The book, "A House Is A House For Me" by Mary Ann Hoberman was a favorite in our house when the kids were growing up--especially for Olivia. It's a great book filled with colorful and imaginative illustrations and equally-imaginative text. There is no story line, per se, but rather one long thought process about (and I quote) "...the things that are houses for things."
Here are a few of my favorite lines from the book:
A web is a house for a spider. A bird builds its nest in a tree. There's nothing so snug as a bug in a rug, but a house is a house for me.
A box is a house for a teabag. A teapot is a house for some tea. If you pour me a cup and I drink it all up, then the teahouse will turn into me!
Perhaps I have started far-fetching. Perhaps I am stretching things some. A mirror's a house for a reflection and a throat is a house for a hum....
A book is a house for a story. A rose is a house for a smell. My head is a house for a secret--a secret I never will tell....
Each creature that's known has a house of its own...and the earth is a house for us all.
It really is a very sweet book-one that makes us think about the fact that everyone has a special place where they belong.
So here's my question to you: Do your children know you cherish the house they are in? In other words, do your children know you love them for who they are? Do they have the freedom to be themselves without fear of being made fun of or chastised by you? Or are you guilty of trying to put them in a 'house' they aren't meant to live in?
I'm pretty sure you don't keep your cereal in the butter dish or your socks in the dishwasher, so don't try to put your children in a 'house' that isn't meant for them. Love them for who THEY are so that the earth that is a house for us all will be better for having them in it.
Love,
Momma D
Copyright 2018 Darla Noble. No part of this can be used or copied without permission from the author.
