you can't just leave your monkey anywhere and expect that he won't get into trouble.

In any case, each time I read another Curious George book I always wonder when my little Princess is going to point this out, because she is very astute about these things. She is five and just started kindergarten where they are all about following rules. I know she notices that the Man always leaves George alone, at which point George gets into trouble.

Ok, I digress. That is the whole fun of the story because it is so predictable. And I do love George, mainly because my kids are the exact same way. But unlike the Yellow Hat Guy, I don't make a habit of testing their obedience by putting them in impossible situations.

But that Mr. Herb? He really shouldn't let monkeys in his ice cream shop.





Just sayin'.

3 comments:

Laura Bray said...

Oh my gosh! You sound like me. Deconstructing children's books. Hey, a girl's got to stretch herself mentally somehow, right? Thanks for stopping by my blog & for the kind words.

Lesley said...

We just read the one where George starts out delivering papers and ends up at the circus. I too think it's funny that all of a sudden the man in the yellow hat shows up and is surprised that the monkey has gotten into trouble. You know, none of my kids have ever commented on that though. Kind of funny.

Emily said...

You make some good points!

I tried out that Celebrity Collage you linked to. How fun!