Should Children's Books Have Happy Endings?

I read the following article in The Guardian today: Should Children's Books Have Happy Endings?. I think that all books should have happy endings! Otherwise I feel cheated.

The article has the sub-heading 'Should fiction protect children from a messy, troubled world – or prepare them for it?' I think it is neither. A good book [for me] is one that is absorbing. You care about the characters and you care about the outcome (which is why I feel cheated if it isn't a happy one). Books are not there to teach children about the world - unless it is a world atlas! The world will teach children about the world, and parents will hopefully give children the skills to engage with the world and cope with the difficulties the world throws at them. Books present different worldviews and are a good tool to spark conversations about how characters behave, but I don't think books necessarily prepare children for the world, surely that's a parent's job and books can be a tool.

What do you think?

So what's going on?

Just some things that have happened.  Nothing gripping. Just chit-chat.

Boots just ate a blue-bottle fly.  I heard it buzzing in her mouth...and then she crunched it.  YUK!

I've been on a short course at Bible college looking at the Book of Job.  Job is my least favourite book of the Bible, I like the beginning and the end, but the discourses just go on TOO long.  However, I got myself a commentary and attended the course, and the book means so much more to me now.  I'm quite interested in the concept of redemptive suffering now.

I have too many books on the go:

• Let God Be God: Life-Changing Truths from the Book of Job- Ray Stedman [the Job commentary I mentioned above]
• Sacred Rhythms - Ruth Hayley Barton [About creating space in various ways to seek God taking inspiration from monastic traditions.  To be honest I'm not getting much out of it...but hopefully will have the willpower to finish LOL]
• A Reformation Reader - Denis R. Janz [A compilation of various theological texts from the Reformation and pre-reformation period from both sides of the fence. Each text has a brief introduction]

Got a stack that I want to read too.  *Sigh* not enough hours in the day.

Husband broke my garden swing today.  I was sat on it, reading A Reformation Reader, enjoying the sunshine and I thought to myself, "Chuh! Bloomin' husband sat in the living room on a nice day like this!"  So I told him to come and join me on the swing, to which he harumphed but obliged.  After about five minutes of sitting his side of the swing collapsed.  Curses!

And then he "fixed" it...

Such artisan skills

We did some work on the garden today.  I've been busy over the past two weeks planting and tidying, but as usual I've let the whole thing slip so far that it's a bit of an uphill task.  I'll post some photos perhaps but it's getting dark now.

I've also been painting the bathroom and toilet.  The plan is to decorate the house ready to sell..AGAIN. Lol we've been down this road before and been unsuccessful, so please pray.  Pray for wisdom about timing and price and all that jazz.  We've tried to sell many times over 10 years, we've not be entirely happy here but we want the people who buy to love it and enjoy it, so please pray about that, thanks!

Granddad has had some operations recently on his head - some cancerous growths - he's in quite a bit of pain.  I was going to visit, but Dad said that he wasn't feeling up to it, so perhaps next week I'll get over there.  Please pray for his recovery, he's had skin removed from his neck to graft.  At 95 years old it doesn't heal quickly.

Please pray for Mum too, she's been quite poorly, she's diagnosed with polymyalgia rhumatica and was in quite a bit of pain.  She's on steroids and they are helping, but she's very tired and the steroids have side-effects.  She's fed-up with being ill.  I'm basically in charge of Grandma at the moment, which is fine, but I just want Mum to be well.

OK...so is that everything? I think so.

Have a great weekend. :)

Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control, Book Review

3 stars

This book was very interesting but, for me, difficult to read in some places. It's 20 years since I completed my degree in Psychology and I certainly haven't kept up with things and this book does contain some technical neuro-stuff. However, Kathleen Taylor's explanation of the many varieties of influence techniques used in politics, religion and advertising were fascinating and very useful (to me).

Her expression 'cogwebs', as an abbreviation for cognitive web - connections in the brain made through reinforcement of certain beliefs and thought patterns often through external influence, were particularly interesting. The stronger the reinforcement of these beliefs the harder they are to change. Rather like a gully cut into rock by a small stream - even though the force of the water isn't strong the constant flow gradually erodes the rock. It is then very difficult to change the route of the stream. It is the same with beliefs, it is very difficult to change beliefs when current beliefs have been reinforced over and over. Therefore, those who are part of cults or totalitarian regimes of some kind are trapped by their own minds and the influence that the leaders of these groups have over them by the constant reinforcement of certain messages.

Taylor mentions Robert Lifton's Thought Reform Criteria:

** Milieu Control – The control of information and communication.
** Mystical Manipulation – The manipulation of experiences that appear spontaneous but in fact were planned and orchestrated.
** Demand for Purity – The world is viewed as black and white and the members are constantly exhorted to conform to the ideology of the group and strive for perfection.
** Confession – Sins, as defined by the group, are to be confessed either to a personal monitor or publicly to the group.
** Sacred Science – The group's doctrine or ideology is considered to be the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or dispute.
** Loading the Language – The group interprets or uses words and phrases in new ways so that often the outside world does not understand.
** Doctrine over person – The member's personal experiences are subordinated to the sacred science and any contrary experiences must be denied or reinterpreted to fit the ideology of the group.
** Dispensing of existence – The group has the prerogative to decide who has the right to exist and who does not.

