I’m sitting at a hospital, drinking coffee, waiting for visiting hours. Oh, and soon I’m going to be going in and holding my wife’s hand for the birth of my child (read as: have my hand crushed into a sack of ground bone shards), just as soon as things hurry along and they move us upstairs.
Excited? Hell yeah.
I’m going to have a role in the edumacations of a little person. So what do I teach her?
Boom. That is a massive, titanic, ludicrously ubernormous question. You know what they say about “getting them early” as the key to indoctrination. Well with this amount of early I could make her into a scientist, or a fundamentalist, or a pianist, or a plagiarist… practically no ist is off limits, even the scarier ones.
But you know what I think I’m going to do? I’m going to let her be whatever she wants. No false dichotomies in my house, thank you very much.
So other than broad categories of learning, what little bits and pieces do I want to impart? I know it might be many years before she gets to some of this stuff, but I want to get a big list going and then divide it up by age range later. At the moment I’m thinking about the first ten years worth of stuff…
Books
– Mr Men & Little Miss books
– Brother’s Grimm
– Aesop’s Fables
– Wind in the Willows
– Peter Rabbit
– Norse mythology (there’s gotta be a kids book with pictures somewhere, something sans Freja orgy and general bloodshed)
– The Hobbit
Toys
– Duplo
– Lego
– Meccano (too old?)
– Etch o Sketch
– Spirograph
– a flippin’ TRICYCLE
– matchbox cars
– Dress up, everything from Snow White to Iron Man (if Pepper Potts can wear the suit, why the hell can’t my daughter?)
Films
Disney
Miyazaki
Come on guys and ladies, what essentials am I missing? This is the education of a child we’re talking about here! We can’t miss stuff!
Best regards,
D.R.Sylvester
P.S. – to my wife and daughter: love you.
D.R.SYLVESTER FICTION 
Books – Seuss & all the hairy mclary’s. Winners.
Congrats & enjoy yourself – it’s great 🙂
Ahh! Dr. Seuss! Of course, I’m going to have to get all of those. Hairy Mclary’s I’ve never seen or heard of, but I will do some investigating.
Thank you! And yes, it has been awesome so far. I need to figure out a routine so I can get stuff done ahead of time though… +_+
Dr. Suess books are great!! “Hop on Pop” is excellent for teaching reading skills. We are also getting a “Leap Reader” writing thingy for my four year old boy. Kids are fun to watch learn and grow. You’ll always remember that first time you hold your baby. It’ll be hard to pen the right words for the recollection, because it super incredible and indescribable. 🙂 Good luck! Happy Family. And Congrats.
Yeah, I think it would be a difficult experience to capture well on the page. I really ought to write about it now, while its fresh.
Thanks! 😀
Dr. Seuss is a must! I’m partial to Winnie the Pooh and Shel Silverstein. As a child I loved Lincoln logs (and I second Legos, even if they are brutal to step on).
Congrats!!!
Shel Silverstein? Will have a look for them!
I remember stepping on a Warhammer figure with a pith helmet once. It was like a plastic caltrop. OW.
Thank you for the grats!
Best of luck! My daughter’s favorite toy has been a stack of Dixie cups. I’m not sure what’s going through her head as she scatters them throughout the house, but I tell myself it’s a good exercise of imagination.
Dixie cups are a type of paper cups, right? Haha I’m loving how most kids seem to be perfectly happy with household basics as toys. Makes me wonder about all the expensive stuff I’m no doubt going to get her…
I think my happiest times as a kids were lego, pens and paper, and glueing toilet rolls together Blue Peter style.
In the more mundane mums & bubs stuff of early life.. I don’t know how I survived the first 6 months without a baby carrier and am sure I will have one ready before baby arrives if I ever do it again.
My son had been obsessed by Balls and balloons and anything round since he was born so something along that line is always good. from the soft and squishy at birth to the small and rattly at 3-4 months and the self moving Vtech Crawl and learn ball by 7 months (note this one turns lethal when they learn to throw it about 12 mths) Any ball is a must.
We’ve got a Vtech bear (pink) that has a glowing star on its tummy like a teletubbie, and it sings. If the ball is anything like it, sign us up!
Congratulations! Any child who grows up reading The Hobbit should turn out very well. 😃
I’ve taken to just reading whatever I’m reading at the time to her, so when she starts to know what words mean I’m going to have to PG things a bit…
And oh hells yeah, I’m hoping she’s got a bit of hero worship for Éowyn by the time I’ve fully indoctrinated her in The Hobbit and LOTR
Oh yes, what little girl doesn’t love Eowyn! I’m eternally grateful to Tolkien for creating that character.
Any book by Chris Riddell (My girls loved the Ottoline series); Operation (hand eye co-ordination); Ghostbusters and Goonies (Classic 80’s).
Best of luck and congratulations in advance…
The very hungry caterpillar by Eric Carle is a must 🙂
Of course! and Where the Wild Things Are, now that I think of it. There’re so many…
Norse Myth for kids does exist, I’ve seen a good one! Congrats!
REALLY?! O_O where is it! Ahh, I’m going to have to go searching, aren’t I… ?
Congrats to you! Yes, Ghibli, yes, yes, yes. Kiki and Moving Castle and Spirited Away..and.. well, the list never ends. I have one very very important addition to make: Wolf children by Mamoru Hosoda. Since you love Miyazaki, this won’t be that far of a stretch. I watched it while being preggers and since I’m now a new-fledged mom myself, I noticed that there’s a lot of “parenting wisdom” in this one – so this one’s actually for your own list as well as baby’s. 🙂
Wolf Children, you say? I will see if I can find a copy. Thank you!
Congratulations to you and your wife man! Hope everything’s going smoothly.
I have to agree with another comment earlier on The Hobbit, with that and Disney, you’re good! But then again, you’re a writer dude! If all else fails, you should just write her some fairy tales. Congrats again man!
Absolutely! I’m planning to make stories up for her, and then write up the ones that don’t suck. It’s a real challenge being asked to tell a story on the fly, but with kids stories it’s a bit more manageable.
Thanks mate. Much appreciated, and we’re having a blast so far!