Customer Reviews

The Berenstain Bears and the Trouble with Chores

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

My little one loves the Berenstain Bears so when I saw this one, I grabbed it through a book club. It talks about how the cubs always want to get out of doing their chores, as well as Papa bear (he doesn't want to mow the lawn because a mama spider just got finished making a web on his lawnmower!) and they make up all sorts of excuses as to why they cannot do them. So for awhile, Mama decides that instead of hearing all the bickering, arguing and excuse making, that it would just be easier if she did them herself. However, she eventually gives in to her family when they ask to stop doing chores. Mama starts her gardening and quilting clubs again and the treehouse falls into a total mess. Even a milipede comes chasing Sister in the bathtub, there's dust and doggie doo-doo everywhere, wet, moldy towels and shower curtains, and a sink full of dishes covered in flies! Yuck!

This book gives a great example of what happens when folks don't want to do their chores around the house. It very clearly paints a vivid picture of how important all of our responsibilities are both to the things we own and to each other as family members. As always, the Berenstains teach a very valuble lesson. (This book is also particularly great to hand over to all the dads to read!) Highly recommend!

I love all the Berenstein Bears books. They can provide a good starting point for a conversation with your child. Don't look to these books for answers on how to handle a problem. They aren't meant for that.
In this one, we see what happens when Mama gets tired of everyone else avoiding their chores, so she avoids hers, too. Once the others see what the house is like, they start to pitch in to help.
This book started a good discussion between me and my 7 year old about what chores are and why we should do them. We talked about Mama Bear's feelings when Papa and the cubs didn't do their chores. We also talked about what happened to the tree house when Mama quit doing her chores and how that made everyone else feel.
These are great books for reading anytime and are easy for my child to read alone and understand.

The Berenstain Bears are in heavy rotation at our house lately and this one sticks out like a sore thumb. Aside from the diminished art quality, writing, and even print quality, the mood and tone of this are quite different from most of the rest of the pack. It seems that sarcasm and passive-agressiveness are the themes in this episode in Bear Family life. Mother, usually the sage stalwart seems herself worn down by the apathy in the tree house and behaves like a college roommate rather than the matriarch. I suppose with 3 kids and an occasionally oafish husband might put you in a funk, and the lesson is eventually learned, but this felt like how I would handle the situation. I freely admit that my way is not the best way to handle it.

One of the great benefits of these books is that they help parents too. Not in a deep, life-changing way, but certainly in a daily reminder kind of way that parenting is about thoughtful, consistent, and occasionally artful applications of love, structure, and discipline. Maybe the parent take-away is that you can't be Mama Bear all the time. Overall, this particular book just doesn't jive with the rest. It might have to fall behind a dresser or something.

Interestingly, this book almost illustrates the tragedy of the commons, but not quite. That might be a good topic for the next volume.

I've reviewed several of the Berenstain Bears books available at Amazon and find most of them to be very handy tools to reinforce good manners and behaviors with our young children.

While this book isn't the best of the bunch it is good enough that I recommend it, especially if you're buying a set of books through Amazon's 4-for-3 promotion.

Papa Bear once again takes the brunt of the jokes. As the little bears learn how important their help is to keeping the house clean and running smoothly, they have Papa Bear as a sort of comedic release valve.

The lesson is simple: everyone needs to pitch in and help and not expect Mama Bear to do it all herself.

If that is a lesson you need to reinforce in your home, this is a good tool to help you do it.

I also recommend these other Berenstain Bears' books:

The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight
The Berenstain Bears Help Around the House
The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners
The Berenstain Bears and Too Much TV
The Berenstain Bears Learn About Strangers

The Berenstain Bears give children some of the very best stories they will ever read. I grew up with these enjoyable bears in the late 80's, and I really think parents should consider buying a few of these books for their children because they are a lot of fun.

One of my favorite moments ever in a Berenstain Bears book is when the bears are riding a bike down a dirt road, and they come across a big mud puddle. They try to ride through it but instead they sink! That moment influenced me to go outside during rainstorms as a child and try to find the biggest puddle to see if I too will sink! Of course walking back inside the house all muddy made my parents angry but that's what being a kid is all about! I also believe many dreams I've had years later (and continue to have to this day) about setting out on an adventure were a result of my childhood obsession with these books.

My daugther has several of the Berenstain Bear books and she loves reading them. They have a positive message for children while keeping their attention. Even though she reads at a higher level, she still loves these books.

First of all, let me say that I don't *completely* hate the Berenstain Bears books, despite the frequency with which I have to read them. A lot of them have provided launching points for productive conversations with my kids.

This one, however...what the heck? I agree with the reviewer who mentioned that it goes a bit too far. The poop on the floor just is...bizarre. And it isn't just one picture of it; it appears in the book three separate times. There are also two kind of crazy drawings of Mama Bear where she just looks like she has completely given up on life (although if I were married to a lout like Papa Bear I might give up, too).

There are definitely better ways to get the message to kids that it's not OK to let the chores slide. Piles of poop with stink lines coming off of them are really not necessary.

In another classic book featuring the Berenstain Bears, children are taught important lessons, in a fun and humorous way.

Momma Bear gets annoyed when nobody else is doing any household chores, so she decides to join her family in slacking off. The kids and father soon see the error of their ways when they are forced to face the reality of living in a dirty home. They all then take appropriate action, and do their chores.

My kid loves this book, just as I did when I was young. I wish I had more books of the series to share with her.

Darien Summers, author of The Mischievous Hare, a children's book.

My children all love the Berenstain Bears, so they seem to pick up the "lessons" from the books fairly well. Haven't read one we didn't like.

Stan & Jan Berenstain's classic Berenstain Bears stories were personal favorites throughout my childhood, and now I use them often, whether for reading to young children or for teaching English to older children and adults. Not only are they beautifully illustrated, consistently humorous, and full of educational content. They also teach morals and provide guidelines for social interaction in a way that's neither patronizing, nor puerile, nor pedantic. 'The Trouble With Chores' specifically addresses the problems most of us have managing our time with respect to menial tasks, but focuses on a family approach to such an issue. Note that this book was published in 2005, fairly late in the Bears series when the family includes Honey bear, the baby sister of Brother and Sister bear (just in case you've already read some Berenstain Bear books and do not wish to be surprised by this addition).