The boys got sticker books in their stockings this year, and don't you think sticker books are the perfect format in which to enjoy a sticker? Because consider: it's so fun to have a sticker, and to peel it off its backing, but
then what? There's so much uncertainty in that sticker's fate: will it become fuzz-covered from being stuck and re-stuck on one's shirt? will it meet its demise in the washing machine? will it be stuck secretly on furniture, never to be removed again? will it be stuck on a scrap of paper and then lost? will it be stuck on a paper and then unceremoniously ripped back off because the paper it was on was, in fact, a utilities bill or other necessary document?
With a sticker book, you have a place to put the sticker (usually an exact outline into which the sticker fits perfectly, which is so satisfying in and of itself), and it's accessible, so you can enjoy it immediately, but also archiveable, so you can keep it and look at it later. And you get the fun of peeling the sticker off, and sticking it down, without the worry of what will happen next. Perfect.
I'm with you on this. I would've loved sticker books to death when I was little. Max isn't it love with them himself. I've bought him a few and had to talk him into using them, crazy little boy.
ReplyDeleteNow that I'm an adult, I completely agree with you. As a kid, I would have sided with Max. It always seemed like such a waste of a sticker to put it right back in the book it came from. I always thought there would be a better place to put that sticker--so many possibilities. Once I used that sticker, I destroyed all those other options. Oh dear.
ReplyDeleteIt shows Melissa and Max's free, creative spirits, as yet unconstrained by the limits society forces upon them. I'm afraid I was a conformist even as a child. *sigh* :)
ReplyDeleteThis word verification is inging in my ears! So I had to comment.
ReplyDeleteI love this post! so true!
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