Big M, Little m/ All about M

 Memories of mum moments / M, M, M.

“Big B, Little b
What begins with B? 
Barber, baby, bubbles and a bumble bee
B,B,B”

The rhythm and rhyme are specifically designed to catch the smallest child’s attention, with the power to linger in parent’s and children’s brains for decades. These books form and influence our children far beyond their childhood years because the themes help form the foundation of their world view.The following quotations From Dr. Seuss hardly need an introduction. Any one who is or has been a parent will recognize most of them.This selection focuses on phrases that urge people to look at life with joyful expectation. 

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”

Dr. Seuss’s beliefs have not only influenced generations of children by also parents such as myself. People, do you realize that I have read Dr.Seuss for a solid 22 years and now have begun again after a mere ten-year break!!! Such constant exposure to idiotic, brilliant  irritating poetry means that I can recite many of his books to this day. A very alarming mental condition!

Seuss understood that education should be subtle because little people learn best when they are relaxed, happy and amused. As Seuss so eloquently explains,

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.”

Seuss embraced the life of the imagination and detested the type of staid adults who dismissed the whimsical as a waste of time.       

“Adults are just obsolete children and the hell with them.”

In the early years, I tried too hard to teach my kids. Religious parents can be especially earnest as they bring their kids up in the faith. Often we turned to heavy-handed, pedantic prose that is preachy. I call this PPP literature. It turned my kids off.  So I looked around and I discovered the Christian message of hope, joy, love. truth in the most unexpected places. St Therese said it best,

                     “Everything is Grace”

When we open our eyes, moments of grace  are everywhere, even in the big, bad secular society. Catholic teaching is not only found in Catholic literature  but in the most unexpected places. Horton Hears a Who!, by Dr. Seuss is a moment of pure grace, inspired by the Holy Spirit and infused with JOY.

“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”

Horton is definitely a pro-life elephant.