Sock-sock-shoe-shoe? or sock-shoe-sock-shoe?

I had this discussion recently with a Millennial, who felt that the first option was the only answer that made any sense whatsoever, and, he didn’t want to hear any discussion about the alternative. The discussion recalled a hilarious scene in one of the best sitcoms ever made, All in the Family, which aired in the early 1970s:

For those who don’t know, Archie Bunker was very set in his pretty rigid conservative ways and thought anyone who disagreed with him was a knucklehead. But his liberal daughter and her radical husband (who Archie called Meathead) along with his not-so-dingbat wife Edith often showed him the other side of things.

Many of the issues raised in this 30-minute groundbreaking show – such as race, homosexuality and war – reached a wide and diverse audience via humor, and I do think opened a lot of minds. We eventually learned that Archie was a kind, big-hearted man who was brought up a certain way, was taught to believe certain things, but wasn’t completely closed to alternative ways of looking at the world. Even in this ridiculous sock-shoe discussion, Meathead finally concedes that Archie has a point while Archie seems to bend a bit as well.

So anyway, as a former sock-sock-shoe-shoe, I’m now a sock-shoe-sock-shoe. For me, there were too many good reasons to just deal with one freaking foot at a time. For instance, when drying off feet after hanging out in a creek, what would someone do with a foot in a sock while they put the other foot in a sock? Never mind, Archie and Meathead already explained it all.

By the way, my newest picture book, BUG!, is about a little girl who can’t figure out math concepts. Like most kids in school, Bug is being taught math in a certain way, and all the kids are expected to understand it. But poor Bug just doesn’t get it. Happily, she stumbles upon a unique way she could use to finally understand math! Her method of learning math leads to the correct answer, so who cares? She got her socks and shoes on, and that’s all that matters.

BUG! is being published by Sterling Children’s Books, will be illustrated by Amy Proud, and is scheduled for Spring 2019.