Welcome to my Weblog!
Welcome to 1 Mother 2 Another! To read my most recent weblog entries, scroll down. To read entries from one category, click the links at right. To read my journey from the beginning, click here. To find out more about me, click here.
Top 5s
Short on time? Click here to go to my Top 5s Page - links to my top five recommendations in every category from Breastfeeding Sites to Urban Living Solutions.

Seriously? I Didn't See This Coming?

Could someone please tell me exactly what
I was smoking when I agreed yesterday to allow Maddie to bring home
a cartoon biography DVD about Helen Keller from the library.


I didn’t think much of it, except to make sure it
wasn’t too long. I vaguely remember thinking, “Well,
it’s inspirational, and it’s better than Bob the
Builder!” And that was the extent of my Mommy Alarm sounding.


I’ve got to get the batteries in that thing checked.



We popped the video in last night –
RIGHT BEFORE BED, no less – and let the girls watch. As the
movie opens, a cartoon toddler Helen smilingly chases a butterfly
across the lawn. Thirty seconds later, the doctor’s telling
her parents that, due to three weeks of fever, Helen will never
hear or see again. The parents dissolve into sobs.


At which point Maddie says dubiously, “This video’s
REALLY SAD.”


I’m standing in the kitchen, staring at the screen and
willing it to miraculously (and unnoticeably) turn into Sesame
Street. This does not happen.


For the next twenty minutes, both girls sit motionless on the couch
as Helen throws a fit, throws sausages, throws silverware. Helen
cries. Helen screams. Helen begs for her parents, who then send her
away with the evil governess so they won’t be tempted to
intervene in the obedience lessons Annie Sullivan’s giving
Helen. Riveting stuff, you really can’t beat it for
preschooler entertainment.


A friend of mine suggested I pretend the t.v. broke suddenly in
mid-video. But I couldn’t turn the thing off without the
girls seeing the happy ending, so I sat on the couch and watched
them, faces identically frozen in shocked disbelief. I could
practically see “Hey, this could happen to me”
scrolling through their brains.


Unfortunately for those of us who wish for happy endings, the
cartoon story stopped right after the famous scene when Helen
learns to “talk” at the water pump. Maddie turned to
me, betrayal etched on her face, and said, “I thought you
said she became famous! I thought this was an inspirational
video!”


“She did! It is!” I said desperately. “She became
really famous and traveled all over the world, never letting her
problems slow her down!” Both girls shook their heads
skeptically as the walked off to bed, stunned and shell-shocked
into silence.


I rushed through bedtime, trying to avoid too many questions. Cora
couldn’t understand why the girl threw away so many perfectly
good sausages, but Maddie was harder to deflect. We had plenty of
questions, especially about the disease (probably meningitis) Helen
contracted which left her deaf and blind. After learning that she
would NEVER contract that disease because she gets vaccines, Maddie
was somewhat reassured, but let me tell you, that was a long and
painful night-night.


Please don’t let me go to the library with them alone again.
I’m afraid we’ll come home with Shindler’s
List.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

House Rules

Here are the rules for posting comments on 1mother2another.com. Posting a comment that violates these rules will result in the comment’s deletion, and you’ll probably be banned from commenting in the future.

1) Register first. If you would like to post a comment, you must create an account with us. Check out the home page to do so.

2) Constructive comments only. If you cannot maintain a respectful tone in your posting, even in disagreement, your comment will be deleted. We’re all trying to find our way in this thing and are struggling to be the best moms we can. If you disagree with something I say, feel free to politely email me. If you disagree with another reader’s posting, you’re welcome to kindly post in reply. Vitriolic diatribes will be deleted. This site is about encouraging and supporting, not tearing down and chastising.

3) Questions welcomed. If an entry raises a question, you’re welcome to email me directly or post it. Keep in mind that postings will result in public replies by strangers and not just me.

4) Don’t steal. All original writings contained within this website are under copyright protection. If you link to us, please credit us as your source and provide a link back to our website. If you're interested in using an excerpt in published material, please contact us.

5) Share your photos! We'd love to have photos from our registered readers to show on our home page under "Maddie's friends". Email us a jpeg of your little one's best photo to photos@1mother2another.com. Please, no photos from professional photographers which fall under copyright protection.