From: Ellen E. Moore <emoore>
Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:12:53 -0400 (EDT)

Back when we were talking about creativity in childhood and old-fashion style books like Dangerous Book for Boys, someone on this list recommended an old book called One Potato, Two Potato by Knapp and Knapp. I enjoyed that thread, especially as I am also a new parent and spend a lot of time thinking about how I want to raise my daughter and am inclined to expose her to as little TV, computer screen time, merchandising etc as possible. I checked out the book and I have to say it is making me cringe, especially in light of this current thread on bullying. The thesis seems to be that the more children are left to themselves, the better they become at sorting out their own problems. I keep looking for the part where the others address bullying and the ways children can cause eachother real harm and I'm not finding it. Interestingly, the book was written in the 1970's when I was a child and, frankly not enjoying my childhood largely in part to all the real meanness I encountered in my
(again, Catholic?) grade school.
Received on Sun 23 Mar 2008 01:12:53 PM CDT