A Mother’s Day Wish
[By L.R.Knost, author Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages now available on Amazon]
A Mother’s Day wish for moms who change the world everyday because they are the world to a little heart ♥
Related posts:
11 Ways to Overcome the Dreary Weary Mama Blues
7 Parenting Tips for Working from Home with Young Children
20 Parent Savvy Pinterest People to Follow
Practical, Gentle, Effective Discipline
200 Ways to Bless Your Children with a Happy Childhood
10 Ways to Play with your Children when Play is the Last Thing on your Mind
12 Tips for Gently Parenting Your Adult Children (Hint: It starts when they’re newborns!)
Children of Violence
[By L.R.Knost, author of Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages now available on Amazon and through other major retailers]
A child of a long-time broken home recently went to live with his father for the first time. Up until that point, he’d lived with his mother and visited his father every other weekend for most of his life.
A few weeks after moving in with his father, the young teen found himself desperately barricaded in his room with his beer-guzzling, pot-bellied, enraged father kicking down his door. His father burst through the door and attacked him, pinning him against the wall, hitting him over and over again.
The boy tried to block the blows. He pushed his way past his father to try to get out of the room, but was caught and flung back into the room and hit repeatedly.
A neighbor called the police…who subsequently arrested the child for assaulting his father. The young teen was not even allowed to give a statement to the police.
In the back of the squad car on the way to Juvenile Detention for the first time in his life, the sobbing boy asked, “What was I supposed to do when my father attacked me?”
The arresting officer replied, “Nothing. Your father has a right to physically punish you as long as he doesn’t do any significant damage.” The officer glanced in the rearview mirror. “And I don’t see any significant damage. You don’t have the right to defend yourself.”
The young teen asked, “Can I run away?”
The officer said, “You can try. Maybe a neighbor will help you. But don’t call us or we’ll just take you back to your father. He’s within his rights. We can’t help you.”
This is a true story. It happened just days ago. Unfortunately, it’s not an isolated story, by any means.
In the United States it is legal for a parent to hit a child. It is illegal for a child to hit a parent.
It is legal in nineteen states for a school official to hit a child. It is illegal for a child to hit a school official. Children as young as six have been arrested and placed in handcuffs for assaulting school officials.
Children, the smallest and most vulnerable of Americans, are the only citizens of the US who have no rights, no voice. They can’t vote. They can’t defend themselves. They can’t leave. They can’t file assault charges. But they can be charged with assault.
When are we as a nation going to realize that the way we treat children is the way they will treat others? How long will we continue to train our children in our homes and schools that ‘might is right’ but then act shocked and dismayed when they take that lesson onto playgrounds and into classrooms in the form of bullying those smaller and more vulnerable than themselves? How many more anti-bullying campaigns will be tried and fail because they focus on controlling children’s behavior instead of addressing the causes of that behavior? At what point will the truth that violence breeds violence penetrate the minds and hearts of mainstream America so that real and lasting change will finally become possible?
What message will the young teen, assaulted by his own father, arrested for defending himself, and told that authorities could not and would not protect him, take into the future? What kind of an adult will he become? What kind of world will these children of violence and trained helplessness create for all of us when they become the next world leaders? Do you see peace in our future?
There is another way. We can live what we want our children to learn. We can be the adults we want them to become. We can show them compassion, respect, and understanding so that we sow kindness, peace, and empathy in their hearts. We can stop bullying before it starts by not bullying our own children.
There is great truth to the old adage, “Hurting people hurt people.” Let’s stop raising our children by hurting them and start raising our children by loving them, instead.
Looking for alternatives to punishment-based parenting? Check these links out:
Changing the World, One Little Heart at a Time
Practical, Gentle, Effective Discipline
The Measure of Success~Chinese Parents and French Parents Can’t BOTH Be Superior!
