Myths

Since our upcoming trip to Europe will include stops in Rome and Greece, I decided to see if I could find some books of mythology to read with Michaela. I *loved* myths when I was a kid (like when I was 10, maybe?), and obviously this is way earlier than that ago, but my hope was it would give Michaela some history and context. I found two books and each night for the last few weeks, Michaela and I have read a different myth.

The first myth we read was about how Athens came to be called that. Zeus was deciding between naming it after Athena and Poseidon; long story short, he picked Athena. After we read the story, I told Michaela about how we’d be going to Athens, showed it to her on the map, talked about what we’ll do there. She was really into it!

The next myth we read was Daedalus and Icarus. Remember that one? Icarus dies because he doesn’t listen to his dad. So there we are, right before bed, reading that myth. I finished it up, turned out the light, said “goodnight, Michaela,” and immediately thought… “Hmm, maybe we shouldn’t read these depressing stories right before bed!” But we’ve continued and she loves it. She told her babysitter all about some of the stories and recently said her two favorites are King Midas (which she totally predicted! “Mom, how’s he going to be able to eat if everything he touches turns to gold?!?!”) and Echo (the other day, she was going on and on about how “I’m a chatterbox, like Echo!”).