
A story I liked as a child was, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. To refresh your memory, this is about a little boy who is eating a cookie and sees a little mouse, and wonders what would happen if he gave the mouse the cookie. There are some lessons that you wouldn't really get as a child because they are either too confusing for a young child or the child is simply distracted by the cute mouse. One lesson is the effect of your actions, and predicting what those effects are. The boy predicts that when you give the mouse a cookie, he'll need a glass of milk. But to drink the glass of milk he'll need a straw and to wipe his mouth he'll need a napkin and so on and so forth. This is an appealing way for kids to learn cause and effect, whether they actually catch on to that is another thing.
An implicit message, which would really ruin this innocent, childhood story, would be to think about how the mouse is never satisfied and always needs something else. Not exactly the same but similar to what some people said in class how advertisements teach kids that there's always something to buy. Once you get a toy you get bored or a newer, cooler version comes out. When you get older there's a certain style you try to imitate, but once that fashion is out of style you always need something new to keep up. Not only are they selling a product but a lifestyle with the children and teens used in the adds. There are rarely unattractive kids in commercials, especially clothing commercials, and kids or teens might see it as they should look like the person in the commercial as well as have the product.
But it'd be nice to think that the little boy is simply thinking about the mouse..
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