Making Moving Easier for Children
[By L.R.Knost, author of Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages available on Amazon]
Transitions are hard on everyone, and when the whole family is affected such as in a big move to a new home, parents often get so caught up in the logistics of the move and their own stresses that helping their children cope with the move can get lost in the chaos. Here are a few things you can do to ease the transition for your little people without adding more stress to yourself:
- With small children, it can be tempting to build up the move beforehand to make it seem like an exciting adventure, but over excitement can be just as stressful and overwhelming to small children (and big ones!) as anxiety can be. Instead, try to keep things as low-key as possible. Wait until it’s close to time to actually start packing before discussing the move with your little one, and then use simple, age-appropriate language to tell them that you are all moving together (emphasize together so there’s no misunderstanding!) to a new house.
- Show them pictures of the new house, the new yard, their new room, the kitchen, bathroom, living room, etc. Ask them where they’d like to put their bed and draw it on the picture with a marker. Do the same with their toy box, toothbrush, high chair, sandbox, and anything they ask about to reassure them that their things are coming along on the move and to begin to familiarize them with their new space. Give them a marker and another set of pictures of the new house to draw on so they can begin to make it their own.
- Put boxes in their room a few days before the move and let them begin to pack their own things in their own time. You can go back and repack the boxes when they’re asleep or playing elsewhere if needed. Giving them some control over the move will help tremendously with their feelings of being taken away from their familiar home.
- Keep a few familiar toys out for the actual move to help your little one see that their things are coming with them. If possible, let them help with loading the boxes from their room onto the truck, too. Knowing that their toys and clothes and bed are coming with them on the move is very comforting.
- Pack a travel bag with new toys and activities and healthy, familiar snacks for moving day. The novelty of the new toys will help them to travel more happily, and the familiar snacks will keep their tummies settled and hunger at bay making for a calmer trip for all.
- At the new house, unpack your little one’s things first if at all possible so that they can see for themselves that they made the trip and can begin settling in right away. Take the time to play with them, too. It’s amazing how a few minutes of playing together can settle a small child when they’re stressed!
- Don’t be surprised if your little one is clingy and whiney for a few days after the move. After unpacking their things, don’t try to rush to unpack everything else all at once. Give your child all of the time and attention they need to help ease the transition for them.
- Nighttime can be the hardest for children in a new home, so be prepared for lots of cuddling and possibly a night visitor in your bed for a while. Being there for your little one at night is as important as being there for them in the day!
- Involve them in unpacking and putting away everything from kitchen utensils to books to linens to clothes. Children are very tactile, and actually touching all of the places and putting familiar things from their old home away in the new home can help them to begin to feel at home themselves.
- Stick to familiar routines such as bedtime, naptime, etc. But don’t be rigid about schedules. Your little one has been through a huge change and needs extra attention and understanding from their source of comfort and security…you!
- Introduce new things like playgroups, pediatricians, babysitters, churches, etc. slowly, spread out over as long a period of time as possible. The move itself is overwhelming enough in its newness without adding in a ton of other unfamiliar things right away.
- Find some things near your new home that are familiar to your little one from your previous home such as a chain grocery store, toy store, restaurant, etc. Seeing and visiting familiar places is vastly reassuring for small children because they can see for themselves that you can still buy them food and other necessities even though you’ve moved.
Giving your child the reassurance that some things will remain the same even when so many things have changed helps to stabilize and assure them that their needs will still be met and life will still go on in many of the same patterns and routines they are used to. Remaining calm and available for your little one, even in the midst of your own stresses over the move, is key. But take care of yourself, too. Change is hard on everyone, so cut yourself some slack and don’t try to do everything at once. Remember, slow and steady wins the race!
