Sneetches

 Sometimes wisdom  hides in the most unexpected places. This seems true especially for parents of  very small children. After a brutal day of trying to raise and form and feed and teach and cloth and change and wipe and bath there is the night time story. At this point parents are often just looking for a little bit of peace and quiet. Reaching for a story to read we have so often found ourselves grabbing the colorful one with strange creatures by  a Dr. Suess as it would be sure to hold the attention of a small child long enough to get the words out and the yawns in.And in those moments we may have found ourselves with our guards down and our hearts open, and suddenly and surprisingly we found we learned something.

Theodore Suess Geisel . A voice that doesn't just speak to little children, but to the big children laying beside them.  His is a voice that imparts lessons we need to hear, at the end of a long day; or many long days in a row that have melded into one. A refreshing view that parenting and childhood and life is somehow in the details. The beautiful , awful details that can be lost among the cleaning and clutter.Person after person gets a light in their eye when they speak of the Suess books. They always say "My kid loves that book!" but their eyes  give away that they do too! 

And we all seem to come away with different lessons as well! Fred not only delights in his ability to actually get out the words of Fox in Sox:

 I can't blab such blibber blubber!

 My tongue isn't made of rubber!

but he also loves how the under dog comes out ahead in the end.

 Fox in Sox our game is done sir,

 thank you for a lot of fun, sir!

My niece Leigh has posted on her facebook home page her personal favorite:

Today you are you,

 this is truer than true.

 There is no one alive

 who is youer than you!

My sister Jacquie has mentioned to me several times how much she likes Horton,  and from the tee shirts I've seen ,she's in good company. In fact the Pro-life movement has vigorously taken his words and made them their own:

A person's a person no matter how small!

There seems to be some Dr Suess for everyone too. Environmentalists have to be moved by the Lorax :

Sir, you are crazy with greed. 

There is no one on earth that would buy that fool Thneed! 

For genuine politicians or those with a cause:

Unless someone like you

 cares a whole awful lot, 

nothing is going to get better.

 it's not!

 Here's one  for those who feel the government is a bit bigger then they'd like:

And Yertle the Turtle, the king of the trees,

The king of the air and the birds and the bees,

The king of a house and a cow and a mule…

Well, that was the end of the Turtle King’s rule!

On days when its a little crazy around here my teens might  break out "If I ran the zoo" and I get the picture saying they want a little change! 

If I ran the zoo

 said young Gerald McGrew,

 I'd make a few changes.

 That's just what I'd do! 

Parents of picky eaters have been encouraged to hope it might one day be better after reading Green Eggs and Ham.

Say I like Green Eggs and Ham!

 I do I like them Sam- I-Am!

More then all else he always seems to be a reassuring voice that thinks YOU can make a difference. You matter. Despite what anyone else might say. If you stop believing that he'll remind you to start again soon:

Today is gone today is done.

 Tomorrow is another one.

 Every day from here to there.

 Funny things are everywhere.


(including my own personal Sneetches below!)