If I have to read The Gruffalo one more time…. I’m gunna, well, probably do exactly what I’ve done the previous 1215 times, do the voices, pause for dramatic effect and then read it again and again until my daughter requests me to read Room on the Broom!
I was prepared for this, I always knew I was going to be a reading books dad, just like my dad was to us, I wasn’t prepared however, for just how much toddlers want the same thing over and over again, I guess it’s a comfort to them and I am happy to oblige as I’ll do anything for her!
I guess it could be worse, it could be Peppa Pig or that Bloody Bing Bunny! I’d much rather the literary works of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler than the clowns who write the others! No offense meant but those little brats don’t exactly teach the children how to be good people. We had to stop our daughter watching Bing after she watched Bing push Pando over after he wanted a turn with the toy that Pando had, then, having witnessed the act proceeded to push Mrs TimberMane.
The thing is, this might be fine, IF, Bing was told it was wrong and the audience (my two year old daughter) learnt it was wrong in the process, but, he isn’t, his carer (flop) or whatever he is supposed to be, voiced by the excellent Mark Rylance diffused the situation well, but then failed to follow up by telling the little brat that he was in the wrong. Instead he worked out a way to give Bing Bunny what he wanted, (a turn with the toy) thus leading Bing and subsequently my daughter to think that a push and a shove is the right way to get what you want, all be it eventually.
Flops soft handling of the situation included comfort and praise for the naughty impatient little rabbit, with phrases like “it’s alright Bing, it was just a clumbo!” (Accident) which it bloody wasn’t! He shoved the blummin panda on purpose because he has some kind of deep routed anger issue or uncontrollable impatience, which somehow gets praised “Well done Bing Bunny”. He get’s away with this behaviour time and time again and this dad aint having it!
I’m not even going to talk about why that Pando takes his trousers off everywhere he goes…. Why? What’s the point? Is it even worth the extra time it takes to animate that? Eurgh, another blog maybe!
Anyway….. The Gruffalo! Turns out is a lovely story about courage, cunning and maybe even the power of make believe, I could be reading too much into it, feel free to let me know. What I do know is, it lights a fire under the imagination of my daughter. Every walk we take we are looking for the fox, the owl, the snake and eventually The Gruffalo in the Deep, Dark, Wood! It’s been a god send when I’ve needed her to walk a little further. “The Gruffalo is just around the next bend, what colour are his eyes?” She always presses on in the hope of seeing The Gruffalo. One day I was actually telling the truth.
I really hope her love of books continues. Nothing makes me happier than coming home, telling her to go play, and watching her plonk herself down in front of her bookcase, which, incidentally, used to be my wine rack. The sacrifices we make for our kids, eh? She’ll sit there, thumbing through her books, laughing and pointing as she goes.
There will come a time when she won’t want me to read The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom or Stick man (currently pronounced Dick Man) and all the others the wife and I have read a thousand times, I have no shame in admitting that I’ll miss the voices, especially the fox who I do in a Monty Python speech impediment style… If I get enough requests I’ll do a video…. Maybe even CBeebies bedtime story style… So here’s to all those stories we read a thousand times, they might drive us mad, but they also remind us of what matters, time, love and a good imagination.
Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got a Gruffalo to find in the Deep Dark Wood….. Again.
TM
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