*A mama shared a great idea: “When we moved we made my just-turned-3-year-old son a picture book. It told a story of a little boy who had to move, showed photos of our old house, and told about what things (toys, furniture, etc.) would go to the new house with pictures of the boy’s new room, yard, activities he’d do in the new house, a moving van, boxes, etc. It included emotion pictures, too, and the story talked about how sometimes the boy felt scared/sad/excited/nervous/etc. It went through the whole process til a happy ending with the boy and his family settled into the new house. The boy’s name in the book, of course, was my son’s and the photos were all of his stuff and of the actual house we were moving to. He loved the book. Read it almost everyday, sometimes many times a day when he’d start to stress out. I only forgot one thing. Neither my husband or I thought to explain that our pets would come with us. The first night we slept at the new house, the cats stayed behind so we could get things settled a little first. Big boy made it through two horribly stressful days of hauling stuff to the new house, fighting back the meltdowns, until his little world fell apart that first bedtime in the new place. Two hours of tears later, he finally managed to say that he was sad that we’d never see the cats again. OH! We felt so bad!! A year later he still talks about the move a lot. It is amazing what an impact a change like that makes on a small child!”
Related posts:
Practical, Gentle, Effective Discipline
200 Ways to Bless Your Children with a Happy Childhood
12 Tips for Gently Parenting Your Adult Children (Hint: It starts when they’re newborns!)
11 Ways to Overcome the Dreary Weary Mama Blues
[By L.R.Knost, author of Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages now available on Amazon]
Mountains of laundry. Piles of toys. Diapers and dishes and dust. Sticky fingerprints to wipe. Muddy shoeprints to mop. Bills to pay. Appointments to keep. Shopping to do…
The parenting list is endless because ‘done’ doesn’t exist in a world where little ones live and play and grow. But parents are people, too, and we can get overwhelmed at the sheer redundancy of the cycle of life with children if we don’t intentionally take the time to feel the joy of little arms wrapped around our necks and to find something of ourselves in the busyness of daily life. If you’re on the verge of losing the battle of the blues, here are eleven ways to energize, prioritize, and conceptualize your way back to a healthier, happier you!
- Go. Out. Side. No joke. Taking your problems and frustrations outside shrinks them down like shrinky-dinks in an oven. When you’ve got the warm sun on your face and you’re watching your little ones tumbling in the green grass and you’re listening to giggles replace their whines, life feels good again.
- Write it down to turn your frown upside-down. Seriously, writing down a list of all the good things in your life in one column and the bad things in another helps to restore a healthy perspective.
- Go to the dark side. No, really, take a good look at the bad things on your list and see what you can do to cross off or minimize some of the things on the bad side. Sometimes just eliminating one sore point or reducing one stressor can make a world of difference!
- It’s okay to have a disposable day. Take one day a week and use paper plates and plastic cups and utensils to give yourself a chance to catch up on those pesky dishes. It’s okay. Really.
- The Earl of Sandwich invites you to dine. Another way to beat the dishes doldrums is to have a sandwich day. Egg sandwiches for breakfast. Cheese sandwiches for lunch. Turkey sandwiches for dinner. And who really needs to have a plate to lay their sandwich on, anyway? A paper towel will do for a plate and a napkin all in one!
- A load a day keeps the mountain away. Doing one load of laundry every day instead of storing it up for a huge ‘laundry day’ once a week is one way to tame a daunting mountain into a doable molehill.
- Spray the stickies away. Little people usually love spray bottles or water guns, so harness that love for some rock ‘em sock ‘em cleaning help. Put a pair of daddy’s white sports socks on little feet and little hands and arm your small ones with a bit of water in a spritzer or water gun, then join them for an all-out blitz on fingerprints, dust bunnies, and jelly smears!
- There can never be too many cooks in the kitchen. The littlest member of the family can be worn in a baby carrier while the cook cooks or the cleaner cleans. For tinies who are a bit bigger, instead of barring them from the kitchen, turn them into little sous chefs and let them measure and sort and stir. If they’re too little for actual cooking, put pots and pans and measuring bowls on the floor with a bit of sudsy water so they can whip up a storm while you’re cooking or cleaning. Afterward, scooch some towels across the floor with your feet for a bit of exercise and a semi-cleaned floor as a bonus!
