I have completely forgotten about this book

ADDED April 01, 2008

Sometimes a kid will find a favorite book and want to read it over and over and OVER again. (And then over again.)

Really, there's nothing wrong with this. In fact, we as parents we should definitely feel happy and lucky that our child has found a book that excites them!

But then again, reading a child's favorite book thirty or forty times can be, well, repetitive.

One way to breathe fresh life into an oft-read book is to forget about it completely.

"Oh, I've never seen this book before!" I tell my children as the favorite book comes out.

At first, they look at me like I'm nuts (not an uncommon occurrence in our house.) Then, they're on board with the game and "introducing" me to the book.

"And Daddy, look at how this elephant is squirting all over the place! Have you ever seen that before?"

I also try this completely forgetting trick when my Lovely Wife asks me to take out the garbage, but the results aren't quite as impressive.