This book probably holds the world’s record for having one of the longest titles in the world of children’s book:

Over een kleine mol die wil weten wie er op zijn kop gepoept heft

Literally translated as: About a little mole who wants to know who pooped on his head.

How crazy-weird is that?!

I have to say that when I first heard the gist of the story, I got a little bit weirded out.  I thought that the story seems a little too strange to be read to a 2.5 year old, but I couldn’t help but thought that the story seems funny at the same time. I guess there must be some unexplainable “normal” Dutch humour on the subject of poop on the head.

But I digress.

The story goes about a mole, and whilst sleeping, felt something dropped on his head. He then sets out to find out who crapped on him. He asked every animal he saw if they each has pooped on his head, but the animals in question pleads their innocence and proceeded to take a dump right there and then to convince him that they were not the culprit. And every page was illustrated with the animals taking a dump, along with the texture of the crap they created.Mr Poopy Head got frustrated and finally, with the help of some shit experts, Little Mole gets his revenge .

In short, the book is really about shit as it describes the type of shits and texture and everything and who shat on the mole’s head. A couple of cases in point:

Talk about the author of children’s book making money out of a shit story.

The most important thing is that Spud enjoys the story tremendously and, thanks to my mother-in-law, I now know about animals’ poop than I would ever have otherwise. I guess this is one of those Dutch humour I didn’t come to expect when I married Silver Bullet.

My take on this is that even thought I thought that the book is kind of weird at first, I do see the humour in it. It was all in good fun.

Letting a baby sleep in cardboard boxes as their first bed is not something I have heard of in this part of the world. And granted, if I take that statement at face value, it almost sounds downright cruel.

But, a Finnish friend of mine shared an article recently, and I am absolutely enlightened by it.

For the last 75 years, all expectant mothers in Finland are provided with a box in the form of a starter kit by the state. They include really useful items like clothes, nappies, bedding and mattress. With the mattress at the bottom of the box, it instantly becomes a make-shift bed for the newborn. I am instantly drawn to what the article said, “It’s designed to give all children in Finland, no matter what background they are from, an equal start in life.”

I find it heart-warming that the Finnish government provides such thoughtful aid to its people. This is not about the box being the baby’s first bed, but rather what that box represents in easing up the stress for new parents, especially if it is something which they can’t easily afford.

Maybe I’m naive, but I thought this is one of the better welfare systems I have heard since sliced bread. It sounds like a genuine extension of help to provide for its people.

I guess I will be looking at cardboard boxes in a different light now.

 Original article can be found here.