- And speaking of exercise, get some of that groovy stuff. Doing knee bends while you brush your teeth, lunges while vacuuming and babywearing, and boogying with your children to some funky music while straightening can all contribute to a mood-lifting, age-defying, endorphin-releasing surge of healthy goodness while weaving in some far out fun!
- Daydreamer, dream on. Don’t forget that you’re a one-of-a-kind, never-before-seen, gift-to-the-world, and you’ve got a super-special purpose for being here. Raising your children is an amazing and wonderful privilege, but you’ll have a lot of life left to live once your children are out of the early stages of intense need for your time and attention. So take a few moments every day to dream those dreams while staring out the window over a steaming cup of coffee, and journal those thoughts and ideas and plans. Your time will come, mama!
- Don’t forget the chocolate! Everyone likes to be appreciated, and a sweet reward at the end of the day says “Good job” like few other things can. So stash some luscious dark chocolate next to a good book and escape the joyful chaos of life with littles for a few minutes every evening after everyone’s asleep and the still-messy house lies quiet and serene. The mess will be there in the morning, but the quiet moment won’t. Relax, mama. You deserve it!
Any super, stress-busting ideas you’d like to share? Pull up a chair in the comment section and share away!
Related posts:
7 Parenting Tips for Working from Home with Young Children
20 Parent Savvy Pinterest People to Follow
Practical, Gentle, Effective Discipline
200 Ways to Bless Your Children with a Happy Childhood
10 Ways to Play with your Children when Play is the Last Thing on your Mind
Celebrating One MILLION Pageviews!!!
I am humbled and amazed (but clearly not speechless! 
) to know that the articles I write here on Little Hearts have been read one MILLION times. A MILLION! That’s 1,000,000! Wow! And that’s not all. My site stats have logged readers from 123 countries spanning the globe reading my site in the last two weeks alone! They’re not just accidentally landing here and clicking away, either. They typically stay for 10, 20, sometimes 30 or more minutes at a time and read post after post after post. People visit from Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Germany, Bosnia, Australia, Vietnam, Romania, Malaysia, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Haiti, Pakistan, Egypt, Israel, Iceland, Slovenia, Qatar, and the list goes on and on and on.
To know that the nights spent typing away on my little laptop while my children sleep nearby (or typing one-handed while nursing!) are not wasted, to feel that I’ve touched hearts to make a real difference in the lives of children, to see that what I write resonates literally around the world is deeply humbling and incredibly validating for me. It gives me hope that true, lasting change is possible for a globe that is suffering from violence and power-mongering.
If we as parents stop using violence and intimidation to control our children and instead work together with them through connection and communication, the adults we send into the world when they are grown will be world changers.
It’s not our job to toughen up our children to face a cruel and heartless world. It’s our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless. If I can help make that happen in even a small way, then the many sleepless nights and the one-handed typing while nursing and the neglected laundry will be well, well worth it!
As a ‘thank you’ to all who have read and shared my articles and bought my books and shared their thoughts and encouragement, I’m hosting a Facebook Party! today, March 20th 2013, from 2 pm to midnight EST. Join me for giveaways every hour and fun Q & A’s and word games so we can get to know each other better!
Check out some of the awesome Little Hearts products that I’ll be giving away–>
At midnight there will be a Grand Prize package, too, so don’t miss it!
See you there!
You might also be interested in:
Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages ~ Book Launch Tour
Practical, Gentle, Effective Discipline
200 Ways to Bless Your Children with a Happy Childhood
12 Tips for Gently Parenting Your Adult Children (Hint: It starts when they’re newborns!)
Love Means Sometimes Having to Saying You’re Sorry
It’s been said that it takes ten positives to negate a negative, but the reality that most of us experience is that no amount of positives can fully erase a negative. While we may be able to forgive and move on, forgetting just isn’t a possibility. Though we certainly do have the ability to control our reactions when confronted with criticism, taking what we can and learning and growing from it, the fact is that criticism marks us indelibly whether we like it or not. We are human. Our hearts are tender and vulnerable, and we can be hurt. That is just a basic truth. And it is a truth that applies powerfully to the negative versus positive messages in our parenting and their relative impacts on our children.
