# The Story of Ping



## grumo (Dec 12, 2001)

Seems like this might be a book topic, but it seems to me more about discipline. Dear moderator, feel free to move if you think otherwise.

I don;t remember this one from my childhood, but recently it keeps popping into my life touted as this great classic. I finally decided to check it out.

It's about a duck who lives on a boat. Everyday the whole huge family of ducks leave the boat. Then at the end of the day the boat owner whistles (or rings a bell or something), and all the ducks come back. no one wants to be last in the boat because the last duck to return gets swatted with a stick. One day Ping is last and instead of returning, he hides in the bushes. Well the next morning the boat is gone and Ping spends the day narrowly avoiding all these other horrible fates (like getting caught and almost becoming dinner). At the end of the day he hears his boat person's whistle and is overjoyed to return home even though once again he is last and gets swatted on the butt.

Would you read this to your kid? I don't get it why I am am hearing about how fabulous it is. I don't have the inclination to read it to my kid and talk about some of the things I object to (I would if it were a great story with just a troubling thing or two). Part of the problem is I have no idea why the last duck gets swatted.

I feel like I am missing something here. Can anyone who knows the book and who doesn't use punishments in their discipline explain why this book might still be good?


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## Stephanie L. (Jun 7, 2005)

Wow, I'm not familiar with this book. I wonder why it is popular.







Unfortunately, DH and I seem to run across inappropriate subject matter in children's books all the time and find ourselves changing the story as we go along.


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## TortelliniMama (Mar 11, 2004)

It reminds me of something that happened when I was a kid. My mother showed me a couple of news stories about kids who were killed by their abusive parents and said, "See, we might hit you sometimes, but *this* would be worse."







The moral of both my mother's stories and the book seem to be, "It's not so bad being hit. You could get killed instead!" Of course, it's really rather odd that the danger comes about not due to the behavior that the owner seems to be trying to punish (being last) but because of the punishment itself. Strange message to give kids, even if you were on board with hitting them.

(Incidentally, the only thing I can figure is that maybe she had heard of someone who had children's services called on them because their kids told someone they were being hit at home (and the hitting was of the same variety as in our house, which I would describe as normative abuse, but not the kind that social services ends up intervening in), so she wanted to "put it in perspective" for me? It's one of my more disturbing memories, in any case...)


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## Hera (Feb 4, 2002)

This book made me nervous as a kid, squicked me as a babysitter, and has been avoided by me as a parent. ICK!


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## aprons_and_acorns (Sep 28, 2004)

I remember that story very well. In fact, I still have it somewhere around here. The "moral" of the story is that running from your problems just makes them worse. I was raised in a GD home and that story was one of my favorites. It was so dramatic to me, and when Ping finally has to take his swat and he returns to his family it was such a satisfying conclusion. I don't think this book would be very popular around MDC, but I have strong fond memories of it. I haven't read it in decades, though, so I certainly haven't seen it through a parent's eye-view.

I would also be interested in looking at it critically to see if there are stereotypes about Chinese people presented in the text or illustrations. I vaguely remember the drawings, but I wasn't that savvy of a preschooler to discern racial stereotypes.


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## ebethmom (Jan 29, 2002)

Ironic timing! My copy of Ping and the Five in a Row volume that features The Story About Ping just came in the mail today.

This was one of my favorite books when I was little. I loved the images of the Yangtze River and the boat with the wise eyes. In the book, Ping is lured by a rice cake held by the boy with the barrel tied to his back. I wished that I could live on a boat with my family, and my parents would tie a barrel on my back to keep me safe. And I would set my beautiful duck free, too. No duck for dinner on our boat, either!

I think that children who aren't spanked will see the injustice of Ping's punishment for being the last duck up the plank. They may sympathize with Ping and his decision to hide. Then the discussion could turn to natural consequences. As a consequence of Ping's decision to hide, he faced loneliness and danger.

The spanking could also open a discussion about why you choose not to spank. My ds knows that there are parents who choose to spank their kids. He also knows that we don't believe in spanking or hitting in our house.

There could also be some discussion around the Boat Master's decision to spank the last duck. Why does he do this? Is he just mean and rotten, or does he have a motive? Maybe he thinks it is incentive to hurry and swim to the boat. When I was a kid, I remember thinking that he was just mean and rotten! But that could lead to a talk about how to motivate without threats or punishment.

This is just one of the books that we'll be reading about China this week. I'm looking forward to researching the Yangtze River, junk boats, ducks, traditional Chinese hairstyles and clothing . . .


