The cat who eats letters

[Fridgemagnetman]

The cat link to full story here.

What are the hidden messages in the storybooks we read to our kids?

That's a question that may occur to parents as their children dive into the new books that arrived over the holidays.

And it's a question that inspired a team of researchers to set up a study. Specifically, they wondered how the lessons varied from storybooks of one country to another.

For a taste of their findings, take a typical book in China: The Cat That Eats Letters.

Ostensibly it's about a cat that has an appetite for sloppy letters — "written too large or too small, or if the letter is missing a stroke," explains one of the researchers, psychologist Cecilia Cheung, a professor at University of California Riverside. "So the only way children can stop their letters from being eaten is to write really carefully and practice every day."

But the underlying point is clear: "This is really instilling the idea of effort — that children have to learn to consistently practice in order to achieve a certain level," says Cheung. And that idea, she says, is a core tenet of Chinese culture.

More in the link at the top.

 

[tree]

For school we wrote summaries of the meanings of children's books.
At first glance a person might object, "It's just an alphabet book/It's
just a counting book."

But there was meaning.
An alphabet book teaches that there is an order to things.
A counting book, similar. That events and objects can be quantified.

These types of children's books, as simple as they seem,
teach a belief in structure, stability, meaning.

 

[Gritches]

The article talks about how the Chinese believe intelligence is something that can be gained through hard work and practice, and contrasts that to the opposite prevailing view in the US.

I hadn't ever really thought about it, but that is the attitude in the US. People talk more about genetics influencing intelligence than effort, that you're either born with a strong intellect or you aren't. As a result, the intelligent kids get a disproportionate amount of attention in educational settings where those who are less so are practically thrown away.

I could really go off on a tangent about it, but America (and other Western cultures) have a whole lot of "throwaway people". It makes me wonder that, if the attitudes in Chinese children's books are such, if the rest of their culture is less prone to just throw away "undesirables". If so, I like that. I've spent a lot of time with society's "trash", and they're not trash at all.

 

[Tom]

Oh, I thought it meant Letters, like you get in the mail. I had a bird who used to eat my bills. Bill, envelope and stamp. Well, not eat, but shred into tiny bits. He did it out of spite, if I didn't give him enough attention. Never junk mail, always important things. He wasn't my pet to start with, but I 'inherited' him like all the rest, from family members. That was a funny bird.

 

[Bolletje]

Hmm, one of my favorite children's books was about a mole trying to find out who pooped on his head. I wonder if that had a message.

Interesting research though, I haven't read the article just yet but it's on my list now

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

Hmm, one of my favorite children's books was about a mole trying to find out who pooped on his head. I wonder if that had a message.

Interesting research though, I haven't read the article just yet but it's on my list now

Not often a book has a particular message - just for you

 

[watersprite]

I thought it meant some cat that actually ate letters, like those magnetized plastic ones for refrigerator doors.

How children are molded and shaped for the society they are born into is a big subject.
It - that socialization and regimentation and okay I will stop there - is one of the reasons I chose to do it my way with my kiddos. And even here in the U.S. people think they can tell you all the stuff you're doing wrong when really what you are doing is simply different.

 

[SchrodingersMeerkat]

Kinda reminds me of this book from when I was a kid about a dog who eats some alphabet soup, but instead of going to her stomach, the letters go to her brain instead and she's able to talk.

 

[Chance]

The cat would eat everything I write... Its horrible and always has been, but I can read it perfectly.
I would have to teach him to eat mice like a normal cat...

However great story with good ethics... : )

 

[OkRad]

Tikki Tikki Tembo! Not quite sure the moral of the story, but a fav.

 

[OkRad]

The article talks about how the Chinese believe intelligence is something that can be gained through hard work and practice, and contrasts that to the opposite prevailing view in the US.

I hadn't ever really thought about it, but that is the attitude in the US. People talk more about genetics influencing intelligence than effort, that you're either born with a strong intellect or you aren't. As a result, the intelligent kids get a disproportionate amount of attention in educational settings where those who are less so are practically thrown away.

I could really go off on a tangent about it, but America (and other Western cultures) have a whole lot of "throwaway people". It makes me wonder that, if the attitudes in Chinese children's books are such, if the rest of their culture is less prone to just throw away "undesirables". If so, I like that. I've spent a lot of time with society's "trash", and they're not trash at all.

all societies throw people away. In China, they sure threw away a lot of little girls. Like over brdiges. And now there is no one to marry.

 

[Progster]

A lot of the books I had as a kid were adventure stories or sci fi, I don't think they had any hidden message, or at least, none that I was aware of. I generally used to take things at face value and wasn't aware of hidden messages. Fairy tales, of course, are full of such messages.

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

thought it meant some cat that actually ate letters, like those magnetized plastic ones for refrigerator doors.

That would be keeping the theme right?

It - that socialization and regimentation and okay I will stop there

Please don't next time

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

all societies throw people away. In China, they sure threw away a lot of little girls. Like over brdiges. And now there is no one to marry.

No surembo okra dee.

A lot of well falling back in the day, so short names abound.

Though perhaps if the old men with ladders werent getting lost in purple smoke it would also be helpful.

If you take two steps further, the moral could be - avoid the english - as they will get all the old men with ladders addicted to opium.

 

[OkRad]

No surembo okra dee.

A lot of well falling back in the day, so short names abound.

Though perhaps if the old men with ladders werent getting lost in purple smoke it would also be helpful.

If you take two steps further, the moral could be - avoid the english - as they will get all the old men with ladders addicted to opium.

No surrender, Okra D? HAHA!
And oh yes, your moral of that story is quite perspicacious. In all my years of reading that book, I never noticed the purple mist or connected the dots. hehe. But then, I was raised by Mennonites.................."Mommy, why is there a purple mist over the old man's head?" "Ummmm....time for bed!"

 

[SchrodingersMeerkat]

Tikki Tikki Tembo! Not quite sure the moral of the story, but a fav.

Only thing I got from that story is to give your kid a regular name.