I remember as a child being teased by my uncle for having big feet. He was actually referring to the fact that I was extremely tiny for my age, but I was too young to get the joke and didn’t realize until I was an adult looking back on it how negatively it had affected me. The result was pain. Not just emotional pain, but actual physical pain because as a teen I consistently bought shoes that were too small because I was embarrassed about the size of my feet! Despite the reassurances of my mother and friends, despite the fact that my feet were smaller than all of my friends’ feet, in other words, despite all of the positive input, and despite reality itself, I continued to be most strongly influenced by negative comments that were meant as affectionate jokes.
As parents, we will certainly have those moments when we say the wrong thing. We’ll go to bed at night and cringe when we remember telling our preschooler that they’re driving us crazy or our preteen that they talk too much or our teenager that they’re impossible. We’re human, too, and there’s no getting around the fact that we can and will make mistakes.
What matters, what really, really matters, is what we do next. Our instinct may be to sweep the whole thing under the carpet and go on as if nothing happened (i.e. do an ostrich impersonation!). But what a powerful impact we can make if we value our children enough to take a deep breath and do that thing that no one likes to do, that thing parents often make children do whether they feel like it or not…what if we actually apologize to our children?
I promise, the world won’t stop turning if we apologize to a child. In fact, the world will turn a little happier, at least in our little corner of it, if we live out how we want our children to turn out by owning up to our mistakes and taking responsibility for the hurt our words cause. In that moment of apology, not only will we model the positive life skill of taking ownership of our actions, but we will also bring healing and restoration to our relationship and, hopefully, prevent our children from carrying unnecessary baggage into their adulthood.
Remember, words can hurt, but they can heal, as well. We just have to be humane enough to overcome the ostrich-instinct!
Related posts:
Practical, Gentle, Effective Discipline
200 Ways to Bless Your Children with a Happy Childhood
Two Thousand Kisses a Day~A Book is Born
12 Tips for Gently Parenting Your Adult Children (Hint: It starts when they’re newborns!)
The Measure of Success~Chinese Parents and French Parents Can’t BOTH Be Superior!
Window on the World
In addition to my regular posts here on Little Hearts, I’m writing for The Natural Parent Magazine as a monthly contributor, so to share those articles with you I’ll be sharing excerpts here on Little Hearts along with the links to the full articles. Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not long ago, I had a book signing at a small-town parade followed by a charming street festival. Sitting in a booth for hours on end, I had the opportunity to watch hundreds of families passing by, offering little vignettes of parent/child interaction that sometimes made me smile and other times broke my heart.
Daddies walked by with miniature versions of themselves riding high on broad shoulders, little chins resting securely on slightly graying crowns.
Tinies in tutus danced circles around mommies in time to the lively music floating down festival aisles.
Laughter and snatches of conversation blended with the music, creating a cacophony of sound that somehow melded into a single song of joy.
Intermixed in the scene, though, were discordant notes that struck with sudden harshness, catching my heart unaware in the idyllic setting:
- the couple intent on scoring bargains who wove swiftly through the crowds, dragging along a toddler who struggled to keep up on short, pudgy legs
- the curious girl who wandered close to look at a book only to be snatched up from behind by one arm and berated by an angry mother
- the red-faced infant screaming in a stroller parked in the blinding Florida sun while his parents casually shopped in the shade of a vendor’s canopy
My heart was saddened to see the seeds of discord, roots of rebellion, weeds of rage, anger, and distrust being unthinkingly planted in the hearts of these innocent children. Read more
Related posts:
Practical, Gentle, Effective Discipline
200 Ways to Bless Your Children with a Happy Childhood
Two Thousand Kisses a Day~A Book is Born
12 Tips for Gently Parenting Your Adult Children (Hint: It starts when they’re newborns!)
The Measure of Success~Chinese Parents and French Parents Can’t BOTH Be Superior!