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## Ann-Marita (Sep 20, 2003)

I remember this book from my childhood. It made me sad and upset that the duck that was last got spanked. I never did understand WHY. It just seemed so unfair and cruel.

This book came up again as part of a homeschooling curriculum we signed up for. I STILL don't get why the last duck gets swatted.

I have read it to my dd, and a nice discussion went along with it. Spanking, what (to dd) looked like cruelty to animals (the fishing birds with very tight metal rings around their necks so they can't swallow fish), and killing animals for food all came up in discussion.

I think that there has to be some other books that have the same "avoiding your problems only creates bigger problems" message, but without the spanking.

But, on the positive side, I liked that Ping gets back with his family. The last scene is nice - cozy, warm and loving.


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## aprons_and_acorns (Sep 28, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ebethmom*
Ironic timing! My copy of Ping and the Five in a Row volume that features The Story About Ping just came in the mail today.

This was one of my favorite books when I was little. I loved the images of the Yangtze River and the boat with the wise eyes. In the book, Ping is lured by a rice cake held by the boy with the barrel tied to his back. I wished that I could live on a boat with my family, and my parents would tie a barrel on my back to keep me safe. And I would set my beautiful duck free, too. No duck for dinner on our boat, either!

I think that children who aren't spanked will see the injustice of Ping's punishment for being the last duck up the plank. They may sympathize with Ping and his decision to hide. Then the discussion could turn to natural consequences. As a consequence of Ping's decision to hide, he faced loneliness and danger.

The spanking could also open a discussion about why you choose not to spank. My ds knows that there are parents who choose to spank their kids. He also knows that we don't believe in spanking or hitting in our house.

There could also be some discussion around the Boat Master's decision to spank the last duck. Why does he do this? Is he just mean and rotten, or does he have a motive? Maybe he thinks it is incentive to hurry and swim to the boat. When I was a kid, I remember thinking that he was just mean and rotten! But that could lead to a talk about how to motivate without threats or punishment.

This is just one of the books that we'll be reading about China this week. I'm looking forward to researching the Yangtze River, junk boats, ducks, traditional Chinese hairstyles and clothing . . .

Elizabeth I like your ideas for talking about the story together. It must be fun to be your kid! You took me down memory lane there for a minute with the "wise eyes" and the barrell on the child's back.


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## Cutie Patootie (Feb 29, 2004)

When I was on bedrest for 6+ months with my first dc, my super sweet dh went to the library and brought home a huge stack of childrens book to read to me in bed. So......we are lying there snuggled together reading "Ping" to our unborn child when dh gets to that part and is like...what the heck?! It starts as such a sweet captivating book and then all of a sudden...WHACK! Overall the book is captivatingly written and the pictures are so lovely. I remembered it vaguely from when I was little but didn't remember the WHACK until dh started reading that part. Crikies! I guess we won't buy this one for the library said dh.


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## grumo (Dec 12, 2001)

oh good. thanks for all of your replies. All that I could find on this book was the sentiment, "what a great little book from my childhood." I was surprised that no one mentioned the abuse.

I could see that this was a good little book with a good story and powerful, appropriate message, except for the hitting part. DD knows that some kids get spanked, but I don't know that she knows really what that means, but she doesn't know about punishment, and frankly I don't really know how to explain it, because I don't really get it.

We might come back to this book. Right now our "conversations" about books and books with issues or messages I feel like we need to talk about are pretty darn one sided. We're working on that.


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## 2Sweeties1Angel (Jan 30, 2006)

I don't get the spanking part either, except that it was written in a time when spanking was more common and accepted. I have read the book to my son as part of FIAR and unfortunately he is very familiar with spanking because I used to spank him







We use it as a discussion for why spanking is bad and I try to turn the story around so Ping isn't the one who's doing something wrong. Who could blame him for running away to avoid being hit?


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## green betty (Jun 13, 2004)

I think fiction is a great (perhaps the best) place for children to get exposure to values and practices that do NOT match your own. Unlike watching TV, reading is an active intellectual process. Kids can absorb and process at their own pace and talk about it with caring adults.

That said, I think "Ping" is probably too much for a toddler. But I would definitely give it to, say, a 7 year old.


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## Llyra (Jan 16, 2005)

This book is on the reading curriculum that I teach where I work. I've actually found that the kids I teach are pretty insightful on the subject-- they're very clear in their opinions that the Boat Master is wrong to hit the animals, and they express those opinions pretty forcefully!!! They keep telling me that Ping should "go and tell somebody" instead of running away, which I think is exactly right. That said, these are 6 and 7 year old kids, even 8 or 9 in some cases, and not toddlers.


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