Wednesday, April 20, 2011

What Kids Learn From Storybooks

there’s a facebook status that has been going around these days.

 

fairytle

 

the status went like this :

How do you expect kids to listen to their parents as, Tarzan lives half naked, Cinderella comes back home at midnight, Pinocchio lies all the time, Aladdin is the king of thieves, Batman drives at 320KM/h, Sleeping beauty is lazy and Snow white lives with 7 guys. We shouldn’t be surprised if kids misbehave at times! They get this from their own storybooks :P

 

as a HUGE fan of fairytales, and imagination world built by the brothers grimm, enid blyton, walt disney and roald dahl, i was very offended! hahahaha. offended, but very amused. it’s true that the storylines did have these unsightly traits in them! so i really wanted to reply in a way that shows the positive side of storybooks!

this was my reply :

hmm. interesting. but tarzan learns quick from an entirely different species, cinderella does housechores, pinocchio beats a whale to save his father, aladdin selflessly wishes the genie free, batman fights for justice, sleeping beauty is simply a victim of a curse and snow white is compassionate towards animals. we still have hope from kids' storybooks. ;)

 

and throughout the day, i saw few more of my friends who put up this facebook status. and to each one i replied the same!

 

cute-gile-fairytale-land-ni-i-love-it

 

what do i really think? what kids LEARN from PARENTS, and their UPBRINGING, they will apply when they read storybooks.

you see, if for example, a child grows up with a maid waiting on him, on her toes upon his every command, wants and needs – (of course not all kids take advantage of having maids, but i personally know that there are kids who yell at their maids, and even tell their teachers how ‘slow and stupid' their maid is!) they won’t see anything wrong with piling works on cinderella.

when their own father ignores the speed limit and drives like they’re racing for F1, then they would idolize batman’s driving skills, “because that’s how my daddy drives!”.

my point is, when your child already has a strong base on morals and manners, and a decent knowledge of the world, storybooks are nothing but fun-filled imagination fantasy-land where they go and meet made-up characters and learn a few lessons on the way.

pick up a book today, read with your kid, and explore the world together. khaleef and i – our pick would be dr. seuss. currently we’re reading ‘horton hears a who’.

lessons learned : ‘a person’s a person, no matter how small!’

 

* * *

 

on the other hand, i read one of the comments suggesting that we expose our kids to kisah-kisah nabi tales of the prophets of islam). oh, how we’re so indulgent in western tales of fairies and magic, that we forget the incredible tales of miracles and mukjizat of our prophets.

i admit my oversight!

i hope to get a whole bunch when we get back to malaysia. any suggestions of any particular books specially for kids? khaleef can read about the prophet who can speak when he was a baby, the prophet whose mother stomped on a spot and there sprinkled the zamzam water, the prophet who can understand animal language, and of the prophet who once had a cloud that follows him, sheltering him from the sun…

14 comments:

Liz said...

ahaks, tak jumpa lagi status tu. tp mcm cute pulak akak jwb camtu. haha...

skrg dah byk buku kisah2 nabi. akak jgn risau. pergi ke kedai kedai buku agama. ada byk.

FN said...

i agree with u. syahmie my 7 year old mmg senang ikut perangai org
:( kadang2 bile die tanye, nape die tak boleh org lain boleh? terkedu jugak nak jwb sebaik boleh. kekadang as parents, kte ade gak buat yg tak betul kan

Syigim said...

