Even though we didn't let Jr. watch the Wizard of Oz today, he did get to look and sing along with a musical Wizard of Oz book.
But I still didn't know what the bluebird of happiness was. Enter the internet. Wikipedia gave me an idea and actually directed us to a movie we checked out of the library to watch for our Family Home Evening activity.
A 1940 Shirley Temple film called, "The Blue Bird." In it, a little girl is unhappy. She's not rich, yet she has two loving parents and a little brother, a dog, and a cat, a roof over her head and food to eat. But she thinks it's not enough. She complains about the things she doesn't have. She and her little brother go searching for the blue bird because the blue bird means happiness. They search all over, but don't find it. Even in the "land of luxury" where there are all the things she used to wish for, the little girl doesn't find true happiness. She misses all the good things she has at home, how her daddy would read to her and give her bedtime kisses. When the children return home, they find that the blue bird was there the whole time. And that is where the little girl learned to look for happiness.
Hey, we would have gotten the same message if we had watched the Wizard of Oz after all.
A good message. And what did my children learn?
(paraphrasing)
Jr.: I would like a blue bird for a pet.
Nichole: I'd like a hummingbird.
Actually, I think they get it. We talk a lot in our family about being happy and grateful for things we have. And our kids are good at getting excited about things.
For example:
And now that the older kids are in bed, Jeremy and I are going to celebrate National Punctuation Day (also September 24) by watching Victor Borge's routine, "Phonetic Punctuation," where he reads a paragraph from a book and every punctuation mark he comes to he emphasizes it with a sound.
Put a little birdhouse in your soul
ReplyDeleteJeremy and I actually talked about that one. But I didn't even think to listen to the song. Silly me.
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