To Edit or to Not Edit
Amongst our circle of friends there is often a discussion as to whether or not one edits the story as you are reading to your children. Often times, given our circle of friends, this discussion is focused around the subject of "Mom and Dad" appearing in the book.
For us, there are some books that we do edit and some books that we do not. For me, it really depends on the story or purpose of the book. A great example is that of the book we read religiously prior to Spencer's birth. One of the particular stories that we liked was a story about a new baby. The book "The New Baby" by Mercer Mayor. In that story we changed it to fit our families needs while leaving the main point of the story intact. The girls' were becoming big sisters', the baby was a baby brother, and the parents were Mommy & Momma.
There are many other books that we do not edit. I believe all kids should be educated about the variety of family structures that exist.
However, we've been doing a different kind of editing more recently and frequently.
Last week the girls' library selections got a thumbs up response from Carie. One of them happened to be one of our favorites that we have read to the girls' many times over. The other she had recognized from her childhood. We had settled in to read our books; Carie hands over their new books and leaves us to our reading. As I was reading one of the books (Chicken Licken) I became a bit concerned as we neared the end. I look ahead as I'm reading and quickly decide to alter the ending. The girls of course knew no different since they can't yet read.
Later that evening I mentioned to Carie that I altered the ending so she had a heads up if she were to read the book to them. They do remember how the story goes! She was surprised that I needed to alter the ending, but after I told her how it really ended she agreed.
The funny thing about this though is that Carie didn't remember the "real" ending. She had no idea that "Foxy-loxy took them into the fox's hole and he and his young ones soon ate up poor Chicken-licken, Henney-penney, Cocky-locky, Ducky-lucky, Drakey-lakey, Goosey-loosey, Gander-lander, and Turkey-lurkey; and they never saw the King to tell him that the sky had fallen."
As I was talking to another friend today she too said that she recalled this book and she too had no recollection of the horrible ending.
How can you remember the rest of that story but not that ending?
I've concluded that their parents must have edited the ending too.
For us, there are some books that we do edit and some books that we do not. For me, it really depends on the story or purpose of the book. A great example is that of the book we read religiously prior to Spencer's birth. One of the particular stories that we liked was a story about a new baby. The book "The New Baby" by Mercer Mayor. In that story we changed it to fit our families needs while leaving the main point of the story intact. The girls' were becoming big sisters', the baby was a baby brother, and the parents were Mommy & Momma.
There are many other books that we do not edit. I believe all kids should be educated about the variety of family structures that exist.
However, we've been doing a different kind of editing more recently and frequently.
Last week the girls' library selections got a thumbs up response from Carie. One of them happened to be one of our favorites that we have read to the girls' many times over. The other she had recognized from her childhood. We had settled in to read our books; Carie hands over their new books and leaves us to our reading. As I was reading one of the books (Chicken Licken) I became a bit concerned as we neared the end. I look ahead as I'm reading and quickly decide to alter the ending. The girls of course knew no different since they can't yet read.
Later that evening I mentioned to Carie that I altered the ending so she had a heads up if she were to read the book to them. They do remember how the story goes! She was surprised that I needed to alter the ending, but after I told her how it really ended she agreed.
The funny thing about this though is that Carie didn't remember the "real" ending. She had no idea that "Foxy-loxy took them into the fox's hole and he and his young ones soon ate up poor Chicken-licken, Henney-penney, Cocky-locky, Ducky-lucky, Drakey-lakey, Goosey-loosey, Gander-lander, and Turkey-lurkey; and they never saw the King to tell him that the sky had fallen."
As I was talking to another friend today she too said that she recalled this book and she too had no recollection of the horrible ending.
How can you remember the rest of that story but not that ending?
I've concluded that their parents must have edited the ending too.
posted by Sonya at 11:23 PM
4 Comments:
We edited on an "as needed" basis. Take, for instance, "I know an old lady"....we never say the lines "perhaps she will die" or "she's dead, of course."
As for editing out daddy...we only did that in the new baby books because, like you, we wanted the story to match our family structure.
funny...cuz we normally don't edit. but....we did edit that exact same Mercer Mayer book when we read it to Harris prior to Toby's birth. all we really did we leave out the first line, where it refers to dad. so funny. and like Casey, i'm guessing that we did it cuz we wanted it to look like our family structure. but usually, our kids get to see all kinds of families.
Most of the time (in the past) I'm Mommy and I think Mimi should be included too...so I'd read Mimi for Daddy...I know as Brenna starts to be able to read, that will be harder to do...We live in a house where there is a daddy, well two actually, one's name is PopPop so we don't have to explain that...the other is uncle Herbie... so that needs little explanation...but we went over to a friends house for dinner, and unwittingly, we forgot to introduce Michael and Audra as such, so when their kids started calling them Mommy and Daddy, Brenna did too--after all that's how she was "introduced" to them by the kids...that's the only names she had for them...it was strange to hear her say it, but then we figured out that she's old enough now for new people to have real names for her to learn and remember-great learning experience. So now everyone gets introduced with what she will call them...lol
We edit as needed too. I was reading a story about Little Red Riding Hood (no less), and the story went on to say that Grandma got eaten by the wolf. Ack! I edited, and in the end they cut open the murdered wolf and Grandma was still alive and well. Edited that part too. *sigh*
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