Pippi Longstocking
By Astrid Lindgren
When our little guy started kindergarten I wanted to make sure that I had some just one on one time with our little girl. She had just turned two when her big brother started school. This was going to be time with just us girls. Our daughter has always been so calm and easy going. Even when her big brother is too rough or messes with her she is normally pretty calm. She loves to snuggle and dance and she makes everyone around feel happy. I am so lucky to be her mom.
I have been a stay at home mom for most of my children's childhoods. I tried to go to nursing school and in the middle of the program they changed the requirements. I was getting into a dark place of depression and not being the mom or wife or person I wanted to be. In one of the darkest moments in my life I took a pregnancy test and it came back positive. My husband and I hadn't been trying, and yet I was going to be a mom again. I honestly believe our little girl saved my life. I want to say I would never have hurt myself or anything like that, but I can't say I didn't think more than once that my husband made a mistake by marrying me. Wow, that got dark real fast.
Back to this week's book. When I started trying to potty train my daughter during the day, I thought we would read all the potty books. She would play a game on my phone about learning how to use the potty. On those long waits for something to happen I wanted to read her something that centered around a strong little girl. I chose Pippi Longstocking. I had never read it and had a copy so I thought, what the heck, let's try it. While I do believe Pippi Longstocking is an independent girl that never needs anyone for help or strength, the book doesn't hold up. There are subject matters that are just not okay to talk about anymore in children's books. On a personal level I kind of wanted to smack Pippi constantly. She lies the whole book to the other two little children she convinces to follow her into her little “adventures”. When I was little, Curious George would stress me out, he did all these naughty things and there were never consequences. Pippi Longstocking gave me that same feeling. It didn't take long for both my daughter and I to realize that we didn't like the book. She would say “no pippi! No pippi!” It should be noted that our little girl loves to be read to, so for her to say no to being read to is really something. While I do believe that there was a time that this book was groundbreaking and awesome, its time has past and I wouldn't recommend it.
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