Nobody Writes Stories Like This About Cats

Content: Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Introduction: Where the Red Fern Grows is the incredibly touching story of a boy and his hunting dogs. One of the reasons I cried as hard I did when my dog died - which is as hard as I’ve cried over anything - was that I had a great deal of displaced dog-related emotion stemming from this novel. This book is arguably the most effecting story young adults read that stays with them through adulthood. I was working at a DC law firm shortly after college, and my coworkers and I started talking about the dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann. A mid-twentysomething guy walks in, hears those names, and says “Oh no, are you guys talking about Where the Red Fern Grows? I can’t be here for this. I’m gonna cry.”

Dream’s Age at Introduction: 10

Reason for That Age: I can’t describe how devastating it is for a reader to get to the end. I don’t think that I’m giving anything away by saying that the story’s beloved dogs don’t not die, if only because that knowledge removes none of the agony. A 10-year old is about the right balance between being emotionally capable of handling the sense of loss and young enough to be moved in a way unique to young children.

What I Want Dream to Get Out of It: After reading Where the Red Fern Grows, I want Dream to have an appreciation – woven into his or her genetic fabric – that reading can move you. That books are capable of producing an emotional reaction in you that you almost didn’t know you were capable of. For a lot of people, those emotions exist between book covers before they exist between people. I don’t want Dream to rely on books as a sort of emotional coming attraction, but I do want him or her to appreciate that well-written words can evoke incredibly powerful feelings.

Be content,
John

Content Based Day Dreams of My Children

When my wife, Alicia, and I discovered that she was pregnant with our first child, we were both overwhelmed with a lot of emotions: joy, nervousness, nausea (more her than me), excitement, and a host of others that the written word is ill-equipped to convey. In other words, we were your typical first time parents.

Through this shifting field of feelings, I kept coming back to daydreams of mundane activities with Dream Weaver, the obnoxious pun on our last name that we have chosen as our child’s in utero nickname. Watching movies. Reading books. Listening to music. I am ecstatic to share my favorite stories, rhymes and harmonies with this little person, less than three months old, renting a condo in wife’s belly.

And I won’t know exactly what to share with him/her until s/he comes out. Alicia and I won’t know what we’re getting until we’ve got it. We thought about finding out, but I was outvoted 1-1. So as I daydream, I end up distinguishing a little bit between what I would share with little Juanita and what I would share with John Jr.

(And unfortunately, I’ve got to cut that joke short. Alicia and I spent a number of enjoyable hours WAY before she was pregnant picking out names: Ella Marie and Richard William. If I keep calling this kid something else, I’m gonna get all sorts of confused.)

I can share Where the Red Fern Grows with any child, but Sixteen Candles will have a greater impact on Ella, and Animal House is more of a right of passage for boys like Richard William. But the gulf of ages and maturity between Where the Red Fern Grows and Animal House demonstrates another aspect I’ve been considering – what content to expose my kids to at what ages.

I get really worked up about this. In High Fidelity John Cusack waxed poetic on what brings people together. “It’s not what you’re like, it’s what you like.” I already love this kid, but I want to hang out with it too. I want to wake up on a Saturday morning, see that the Hangover Special on TBS is an 8-hour marathon of Adam Sandler movies and know that Alicia, the kid and I can watch these movies while doing chores and errands.

So this space is going to be my notebook for TV shows, movies, books, poems, music, etc. to introduce to Dream Weaver, as well as a timeline for doing so. Ideally, by Alicia’s due date (October 29th) I will have an outline of content and media to share with Dream Weaver over the first 16 to 18 years of his or her life.

If anyone reading this has had similar thoughts or is also excited about exposing their children (unborn or otherwise) to art, culture, dick and fart jokes, wit, and beauty, please add your thoughts. I would love to get as much input as possible.

Be content,
John