In Fall of 2004, OSFO was enjoying Pippi Longstocking at bedtime. In honor of OTBKB’s second anniversary, here is Inner Pippi.

Smartmom, OSFO, and Teen Spirit (listening in from the other room) are
reading "Pippi Longstocking" at bedtime. Smartmom had forgotten just
how kooky a character she is. But what a winner.

Written in
1950 by the Swedish author, Astrid Lindgren, "Pippi" is the tale of a
9-year-old girl with bright red pigtails who lives all by herself in a
house called Villa Villakulla. Her mother and father are nowhere in
sight and she can do pretty much as she pleases. "Once upon a time
Pippi had had a father of whom she was extremely fond," writes
Lindgren. "Naturally she had a mother too, but that was so long ago
that Pippi didn’t remember her at all."

Pippi’s dad is a sea
captain who is now living on an island of cannibals. "’My papa is a
cannibal king, isn’t every child who has such a stylish papa,’ Pippi
used to say with satisfaction."

Like so many famous children’s
books the author conveniently banishes the parents right from the
beginning. With a dead mama and a papa far away, Pippi is one free
little girl

Living by herself in a small Swedish town, Pippi
causes quite a stir. She’s traveled the world on her father’s ship and
has experienced more than most people twice her age. And what a mouth
on her — she always says exactly what she’s thinking. She has never
gone to school, lives with a monkey named, Mr. Nilson, drinks coffee,
makes exotic Swedish cookies and entertains her very conventional next
door neighbors, Tommy and Anneka, with her outrageous antics, including
lifting up her horse with one hand.

You get the picture.

As
you can imagine, OSFO just loves Pippi. It isn’t everyday that a
free-spirited anarchist is valorized this way. What kid doesn’t long
for the life of freedom that Pippi enjoys — no one to tell you what to
eat, when to do your homework, what time to go to bed, On the other
hand, it’s probably a little scary too. Kids are big talkers when it
comes to wanting complete freedom. "Freedom’s just another word for
nothing left to lose," and kids are secretly comforted by the rules and
routines of life just as they rail against them.

OSFO is a
roller-coaster of emotions as she listens to the book. She’s goes from
wide-eyed shock to exclamations of "Oh my God." There’s hysteria,
indignation, even pride as Pippi insults her teacher at school (the one
day she goes to give it a try), tells a pair of policemen to be on
their way, or feeds the kids next door copious amounts of coffee and
treats.

OSFO reveres Pippi (the Oh So Spunky One), whose love
of adventure, outrageousness and fun makes her a kindred spirit worth
emulating. OSFO dressed like Pippi for a dinner party the other night.
With mis-matched socks, a kooky jumper, big shoes and two braids in her
hair, OSFO was one adorable Pippi!

Who wouldn’t want to be
Pippi? Even Smartmom longs to indulge her inner Pippi. Call it a
mid-life miasma: Smartmom would love to say, "scram" to the
conventional world and dance to the beat of her very own drum set.
Everyone — kids and adults — needs a break from what’s expected of
them — the relentless rhythm of contemporary life.

Kids too
need a break from the rigors of contemporary childhood. And it’s
downright refreshing to read such an alternative vision of that
"magical" phase of life. Lindgren’s book portrays childhood as a time
of freedom and frivolity. How different from 2004 Park Slope. Here a
child’s life is all about school, homework and extra-curricular
activities. Kids are expected to be as driven as their parents. It’s as
if childhood is one long list of accomplishments to put on a college
application.

From birth, all eyes are on the dreaded
developmental growth chart. Is the baby lifting her head, rolling over,
crawling and walking on time? How about talking — if she’s not verbose
by the age of two, it’s off to the speech therapist. If the kid isn’t
reading and writing according to early acessments, it’s time to be
tutored and drilled. And afterschool and weekends, for God’s sake,
don’t be idle. Learn an instrument, take a dance class, play a team
sport. Nobody said it was going to be easy being raised by the Yuppie
generation, that’s for sure.

Whatever happened to riding bikes
or spending an afternoon transforming a refrigerator box into a house?
It’s not like this stuff doesn’t happen, but it doesn’t happen enough.
Childhood is pretty idyllic in Park Slope, but sometimes it’s not as
idyllic as it could be. Smartmom can see why OSFO’s eyes light up when
she hears about Pippi’s wild and carefree days.

That said,
Pippi can be rude, unpleasant, and not very P.C. Teen Spirit’s first
grade teacher was reading the book to her class years ago and
discovered that it’s actually a bit racist. As far as Smartmom knows,
"Pippi Longstocking" isn’t read in PS 321 classes anymore But those
brief "racist" passage can be quickly deleted at bedtime, letting the
book stand as a great portrait of a spunky and independent little girl.
She sure makes one feminist mom proud and puts a smile on OSFO’s face.