Slowpoke - A Book Review

This little girl has always done things on her own time and at her own pace which is something that can be incredibly frustrating to those around her . . . particularly me. I have little patience - it's true - and have to work VERY hard to allow the kids to do things themselves like strap their car seats or put on their own shoes. I feel like I am always in a hurry and never have enough time and I know it will all happen faster if I just do it myself! So without a doubt Pickle often tests my patience whether it is stopping what she is doing to come to dinner, picking out a book to read, or finding her shoes . . . it doesn't matter; she is going to take her time doing it.

But last night I was taught a lesson - an unexpected and completely unintentional lesson by this little girl. We read a book that Pickle had picked out at the library. (The library is the one place she moves fast - darting from shelf to shelf stuffing her bag with as many books as she can fit before I start hustling her to checkout.) The book is called SLOWPOKE and is by an author named Emily Smith Pearce.

In this book Fiona "likes to take her time. She takes so much time that her toes wrinkle in the bathtub and her dog falls asleep waiting to be fed." Her mother eats her dinner in one bite and her father watches TV in fast-forward and her brother does two things at once. Can you figure out who Fiona is in our family?
Well, this is me:

Fiona's mom has little patience for "pokiness" and sends her off to "Speed School." In Speed School Fiona learns how to do 3 things at once and "eat an ice-cream cone before you could say 'lickety-split.'" She is tops in her class! "But Fiona could not taste her ice cream. She could not enjoy a soak in the tub." She decides to put her family through "Slow School" and makes them do things like take off their watches, walk down the street, and eat their dinner one bite at a time. Her mother notices the flowers and her father comments on how tasty the food is. Everyone learns something!

I highly recommend this book to the many adults out there who are in "Speed School" mode like myself. Is it so bad that it takes her 5 minutes to pick out just the right book to read or that she wants to tie her own shoes or that she wants to stop and wash her hands right after getting out of the shower? Maybe not and maybe I need to stop, slow down, and taste my food. Cheers to pokiness and Cheers to Pickleness!