kids books i loathe: Mr. Rogers New Baby

ok, ok. i know i am about to go after a man who is not only still dead but is also still very beloved by a huge segment of the american population. we love the sweater, we love the parodies, we love the gentle ways of fred rogers.

i do, too, generally speaking (though i always hated the puppets and never understood how they fit into the “real” world of mr. rogers. ever.) and that’s why i felt like such a bad person for loathing this book.

but when i was expecting jools, i read several “new baby” books to BC to help her prepare for for her new baby brother. this is the only one that truly freaked her out in a way i could have never expected. see, fred talks honestly in the book about the feelings a new baby can bring out in a sibling. and one of those feelings is that you might feel like you want to hurt the baby.

well.

BC was freaked out FOR MONTHS. mama, she wailed, i don’t want to hit the baby! i’m afraid i will hit the baby!!!!

when you’re pregnant, you really don’t need that on top of everything else. i’m more in favor of talking about feelings during the actual moment. sure, talk about what it’s like to be a new sibling. but don’t put ideas into my kid’s head that weren’t there to start, fred. you just created one hell of a nervous child. a real freaking help that book was. nope. there are a bajillion new baby books out there, everything from the berenstain bears to the sears’.

when it comes to new babies, stay the hell out of mr. roger’s neighborhood.

Mr. Roger’s New Baby

6 thoughts on “kids books i loathe: Mr. Rogers New Baby

  1. Even as a kid, Mr. Rogers scared me. I think it was, as you say, the puppets. Their freaky, mewling voices gave me the heebie jeebies.

  2. i agree with you…best to take such potential situations as they come, rather than plant this idea in the kid’s head before s/he’s even old enough to understand what’s going on.

    do you think this book would work, though, for a 3-year-old who insists on constantly shoving her 22-month-old sister? that’s what i’m dealing with at the moment.

  3. I can see how that might freak out a small child! I don’t think that it would occur to most kids to hurt the baby (or maybe I just got lucky). Once the baby turns 2, on the other hand, older child might want to wallop it now and then.

  4. i like fred rogers as much as the next person, and most of his materials are really great. i would say that BC has always had some sort of emotional ESP — and so it was really interesting (years later, i would say) that as a 4 year old, she was really riled by this.

    the sears book, however, was wonderful. probably my favorite.

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