Everybody Needs A 'Cure'

When faced with a recalcitrant child, every parent wishes there were some sort of 'cure' to bring them round. Something finger-snappingly simple. Something parents would never think of themselves, even though they have thought and thought, and then thought some more. Long years ago I was introduced to someone who had actually found these 'cures', and was willing to share them with any parent who came and asked. And that someone was none other than the valiant and illustrious Mrs Piggle-Wiggle, herself. 

I loved Mrs Piggle-Wiggle, and I found her again, today. She lives in an upside-down house, smells of sugar cookies, and is never ever cross. The best part about this good lady is that she is a friend of parents AND she is a friend of their children. That point is very important. If you are only a friend of the children and not of the parents, well then, things are liable to fall apart dreadfully. And if you are only a friend of the parents and not of the children, no children will ever listen. And if they don't listen, they will never hear of the cures. And it is the 'cures' that will hook them, every time. Children always love to hear about the cures of Mrs Piggle-Wiggle, and here are a few of my favorites:

• the Won't-Take-A-Bath Cure
• the Won't-Pick-Up-Toys Cure
• the Slow-Eater-Tiny-Bite-Taker Cure
• the Never-Want-To-Go-To-Bedders Cure

Just thinking about these cures makes the SconeLady smile. They bring back memories of sitting on a couch, a child to my left and a child to my right, reading all about Mrs Piggle-Wiggle and giggling uncontrollably during a winter snow storm. The interesting thing was watching those two identifying with the maladies that required the cures. They understood each one! Had they not at some point resisted the waters of a bath? And had they not stared at piles of toys lying about and wished they would just disappear before Mother came back looking stormy? 

In a word - YES. They had. 

And so it was fun for them to face such trials from someone else's point of view. Where someone else got into trouble and then got miraculously cured by Mrs Piggle-Wiggle. An impeccable solution!

So if you have children who may (only occasionally, of course) be recalcitrant when it comes to some daily chore, duty or activity, don't walk, don't jog, but RUN to the Library, or the book store, or to Amazon.com, and call on the one and the only:

 MRS PIGGLE-WIGGLE!

You won't be sorry.

See you along the way!

the SconeLady

 

 (And many thanks to my sister who, decades ago, passed along the very first Mrs Piggle-Wiggle book to me. As a first-year teacher, it brightened many a day!)