I'm a children's librarian for a lot of reasons. But, two of them are that I love children and I love children's books. There are a million other reasons though, most of them wonderful.
When I heard that Spike Jonze was making a movie of "Where the Wild Things Are" I was furious. How dare he ruin my most cherished picture book? Who gave him that right? Well, as it turns out, Maurice Sendak did, and if Mr. Sendak is on board with the adaptation, I am as well. I was at the movie theater a few weeks ago and saw a brief featurette with both Spike Jonze and Maurice Sendak discussing the movie, and Spike said something that really hit home with me. He said that Mr. Sendak told him the movie "had to respect kids and not talk down to them."
Respecting kids is HUGE with me. So much of what I see as a public school teacher, so many of the problems I see, stem directly from parents and other adults not showing children the respect they deserve. And I'm not talking about letting the kids run the show, or the family, or make the big decisions they have no business taking on. I'm talking about respecting that they are children and they are growing and learning and need you to be there to support and guide them. Carrying a 4th grader's backpack that he is perfectly capable of shouldering? It's disrespectful to both of you. Not having actual conversations with your child so they know how to have a conversation and know things to talk about? Well, that goes past disrespect and starts to border on abuse (in my opinion).
When I talk to a child, I look him or her in the eye. I do not engage them in conversation differently than I would any other adult, colleague, boss, or even the President of the United States of America. If someone is worth talking to, they are worth speaking to with respect and kindness. I ask my students' opinions. "Why did you choose that book?" "What kind of book do you think this will be?" "What makes Junie B. Jones so funny?" (Seriously, I want to know- I can't decide personally if I want her to be spanked, medicated, or both.)
I think that treating these children with respect- modeling that behavior and showing them that I believe they are worthy of that respect- is the reason I have very few discipline problems. Of course, it's pretty hard to misbehave in the library, but I'm sure it can be done. One or two do something here or there that make me have to raise my voice a little and ask, "Seriously? Is that what you are doing?" But on the whole, we treat each other as respectfully as possible and get through the day together.
So, knowing that the "Where the Wild Things Are" movie was made with this idea of respecting children in mind, that takes it to a whole different level with me. That also raises my expectation of what the movie will be, and how it will speak to the children. Not just the young people, but the child in me that gets to spend every day in a room filled with books, thinking she has just died and gone to heaven.