In the children’s book The Jolly Barnyard by Annie North Bedford (1978), the day is Farmer Brown’s birthday. For his birthday, Farmer Brown is going to give animals on his farm what they love to eat best. The horse receives oats, the cow corn, the dog a bone and the cat milk. And of course every animal loves the special day. Then when Farmer Brown leaves, the animals begin to discuss how they might celebrate Farmer Brown’s birthday. The horse decides to “pull his loads smoothly,” the cows will “give him lots of milk,” the dog will “guard his house both day and night,” and the cat will “catch his mice.” The story ends with Farmer Brown coming into his kitchen with a birthday cake waiting for him from his wife.
There are two elements in the story of The Jolly Barnyard, which help a child develop cognitively. One of which is centrism…show more content… Egocentrism appears throughout the story because even though it is Famer Brown’s birthday—which can be a very self-focused day in the life of a child; Farmer Brown decides to do something nice for everyone else. Piaget, stated that egocentrism is when “children contemplate the world exclusively from their personal perspective” (Berger 174). In other words, they are unable to see things from another perspective. Therefore, in this book children are learning to celebrate other people even on their birthday. The story also ends by the animals doing something nice in return because Farmer Brown treated them with kindness. This speaks to the value of doing unto others, as you would have them do unto you. What is more, Farmer Brown is rewarded with birthday cake at the end of the story, thereby reinforcing the benefits of giving to others. This shows a bias of the behaviorism theory of development. Good behavior is rewarded so a child should so good to others. All in all, The Jolly Barnyard helps children develop the value of serving other people and seeing other people rather than just
