Ur-Texts and Kindergarten

Being in a university setting, you read a lot of academic articles. Taking in interpretations of scholars, analyzing lengthy texts, and trying your hardest to retain the wisdom of people who have devoted their lives to incredibly specific fields can be... taxing.

This is why I was struck by the profoundness of texts I remember from the first time I ever went to school. The first: If Everybody Did by Jo Ann Stover. Stover takes the impulses or mistakes that many young people experience such as squeezing the family pet or tracking mud through the house and encourages them to consider what would happen if everybody did those things. The implication that any person makes up who 'everybody' is and the hopeful tone at the end with the suggestion of collective positive action reminded me of our Everybody. I've linked below a video of the book being flipped through so you can see the charming illustrations and full story for yourself.

Second, a text turned into a poster that hung in my Kindergarten classroom: All I Really need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten by Robert Fuller. It serves as a reminder of how simple making moral choices can be, especially when one tries to see their lives through the lens of a Kinder-gardener. Among the life lessons, a particularly striking one: "Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we."

Are there any texts from your childhood you've revisited/ seen in a new light recently? What came of this reexamination?