But how does one resist such influence? Stop and think! She also suggests that cynicism and humour assist resisting influence - which is great, because being English we are endlessly cynical and like to use humour as a defence. Awesome. :)

Great book, if you're interested in this kind of thing.

5 Big Ideas that Changed My Life

Jennifer Fulwiler at Conversion Diary asked the question "What core beliefs define my outlook? What are the characteristics of the lens through which I see the world?"  She then asked readers to share their own 5 big things.  So after  a little thought here are some of mine...I had to cut them down, I had about a bazillion.

Other than of course becoming a Christian and realising  that I used to belong to a cultish church, here are 5 big ideas that changed my life and my way of thinking/living:

1. Finding out that conversion is an ongoing process not a once for all event…this takes off the pressure to be SURE about everything immediately and gives me time to understand and ponder things in a deeper way.

God plants an eternal seed in our life when we first turn to Jesus and away from all the stuff.  It takes a while for the seed to root, to take in water, then you see some growth above ground, then the plant grows, flowers and eventually bears fruit.  Life in God is a process.  We want fruit NOW!   But stable change takes time.

2. To ask myself, “Who is in control?” when I become angry and frustrated about things. And even in relation to forgiveness, etc.

When someone does something that annoys me it is difficult to let it go sometimes.  To allow anger to spill out into ranting or complaining...or *fill in the blank*.  Who is in control at that point? Well not me because I have lost control of my emotions.  Not God because my fear has got the better of me.

When I feel the urge to shout at an inconsiderate driver (or such like) I say to myself, "Who is in control?"

3. That the word translated in the Bible ‘perfect’ – teleios – means:

‘mature (consummated) from going through the necessary stages to reach the end-goal, i.e. developed into a consummating completion by fulfilling the necessary process (spiritual journey).’ (from HelpsBible)

So I don’t need to be PERFECT immediately, it’s a process! Which goes back to my understanding that conversion is ongoing. Yay! Pressure release!

I think we can all relate to this in our faith, we see God changing us in some way through life events or teaching, and such discipline can sometimes feel hard.  But at the end you look back and see how far you've come.  And then something else comes up...but there's no pressure.  It's all about being transformed, by God not ourselves or anyone else, so there's no rush either.

4. That (in a sense) I don’t need to clean-up and make room for Jesus in my life, I open the door to Jesus and he cleans up and makes the room. I just need to be open to the change and willing to go along with it. Just a little bit of light makes a lot of darkness go.

Invite Jesus in.  You might be a total mess with no room for anything in your life, but faith is like a mustard seed.  Tiny, but it doesn't half grow into big trees! :)

5. That really no-one cares if my house isn’t perfect. In fact, people are more comfortable when my house is imperfect because it takes the pressure off them to have perfect houses when I visit, plus they aren’t in terror of dropping a crumb, wrinkling a cushion, or spilling a drink. Hospitality is about people not houses or fine dining.

This is what happens when I try to replicate pins too (CraftFail) :)

Pinterest and such-like, give us a mixed-up view of what home/life should be.  It isn't all soft focus and perfect housekeeping.  It's people, and life, and joy, and grief, and mess, and gunk, and children, and friends, and messy-church stuff, and well...I could go on.


Yes, it's OK to fail!  

"Misuse" of quotes

Further to my previous post: Laughter is the Best Medicine, my darling hubby pointed me to some examples of how people hurting themselves can sometimes be funny...using Friends and Only Fools and Horses episodes to prove his point.

One of the Friends videos reminded me of something else that made me laugh yesterday.  The misuse of quotes.  If you watch the video you'll see what I mean. I miss Friends.



Anyway, a Facebook friend posted a link to a site displaying awesome misuses of quotes.

My two favourites are the following:

Oh the stress...

I feel so "safe"

Life is funny.

Laughter is the best medicine...

...unless of course you've had a major operation and have stitches.  In which case, laughter is likely to cause you a great deal of pain.

We had a bad Friday night - we just couldn't sleep

Anyway, Saturday we were tired and very weary.  Well, I read one of those websites that post autocorrect mistakes - exhibit A:

I laughed until I was nearly sick.  I laughed until tears streamed down my face.  I laughed until G started laughing in sympathy (and a modicum of concern).

Inappropriate as most of them were, they TOTALLY cheered me up.

Laughing takes the edge off even the most painful situation and it is often healing.

Note: laughing at someone in a painful situation is not good.  G are you listening?  G finds people falling over to be the highest form of humour. Not every one agrees.  Especially me. Ha.

Crying - good. Let it out.
Laughing - good. Let it in.

Note 2: telling someone to laugh when they've just stubbed their toe may result in injury...yours.

P.S. Happy Mother's Day!

Jedi cats

Hahahahaha Just love it.



Cats are awesome.  Star Wars is awesome.  This video is awesome.