SLFK 211 October 1, 2002
Trickster material and the concerns of the child
Food you understand
Acquisition of food disgust in children takes a long time
Katherine on opposite end of doggy chew
Kid at our house and cat snacky crackies
Then white food stage
How do you tell what makes food edible?
Color?
Ed School experiment on kids and taste
Mr. Yuck stickers
Successful written material makes use of folklore principles, like dealing with
basic issues of childhood: Dr. Seuss and Green Eggs and Ham
What you can do to your own body
What parts can you cut and when does cutting something cause injury
Cutting hair, nails
Living and not living
Figuring out that what you can do to a dolly is not something that you can do to baby brother, or pet
You pick up pet by one paw the way you pick up dolly by one leg, you get scratched
Greg on dead squirrel: Mommy, what is that squirrel doing?
It's dead; it's not doing anything
Why?
Probably a car hit it
Which one? What color?
Later: Mommy, it's dead; it's not doing anything
Factor of repetition and confirmation and tales
Greg checks with Dad and confirms info gotten from Mom
Tales don't so much teach a child as parallel his process of discovery, speak in a child language
Child's perception of reality is different from an adult's
Greg and Mommy, I've holding it as tight as I can.
Greg and my wee-wee isn't working &endash; Daddy hit it with a hammer
Narrative that parallels more effective than simple statement
Telling kid about bear with ax in its side more effective than telling kid not to
play with sharp objects
Kid logic is different and often narrative
Greg and twinkle/tinkle in Mommy's eye
Various general principles in this course
One is the statement above &endash; that a story is more effective than a simple statement
Depth of meaning
Emotional component
Encoding is better
These are animal tales for a reason &endash; distancing
Kids' love of dinosaurs
And general association of child and animal/pet
And please note that this association is based EXACTLY on the distinctions I have been talking about
Oral and anal behavior
Aggression
Association of animal and child shared by child and adult and/or lasts into adulthood
Treating pet as babies
Pets, esp. cats jealous of babies
Affect pregnancy
Pet as child's best friend
Stuffed animals
You can't really speak to the kid in adult language until he is ready for it &endash; need language of tales, developed over a long period of time an through oral telling, watching the reaction of many kids
Already told them round and round, nakey, nakey
Kids discussing the toilet behavior in public &endash; I made yellow wee-wee all over everywhere: the chair, the floor, the carpet
I have a hair
Concepts like sharing before a kid is ready
Later, kid can be quite concerned and caring
Leaving lamb for other people
Bee stung Mommy's knee
Because the distinctions kid is dealing with are SO basic, any violation of them tends to be violent
As with kid and pet
Wrong food &endash; Greg and magnet
This is exactly what it is in stories, only more so &endash; artistic (and more effective) version of child experience
Kids do not see the violence &endash; focus on the distinction
Greg and Peter and the PBS stories about owls feeding their babies, snakes eating animals whole
This is exactly the point &endash; adults hear the stories and think they are awful
Kids encounter the same material and think it is great, often funny
Simpsons and Itchy and Scratchy
Please note that goody, goody Lisa laughs, too
Show The Trades
Then Nu Pogodi
Then Wiley Coyote and Road Runner
Adult reaction to these &endash; these things are awful
Or, I think they are funny, but I really shouldn't
So I should tell my kid that they are awful so that he or she does not become a destructive SOB