The last time we visited the [1] Canada Agricultural Museum, I noticed that I’m not merely “unhip” in adult culture but also in kid’s culture. Reid and I were talking about “Eeyore” and I made a comment about [2] Winnie the Pooh and his friends. I love how the farm has named their donkey after the Winnie the Pooh character. Kids don’t require originality. They prefer the comfort of what is known.

A bit later, another family was enjoying their time with Eeyore. I heard the dad say, “Look, it’s like ‘[3] Donkey‘ from [4] Shrek.” I was tempted to rush over and say, “No, no. It’s ‘Eeyore’ from Winnie the Pooh. Don’t you read [5] A.A. Milne?” But I remembered:
1. It was none of my business.
2. I don’t appreciate parenting tips from strangers.
3. The characters in the A.A. Milne stories have some flaws* that I’m not so keen on. Maybe ‘Donkey’ and Shrek offere a better set of role models.

* At the risk of sounding like I over-analyze things, which I do, of course I offer the following character assessments, with some ideas supplied by Ken:

- [6] Winnie the Pooh: obsessed with honey, greedy and selfish about it, one must wonder if Winnie the Pooh represents an alcoholic;
- [7] Rabbit: perpetually in a bad mood, rude and hostile, Rabbit is one of those “so called friends” that takes much more than they give from a relationship;
- [8] Piglet: timid and small, Piglet relies on others rather than seeking self-sufficiency;
- [9] Eeyore: clearly a character who needs hugs and possibly even psychiatric treatment, his friends are too self-absorbed to offer comfort or counselling;
- [10] Tigger: not such a major player in the original stories, self-aggrandizing - “the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is that I’m the only one”;
- [11] Owl: know-it-all who clearly doesn’t know nearly so much as he claims;
- [12] Kanga and [13] Roo: the only female character, Kanga, is given relevance and completion only by virtue of being mother to Roo; and
- [14] Christopher Robin: if he really loved these stuffed animals, why would he leave them in a forest to molder and rot?

I should go and choose a Winnie the Pooh book to read to Reid tonight.