I Was So Mad!

During the first fifteen minutes of my son’s kindergarten class, children can pick a book from the classroom’s book nook and have their parents read to them.

Friday, my son picked “I Was So Mad” by Mercer Mayer. My son liked the cover with Little Critter (a strange beaver-like protagonist in Mayer’s series of children’s books) standing beside a bathtub filled with frogs. We’ve read and enjoyed the adventures of Little Critter before, so I thought this one would be fine.

It started off well enough, with Little Critter getting into trouble doing silly things around the house that he thought were okay. Each time he was reprimanded he said he got really mad. After a couple of pages, I thought, okay, this is a book helping children learn that they’re not alone in feeling angry when they’re reprimanded and maybe it'll eventually show them an appropriate way in which to deal with their anger. But after about seven different scenarios of Little Critter getting madder and madder he finally said, “I’m so mad I’m going to run away from home!”

Whoa, I thought and glanced at the three five-year-olds sitting around me. I doubt that any of them had ever thought of running away from home because they had been mad at their family. I looked back at the book and hoped the story would quickly improve.

Little Critter proceeded to put all of his favorite toys in his wagon and pack a box of chocolate chip cookies for the road.

(Worse)

What was Little Critter’s mother doing during all this time? Nothing. She just stood in the kitchen with a smile on her face watching the love of her life prepare to the leave the house. She never tried to stop him or help him understand his feelings.

What finally stops him? His love for his mom? His sudden understanding of his feelings? No. After walking ten feet down the road he sees his friends who invite him to play baseball.

Little Critter agrees, but his final line is, “…but if I get so mad again, I am definitely running away from home.”

And then the book was over.

(And I was so mad.)

What kind of message is that to children? That it’s okay to run away from home when you’re mad? Kids are great imitators and reservoirs of information. I’ve lost count of the number of times my son will say or do something and use the justification of something he read or saw or heard.

With books like this, no wonder some kids are messed up.