Ten Life Lessons I Learned from My Favorite Childhood Books

Nearly everywhere you look, you can see lists. Lists of things you learned from your parents, lists of foods that are supposedly good for you, lists of reasons to avoid so-and-so. After reading about a billion and one lists, I thought, “What have I learned from these?” Truthfully, not much. In my opinion, most of those lists are full of bull-pucky. While funny to read and entertaining, most of these lists do not fall into the brain exercise category.

So I decided to try building my own. 

The first thing I needed was an idea. Since most of the lists I came across fell under the “Learned from” category, I figured why not.

So here goes:

1.      Black Beauty – Taught me Strength - Life can take you to some strange and horrifying places. How you deal with it will tell you the most about your character.

2.      Charlotte’s Web – Taught me Creativity - “That’s some spider”. Amazing things can come from small packages.

3.      A Yellow Raft in Blue Water – Taught me Empathy - You can’t see the same things as someone else. Perspective and experience will color it every time. 

4.      The Nutcracker – Taught me to Dream - Dreams can lead to great adventures. It’s okay to reach for them.

5.      The House at Pooh Corner – Taught me Friendship - Friends can be found anywhere. Or maybe I learned that as long as you have a teddy bear you’re never really lonely.

6.      The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – Taught me Truth – Sometimes you need to take that journey before you’re ready to learn the truth.

7.      Follow My Leader – Taught me about the Impossible – Sometimes the impossible is about more than magic. Sometimes it happens in your day-to-day life. The impossible sometimes is about forgiveness, overcoming challenges, and the importance of believing in yourself.

8.      The Black Stallion – Taught me Love – Wild and free is beautiful, but often it’s lonely. The power of love can help you do things you never thought you could, but it’s just as likely to be blind and stupid things.

9.      The Bernstein Bears – Taught me the Importance of Family – Was there anything Mama, Papa, Brother and Sister couldn’t do?

10.  The Clown-Arounds – Taught me Difference – Just because someone is different doesn’t mean that they can’t be fun. Staying in the ruts is boring. Different people see things differently. Why not have an awesome and unexpected adventure?

I still read voraciously and I still pick things up from time to time between colorful covers, but the lessons from those childhood favorites have made a lasting impression. 

Now I challenge you...What was your favorite childhood book and did you learn anything from it?