>> liz, mesti byk kan. cuma nak suggestion yg plg best utk budak2. gamba comel2 ke, or words dia tak susah sgt. :)

>> fara, me too - hari tu classmate dia jerit "shut up!" and dia tanya if its a bad word, nape dia pun xboleh jerit the same word...

hmm..

lina said...

salam - sygim this is my personal view mmg betul kadang kala apa yg kanak2 baca akan menpengaruhi dirinya. Contoh alia dia mmg baca buku kisah nabi2, Drp membaca dia akan banyak bertanya character2 dlm bacaan nya ataupun masa kita bercerita pada nya. Alia bila dh baca dia mula akan lakon kan watak dlm buku....tak tahu ni sbb budak perempuan mmg macam tu ke...kena tunggu darwisy besar sikit then baru boleh compare :) dan kalau i perhati dia byk baca puteri dan dia start berangan jd puteri pulak...tergelak pun ada tengok dia belakon.

transformed housewife said...

kids learn more from their parents and the storybooks just some spices that can add the flavour but at the end, if the parents have molded their kids, insyaallah they'll turn out to be okay.

carrot said...

kak, i found the same situation in my facebook feeds. teehee.. one of my friends, replied : Superman wears underwear outside of the cloth when he goes out.

so far, kat malaysia dah ada banyak buku2 kisah nabi n sahabat. siap ada katun2 lagi..illustration for the scene n not the prophets of course. :)

hari tu sy ada usha2 terjumpa satu but cost RM 84.. nice book with nice cover as well.. hee~ :D

HaniFadil said...

oh my , syigim, i copy paste your reply to my frens' status.. haha..

amirah said...

kak syigim, apparently we hv bought a bundle of prophets' storybooks for our boy when he was like 6-7 mnths kut.definitely dia cuma listen to wht we read to him.tp i tot kami yg lebih nak tahu kisah2 nabi sendri sbb byk yg kami tktau..hehe..and fairy tales or western-originated stories are everywhere and senang nk cari.influence in oneself?rasanya kids lbih byk meniru kita as parents and they learn from what they saw (surrounding).seriously it is.storybooks might hv influence on them but my personal view,may be sedikit dan cuma ada dlm alam angan2 mereka.and u r right, we can't put total blame sbb ada juga something they can learn abt

Zulaikha Mohamad said...

agreed with u.. kids mmg senang terpengaruh ape yg dia baca or anything that he watch on the tele.. luckily i tak anta lg arsyad pegi playschool, tp dia slalu pelik tgk cousins dia buat aksi ganas ke, pukul2 their mom, and sometimes dia pon buat camtu coz dia tgk budak lain bley buat.. and nak cari buku kisah2 nabi yg menarik susah sikit.. i pon penah cari tp susah nk cari yg interesting and my son mmg takle tgk lama2 like other books.. hmm~

CatlinaFly said...

dlm islam pun, tak digalakkan belajar ikut buku je..mesti ada cikgunya..dan kita sebagai parent, kitalah cikgu anak2 kita ;)(selain dari cikgu di sekolah)..nice one syigim!

1001 arabian night pun ada dongengnye jugak kan,dongeng melayu pun ada, jgn kata cite omputeh je..tapi tak pulak kita terpengaruh

Syigim said...

>> kak lina, girls mmg berangan jadi princess, boys pulak berangan jadi superhero - lumrah budak-budak kot! hihi. tp pretending smbil berlakon2 tu beza dgn tiru perangai2 buruk kan? :)

>> kak nur, well said! i like your comment :)

Syigim said...

>> carrot, bole kasi exact title buku kisah2 nabi tu tak? uish sampai rm84 - satu set ke tu? nk jugak check it out :)

>> hani, copy la.. takpe. :)

Syigim said...

>> amirah, betul! kita parents pun mesti ade yg xtau betul2 pasl kisah2 nabi & mukjizat. buku utk budak2 mesti lagi menarik, snang paham n ringkas. :)

>> zulaikha, i agree budak2 lagi senang terpengaruh dgn tv dr buku. tv ni senang action2 semua clear boleh nmpak ;)

blk msia ni mmg i nak cari kisah2 nabi, kat dubai ni pun nk try cari :)

Syigim said...

doc cat, betul! kita parents pun membesar dgn buku2 pulak. alhamdulillah, takde lagi la yg pegi cari gua n try bukak kot2 ade harta kat dlm hihihihihi....atau suruh mak2 kita pegi beli pumpkin sbb nk tukar jadi carriage kan kan kan.... ;)

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