Apparently my three-year-old has his own ideas of fan editing. Today we were surprised to find the second half of “Ten Apples Up On Top” ripped out of the book and in the trash can. Now, while we gave him a stern talking-to about not defacing books and have punished him accordingly, it was interesting to get to his reasoning. Apparently he didn’t like when the “mean ol’ bear” starts chasing the other characters with a mop.

So he opted to “edit” out that section of the book.

Now, while my natural instinct is to be mad at him for ruining a classic Seuss book that I’ve had since I was a child, I can’t help but ask myself if I’m being hypocritical. After all, look at all that I’ve ripped out or scribbled on, so to speak. Am I a hypocrite, or am I to be commended for teaching my son the proper respect for books?