Do Bee Good

Remember “Romper Room”? We watched it every day--which is saying something since my mom was rabidly anti-television. I was drawn to Romper Stompers, badgering my mom into making some with coffee cans and string. But the pivotal moment was always when the Magic Mirror came out. The picture is still sharp in my memory: all those lucky kids in the studio and exponentially more kids at home in an expectant semi-circle waiting to get “seen.” Miss Sally would hold that unique-in-all-the-world mirror up and it was magic because she could see all the children in the world. And then she would start calling some of them by name. “I see Billy, and Susie, and…” It seemed she would eventually see me. But she never did. Not once. I was an avid fan, wearing my Romper Stompers in the den to prove my loyalty. At first, I would even wave my arms, but when I got a little older I realized how childish that was. She just didn’t see me. The funny thing is, I seem to encounter a number of adults who felt similarly shunned, hearing only other names, not theirs. Who were all these kids that did get called then?! My husband can never claim he didn’t get recognized by name, though. In Ole Risom’s I am a Bunny, the main cottontail introduces himself as “Nicholas,” which is probably why Nick’s beloved aunt and uncle gave him the book for his first birthday. Some kids have all the luck.

http://www.amazon.com/Am-Bunny-Golden-Sturdy-Book/dp/0375827781

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/24/arts/ole-c-risom-80-publisher-of-children-s-books.html?pagewanted=1

Oops!

The saying “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me” was not coined with kids in mind. Had that truism been penned (or crayoned, I guess) by a toddler or preschooler, it would have been more like, “Fool me once, that’s funny. Fool me twice, that’s hilarious.” I don’t know about all kids, but the ones I’ve met think that catching a grown-up not knowing something or making a mistake is high comedy. When Connor was at Chico State’s Children’s Center, saying goodbye was really hard for my little boy, so I would leave a few extra minutes every morning to help him make the transition with his favorite books. Since sometimes any mommy is better than no mommy, our daily routine started to get quite a following. And thus, my highly successful especially-for-preschoolers stand-up career was born. Each day I would let Connor choose a book and I would read it, incorrectly, to the clever, critical, and easily amused assembly. Every time I substituted the wrong word for one they knew, the whole crew would bellow, “No!” and giggle like fiends. I guess when you’re three years old, feeling like you’re in charge and know the answers is pretty rare and powerful stuff. In Richard Scarry’s Good Night, Little Bear, Father Bear is trying to put his little guy to bed, but can’t “find” him--sitting on Father Bear’s shoulders. Written in 1961, the characters are a bit retro (read: gender-biased), but the story is timeless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Scarry

http://www.amazon.com/Good-Night-Little-Bear-Golden/dp/0307986241