{"id":2421,"date":"2018-03-14T15:26:22","date_gmt":"2018-03-14T07:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cindywangbrandt.com\/?p=2421"},"modified":"2018-03-14T15:27:06","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T07:27:06","slug":"the-big-o","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cindywangbrandt.com\/the-big-o\/","title":{"rendered":"The Big O"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Big O<\/p>\n

No, not the sexy word, I\u2019m talking about the children\u2019s book, The Missing Piece Meets the BIG O<\/em>, by Shel Silverstein.<\/p>\n

And now, I\u2019ve made it awkward to transition into children\u2019s books. Good job, Cindy.<\/p>\n

Last week, I listened to a podcast<\/a> featuring my friend Anna Skates, who recommended wisely, that we as adults, should be spending time reading children\u2019s books<\/strong><\/em>. Because my children are almost teen\/teenager, it\u2019s been several years since I\u2019ve read children\u2019s books out loud to them, even though it was one of my most enjoyable times of parenting that season. Also, I thought it would be interesting to read children\u2019s books as an adult, and appreciating children\u2019s lit for myself, instead of reading it for children. Words and stories that are true ought to transcend age.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

So I had my kids check out several children\u2019s books from the school library. Gruffalo<\/i> was so cute and I read it out loud to enjoy the rhymes. I wonder if rhymes have been studied to ease anxiety, it\u2019s so satisfying. It gives such a feeling of completion\u2014when the corresponding rhyme comes around, it\u2019s like a finishing touch to garnish a dinner, or a neat bow on a package. Ish<\/i> was affirming to read as a writer\/creator, instead of conforming to societal standards of what things are, we can create ish-ly.. It\u2019s an antidote to the Imposter Syndrome. Can\u2019t quite bring yourself to call yourself a writer? Well, be a writer-ish.<\/p>\n

But The Missing Piece and the Big O<\/i> was my favorite out of the pile, because oh my goodness, it\u2019s a beautifully poignant story about belonging and growth and wholeness<\/strong><\/em>. I marveled at how these transcendent themes about humanity and relationships were communicated through black and white, simplistic figures and very few words.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a story about a Missing Piece that\u2019s triangular shaped, looking for an O to fit into so that the O can roll. But it struggled, because some fit but did not roll, others didn\u2019t fit at all, and yet others were too delicate, too broken, or too nosy. The Missing Piece tried to change itself but it didn\u2019t work. It still didn\u2019t fit. Finally, an O came along that was a perfect fit, and the Missing Piece found home.<\/p>\n

But then, it grew. And it no longer fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know you were going to grow.\u201d
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t know it either,\u201d said the missing piece.<\/p>\n

The missing piece went back to being alone. Another O came along, the Big O. The missing piece asked if it fit into the Big O, but the Big O was confounded by the question because the Big O wasn\u2019t missing a piece. \u201cWell, do you need something from me?\u201d \u201cNo, I don\u2019t need anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The missing piece told the Big O its dilemma, and Big O was like, why do you need to fit into anything else in order to roll, just roll by yourself. The thought had never occurred to the missing piece, who had sharp edges, not conducive to rolling.<\/p>\n

Then one day, it tried. And it tried again. And the edges smoothed out and eventually, the missing piece began rolling, all by itself.<\/p>\n

YOU SEE THIS IS WHAT IT\u2019S ALL ABOUT WE\u2019RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE MISSING PIECES WE CAN ROLL BY OURSELVES!!!<\/p>\n

The lesson I\u2019ve had to learn through years and years of painful longing, unnecessary angst to make myself pleasing to others, to find the shape of who I am in order to thrive as my authentic self, was delivered so incisively in this children\u2019s book.<\/p>\n

It made this 40 year old woman\u2019s heart soar.<\/p>\n

Orson Scott Card says, \u201c\u2026never in my entire childhood did I feel like a child. I felt like a person all along\u2014the same person that I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The children, and their books, are not so distant as the world would divide us. I\u2019m so grateful to Anna, for giving me the push to enter into the world of children\u2019s lit, and showing me that putting on the lens of our children can transform us, just as much as we can offer them our perspective.<\/p>\n

\n

Sign up for my parenting newsletter and get the four alternative spiritual laws:
\nhttp:\/\/eepurl.com\/cMmHmD<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Words and stories that are true ought to transcend age.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[16,532,531,530],"yoast_head":"\nThe Big O - Cindy Brandt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cindywangbrandt.com\/the-big-o\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Big O - Cindy Brandt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Words and stories that are true ought to transcend age.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cindywangbrandt.com\/the-big-o\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cindy Brandt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-14T07:26:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-14T07:27:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cindywangbrandt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/bigocover.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"848\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cindy Brandt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cindy Brandt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindywangbrandt.com\/the-big-o\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindywangbrandt.com\/the-big-o\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cindy Brandt\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindywangbrandt.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6cc41821a4f095cd15bab424cefe3c91\"},\"headline\":\"The Big O\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-14T07:26:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-14T07:27:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindywangbrandt.com\/the-big-o\/\"},\"wordCount\":744,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindywangbrandt.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6cc41821a4f095cd15bab424cefe3c91\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindywangbrandt.com\/the-big-o\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cindywangbrandt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/bigocover.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"children\",\"children's books\",\"children's lit\",\"Shel Silverstein\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Book Review\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cindywangbrandt.com\/the-big-o\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindywangbrandt.com\/the-big-o\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cindywangbrandt.com\/the-big-o\/\",\"name\":\"The Big O - 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