Review and Giveaway: The Garfield Show
As a kid in school, we used to have the Scholastic book orders and there were two series I ordered every book from. The first was the Little House on the Prairie series. The second was the Garfield series. I really loved reading the little vignettes and they were a good escape for me. I think part of it was that I just loved cats, and Jim Davis had a knack for capturing the behaviour of cats in a way that explained it to very young readers.
I also loved the Garfield cartoon specials. I had them all (recorded on VHS, of course, from the TV), so when the opportunity came to share Garfield with the Poptart, I immediately said “yes”.
The other weekend (when I wasn’t feeling well), I popped The Garfield Show: Dinosaurs & Other Animal Adventures video in the DVD player. The menu screen shows a few scrolling scenes from the six episodes on the disc so she was able to pick one that interested her.
We started the episode and she was immediately entranced. Although the cartoons are no longer hand-drawn, and I don’t think Jim Davis has much to do with it, the antics of Garfield, Odie and their friends bring back a lot of fun memories. And the fact that I can share this with my daughter means a lot to me.
The best part is that she seems to love Garfield as much as I did. She’ll ask to see the video or part of it about once a day.
And for you, I have a copy of the video to give away. Just leave a comment by January 31 answering the question, “What’s the thing from your childhood you wish you could share with a small person in your life (or a big person, if you have no small people)?
Open to people with a Canadian or US mailing address. Winner will be picked at random with the “And the winner is” plugin.
Disclaimer: I was given a copy of the DVD for review purposes. All opinions are my own.
Review and Giveaway: Ain’t Misbehavin’
I have a confession to make: until now, I have never read a parenting book. WE have never read a parenting book. Ever. We’ve been blessed with a relatively easy baby (what Gwen calls our “Sucker baby”) and that both of us have read and been trained extensively on management.
In one of his books on management, Ken Blanchard explains how they train Shamu at Sea World in San Diego. It boils down to: ignore the bad stuff, praise the good stuff. And that pretty much defines our parenting style. If the Poptart is being stubborn, we let her be stubborn and work it out on her own, by and large. If she’s having a tantrum, we put her somewhere safe (within view), and tell her, “When you’re calm, you can come for a snuggle.” I should note, she rarely tantrums for more than a minute.
What we are not is empathetic. That is, we tend to look at the behavior and not acknowledge the feelings behind it. And this is where Alyson Schafer’s new book Ain’t Misbehavin’: Tactics for Tantrums, Meltdowns, Bedtime Blues and Other Perfectly Normal Kid Behaviors comes in. Schafer promotes democratic parenting – which for a democracy junkie like myself perfectly sums up what I want to give my daughter: choice. Schafer maintains there is always a choice between at least two things; they may not be choices you like, but there are choices.
This most recent book seems to be geared towards older kids, however I can still apply a lot of the tactics she details in a partial way. We’re obviously not at the point of having family meetings, but we do make it a point to discuss over dinner what we’re going to do on the weekend or that evening and the Poptart will listen in.
I’m not going to spoil the whole book for you but there are two points Schafer makes that really resonated with me.
- Natural and Logical Consequences: Schafer maintains that behaviours have natural and logical consequences. Experiencing those consequences results in learning. So when the Poptart is tantruming and slams her head into the kitchen (tile) floor, it hurts. She figured out that it hurts less when she does it in the living room on the carpet. (No, really. She figured it out. Bane of my existence). Another example: when Darren was young, his mother told him not to go outside without shoes on, otherwise he’d have to wash his socks by hand. When he came back in with muddy socks, she gave him a bucket, washboard and bar of soap and had him wash his socks. Rather than thinking of it as punishment suiting the crime, think of it as consequence suiting the behavior.
- Never do for a child what a child can do for herself: the Poptart is almost two and is perfectly capable of putting her plate and fork in the dishwasher. I just scrape whatever’s left onto my plate at the table, hand it to her, and she puts it in the dishwasher. We leave her juice cup on a low shelf in the fridge and when she asks for “joos pease!” we open the fridge door and she grabs it and opens it herself. She chooses her own pajamas at night and will often choose her own clothes during the day.
What I’ve started doing since using this book is switching from “if” statements to “when/then”. For example instead of saying “If you calm down, you can have a snuggle”, I’ll say, “I can see you’re upset and frustrated. When you’re calm, then we will snuggle.” The differences are somewhat semantic, but as we all know, the connotation of words – the feeling behind them – matters a lot. It shows respect for feelings and therefore the person.
I like this book and I expect it’ll come in useful for many years. If you’d like to see it in action on an older kid, pop on over to Left Coast Mama’s blog – not only does she have a review as it pertains to her oldest, but she had the opportunity to interview Alyson Schafer and ask her some specific questions.
GIVEAWAY: But if you want to see what Ain’t Misbehavin’ is all about, just leave a comment telling me why you’d like to read the book. I have a copy to give away to one lucky person. One comment per person only. Enter by April 21 and I’ll announce the winner on the April 22nd. Winner will be drawn using the “And the winner is…” plugin.
Disclosure – I am participating in the Ain’t Misbehavin’ program by Mom Central on behalf of Wiley Publishing. I received a copy of the book to review and gift card as a thank you for my participation. The opinions on this blog are my own.
