Spoon.

Last week we read Spoon by one of my favorite children’s authors, Amy Krouse Rosenthall. The story about a little spoon that envies his friends lives (“And Chopsticks! They are so lucky! Everyone thinks they’re really cool and exotic.”), but eventually learns he’s actually lucky to be a spoon just warms my heart.

At the end of the story, Spoon finally jumps into bed (a drawer) with his parents and, you guessed it, spoons. Well, have you ever tried explaining what ‘spooning’ means to a group of kindergarteners? It’s not easy.

“Have you ever snuggled in bed with your parents like Spoon does?” I asked.

Lots of heads nodding.

“Well when you spoon, you would lay in front of your mom or dad and kind of fit like two spoons,” I explained.

Lots of perplexed looks.

“Hang on,” I said, running to grab some plastic spoons.

“See how they just fit inside of each other perfectly?” I asked.

“Well, if you lay in front of your mom or dad, with your back to them, that’s spooning,” I continued.

“But, we’re not spoons,” offered Ricky.

My mind began to wonder if this was making any sense and with that I said what comes out of my mouth way too often, “Anyway, moving along…”

In any event, the book is a wonderful story about self-acceptance and I never tire of reading it year after year. Next time, perhaps I’ll leave the ‘spooning’ lesson out.