Who doesn’t love Dr. Seuss?  I can’t decide if I loved reading his books more as a child or as an adult.  Dr. Seuss must have been really cool.  I mean who could dream up such  a wondrous landscape filled with nonsensical characters and lyrical text?  Not to mention all the quotable quotes and notable notes used as inspiration for someone who dotes!

With all of the anticipation and hype surrounding the release of The Lorax this weekend, it got me thinking about how innovative this author was.  Would there be any way of knowing if the underlying message catapulted anyone’s children to be socially responsible citizens.  One can only hope, keep reading Dr. Seuss, and let his words and characters inspire countless generations.

The Lorax – Teaches children the need to be environmentally conscious
Oh, the Places You’ll Go! – Teaches children how to remain positive when faced with adversity
The Cat in the Hat – Teaches children about responsibility and honesty
I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!  – Teaches children that reading is a useful tool to acquire knowledge
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street – Teaches children to be imaginative

Everywhere Seuss inspired parties abound.  With so much fabulous material, you can plan specific to a title…

Or get creative with your baking…

I personally have adopted a little Seuss into my life, naming a couple of house plants Thing 1 and Thing 2.   A fun reminder in your home not to take any thing too seriously with some cartoon-like furniture…

I think we should adopt a National Dr. Seuss Day for kids everywhere young and old, when everyone can dress a little eccentrically and flex their creativity.  Like dressing in a 2 dimensional fashion that reminds me of playing with paper dolls…

This post got me thinking about life’s lessons learned as kids.  We loved the below except so much, we had it recited at our wedding…

ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN
by Robert Fulghum

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

These are the things I learned:

•    Share everything.
•    Play fair.
•    Don’t hit people.
•    Put things back where you found them.
•    Clean up your own mess.
•    Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
•    Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
•    Wash your hands before you eat.
•    Flush.
•    Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
•    Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
•    Take a nap every afternoon.
•    When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
•    Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
•    Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we.
•    And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.  And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Don’t you just love learning something new every day?   Like adding Kool Aid to color home made play-doh to make it look and smell fabulous (which may lead small children to believe it’s edible?! Adult supervision required).  Enjoy!

 

 

 

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