Tuesday, March 18, 2014

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Sweetest conversation with my kiddos today-

We're reading Little House on the Prairie.  In our latest chapter, Pa, Laura, Mary and Jack walk to an abandoned Indian camp.  The girls find a treasure- brightly colored beads- to take home.  Upon arriving, Mary offers to give Baby Carrie her beads.  Nice.  Ma watched to check if Laura was going to be selfish and keep her beads or give them to Baby Carrie.  Laura grudgingly shares, but is seething inside.  They each string their beads on a necklace, which Baby Carrie is too young to appreciate.  After she wears it a little while, Ma packs the beads away. 

This kind of bothered me.  Come on, Ma.  Couldn't Laura keep hers to play with?

I asked my class if their families had this rule- the expectation to give stuff to younger siblings.  No one did. Some of their responses:
B- "I'm the youngest. My brother has his stuff. I have mine."
H- "I share stuff with my baby brother, but mom doesn't make me."
K- "My family is adopting two new sisters."
and my favorite:
M- "Mom makes me give stuff back if I take it from them."

Love hearing their ideas!

Today's chapter? The whole family had malaria! Yikes.

* No slice on March 18, 2013 * 

3 comments:

Kate said...

Kids have such a unique perspective on life.

Chris H. said...

I always appreciated the deeper implications of the Indians' being gone and this small treasure of their culture being one of few remains. Did Ma 's fear cause her actions?

Cassandra said...

I too was disappointed in Laura having to give up her beads. I don't really understand why it was selfish for her to want to keep them... My dad STILL complains about how he and his older brother had to each give half of their candy bars (that they earned with their own money) to their younger brother. The littlest brother got an entire candy bar and the two older ones only got half! Seems unfair... :(