A World of Books and Children
Search and enjoy 8 years of posts chock-filled with ideas from It’s OK Not to Share and beyond.
Mardi Link's new memoir The Drummond Girls: A Story of Fierce Friendship Beyond Time and Change is all about the friendships we need in our adult lives. Her story may not be your story - her set of friends chase bears and drink on a remote island for their getaway - but the threads in her story are universal.
Rewards are all around our children. Stars. Sticker charts. Prizes. Many of us automatically reward good behavior or new accomplishments with food. Even if you don't dole out frequent rewards in your family, chances are your child is being loaded with rewards like pencils, toys, candy, school bucks, ice cream parties or other prizes at school, music lessons or other places.
"Bold, clear and lifesaving. Vicki Hoefle is in the business of helping parents grow great grown-ups." That's the cover quote on Vicki's new book The Straight Talk on Parenting: A No-Nonsense Approach to How to Grow a Grown-Up.
We're in a mad rush to speed up childhood again. This time rushing them through the delights of children's literature.
Children are asked to read "at their level." For schools participating in the Accelerated Reader program (owned by a publicly traded corporation), reading level is all about words, not ideas, storyline or emotional maturity.
When people heard I was writing a sequel, they begged me to write about siblings. Sibling fights and hard feelings seem to be a near-universal struggle for families. Luckily, there are good resources out there, including Faber and Mazlish’s classic Siblings Without Rivalry and now Dr. Laura Markham’s new book showing you how to raise siblings who can be friends for life.
Writers of children's books have always struggled with a challenge: how to get rid of the parents.
Have you ever noticed how many children's books feature orphans? Now authors have a new layer of challenge: how to get rid of cell phones and other technology tethers. How can a child have an adventure when she is too supervised?
If you've read my "No Homework" post, you know that our family has banned homework for our elementary school-aged kids for several years. Is homework for kids K-6th grade ever OK?
My first child learned to read early. Soon after, he announced, "I don't need bedtime stories anymore. I can read by myself." He made the same mistake many adults make: that reading aloud is only for the very young.
Sometimes we adults get worried about a child's attachment to a favorite blanket or toy. "He's too old for a blankie," people say. "She's got to stop carrying that old thing around," or "It's not the lovey I mind, but she sucks her thumb when she holds her lovey. We've got to wean her of it."
My kids had fun counting down the New Year. By the time midnight came, one was in bed, but my older son stayed up to watch the ball drop and leaped and shouted "It's 2015! It's 2015!"