We’re reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians to kids right now. Actually, my husband, Tenzin, is reading it to all of us every night before bed. We’ve always been able to use the threat of “no books” as a punishment with our kids, but Percy is so much fun that my son actually passed up eating an Otter Pop so he wouldn’t miss out on hearing it. And I’ve gotta say, I’m into it. We all sit together and listen to Tenzin read like we’re a bunch of freakin’ pioneers or something. Maybe I should learn to darn socks or knit a sweater.
My only beef with the book is that {SPOILER ALERT} they of course have to kill off the mother. In these coming of age books, they always have to kill off the mother. Bambi, Pocahontas, Harry Potter. Everybody’s mom either gets whacked or already has been whacked. And now that dads have stepped up and taken a bigger role in the childcare department, they’re routinely getting whacked, too. It used to just be Cinderella. Now we’ve got The Lion King, The Princess and the Frog, and, once again, Harry Potter (but then, everybody gets whacked in Harry Potter).
I understand the story-telling device and the metaphorical meaning of killing off the parental figure and all of that crap. But frankly, I’m just kind of sick of it. Can’t anybody come of age with his or her family intact?
I mean, seriously people. The looks on my kids faces every time we read a book or see a movie when a parent either dies or turns out to already be dead is just plain painful. I clearly remember being a kid and seeing an “After School Special” about a little girl whose mom “promises” she’ll never leave her and then dies. Did it make me appreciate my own mother more? I don’t think so. It pretty much just freaked me out. Apparently for the last 35 years or so (thanks “After School Specials”).
And I’m not saying parents dying isn’t a reality. Clearly people die all the time. I’m just kind of wondering why it’s apparently not possible to “grow up” or “have an adventure” if your parents haven’t been struck by lightening. Can’t some of these stories just handle parents the way soap operas handle little kids? Cart them out whenever it’s convenient and then have them magically disappear with invisible, 24/7 baby sitters the rest of the time?
Maybe I’m being oversensitive. I mean, Sleeping Beauty’s parents both live. So do Rapunzel’s. And Mulan’s. Of course, their daughters have all either been abducted or runaway, so maybe the logic is that the parents need each other to lean on. Poor King Triton. His wife dies, his daughter bolts, and his crab takes off.
So the way I see it, if we keep reading these stories to the kids, they’re going to get it in their heads that they can’t grow up and leave the nest until I get shot by a hunter or strangled by a minotaur. That means getting them out of the house is going to be brutal. I’m thinking this is the real reason behind all of those young people all over the country who keep moving out and then moving back in with their parents. It isn’t money or jobs or lack of self-sufficiency.
It’s Disney.
Tammy Soong is a writer, wife, and mom from Reno, Nevada. She takes an absurd amount of pain medication, but not enough to have actually named her children "Newt" and "Elfie." She spends most days stressing out over clutter, writing stuff for this place, and working on podcasts with her gal pals, the Blogging Betties.
I actually told my son about heaven when he was younger, after he realized i was going to die (and possibly sooner than later- i forget what POS movie or book spurred that). as an atheist, that was a careful conversation. lol.
damn. your on to something….
My recent post Lazy Song
This is my theory on how religion was created. Some poor bastard got cornered by his kid one day about what happens to people when they die, and the whole thing got hatched from there. He looked down into those sad little eyes and didn't have the heart to say, "Well Prometheus, the fact is, Daddy's going to die — I'm not sure when, could be today, could be tomorrow — and you're never going to see me again. Sorry honey. Now, who wants a nice chalice of wine?"
Most of my conspiracy theories revolve around the Disney Corporation.
Yeah, and you're not the only one.
We were watching something.. I think it was Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, and my youngest asked, ''How come all the parents have to be dead?"
"It'd be a good story WITH the parents, too."
Amen.
My oldest is TOTALLY devoted to these books. He's read all of them about 8 times and carries at least one of them with him everywhere he goes. I've read them too, and by the end of the first was totally hooked.
So, about Percy's mom? … well, all I can say is, you should keep reading!
My recent post Lightning. Seriously?
Your boys were raised right. . .
Well, we finished the book, and the kids immediately wanted to run out and get the next one (at 9 p.m.). And about Percy's mom? All I have to say is, "Phew." Thanks for the heads up, btw.;)