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It’s Okay to be a Grumpy Monkey
The Archangels Tell Us to Own Our Emotions
I spent the last three weeks in Dallas taking care of my grandson, and I spent part of nearly every day reading to him. As a retired teacher and reading specialist, I know the importance of reading to our children, and I’ve passed that down to my children, who are passing it down to their children. I’ve been reading to my grandson, Jorgie, since he was in his mother’s womb, and he has a ton of books. He’s not talking much yet at eighteen months old, but when it’s story time, I hold up one book after the other, until he goes from responding “Nah, nah, nah” and shaking his head to nodding his head yes, to let me know what he wants me to read to him.
His favorite book is the Grumpy Monkey, by Suzanne and Max Lang. It’s about a monkey named Jim Panzee, who wakes up in a bad mood, which his friend picks up on right away and spreads the word. Each time one of his friends asks him why he’s grumpy and explains how they can tell that he is, he responds with something like, “Grumpy? Who, me? I’m not grumpy!” In the end, he figures out that he is indeed grumpy, it’s okay to be grumpy sometimes, even if he’s not sure why, and he begins to feel better.
I hope my grandson takes the message to heart, as we all should. Nobody likes to feel grumpy, yet everyone feels grumpy from time…