48 Hour ‘Thank You’ Giveaway!
If you’ve bought (or buy!) Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages then you can enter to win a free copy of Petey’s Listening Ears and your choice of a Little Hearts Books onesie, t-shirt, or canvas book tote as a thank you!
Just three simple steps to enter:
- Pin this or share it on Facebook or Twitter. Your choice! (use the tag #TwoThousandKissesaDay)
- Leave a comment here or on Pinterest or Facebook or Tweet me to let me know you shared.
- Email a copy of your receipt for Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages to littleheartsbooks@gmail.com by Tuesday, February 26th.*
That’s it! A winner will be randomly chosen on Wednesday, February 27th and notified by email.
Good luck!
*Note: Hurry and enter because the first entry is a freebie!
Additional rules:
- Contest open to USA and Canada only.
- Must be 18 or older to enter.
- One entry per person.
Pinterest Savvy~Meet the Author
Today only, Pinterest Savvy is FREE on Kindle! To celebrate, Melissa Taylor is giving away a Kindle Fire HD on her blog, Imagination Soup!
If you’re like me you probably heard about Pinterest from a friend, signed up for an account and pinned a few cool pictures, but really had no clue what Pinterest really had to offer. I know I found myself trying to figure out Pinterest etiquette and how to create the best pinnable images and the best times of day to pin and so, so much more. Google was my go-to for looking for how-to’s, but sorting through all of the information and links was time-consuming and didn’t always yield the results I needed.
Enter Melissa Taylor, Pinterest ‘insider’ extraordinaire. I lucked into a pre-launch copy of her new book, Pinterest Savvy: How I Got 1 Million+ Followers, and all of my questions were answered so simply and clearly that I just had to share.
Here are just a few of the things Pinterest Savvy has to offer:
- The basics of getting started
- Pinterest etiquette tips
- Best times of day/week to pin
- How to create the best pinnable images
- Tips for growing your business with Pinterest
- Secrets from top pinners
- And so much more!
Being an author of several books, myself, I’m always curious to hear from other authors about their experiences and motivations, so I emailed Melissa and asked her a few questions:
1. You have well over a million followers on Pinterest. I know you share all of your secrets in your new ebook, Pinterest Savvy, but can you share one or two here as a ‘sneak peek’?
Want more followers? Comment on pins and use hashtags when you pin and repin. Emphasize your niche and make Pinterest boards accordingly.
2. In addition to giving newcomers a very easy-to-read crash course in getting started on Pinterest, you also share some great tips for optimizing website traffic generated by your pins. What, in your experience, is the single most important tip for directing people to your website from Pinterest?
Make your own website “Pinnable”. In other words, be sure your images are amazing and interesting, and that you have a Pin It button installed.
3. Is there one tip you give in your book to small business owners that you could share briefly here?
Find the best way to connect with your specific audience, whether through YouTube videos, guest Pinners, contests, or partnerships.
4. What would you say to small businesses who haven’t taken advantage of the incredible opportunities for marketing available on Pinterest?
Pinterest is free marketing! The benefit of which will increase your online presence and brand awareness as well as your sales.
5. Your tips on creating the best photograph/graphic image for Pinterest are excellent. What’s the worst mistake you’ve seen people make with the images they pin from their websites?
Don’t leave your image titles as if they’ve just come from your camera. So no “DSC_404”. Instead, change the title to an accurate description such as “Top 10 Tips for Candle Making.”
6. Okay, last question. Many people who enjoy the kind of success you have tend to keep their secrets to themselves to guard their position. What prompted you to so openly share what you’ve learned about maximizing your presence on Pinterest?
More than sharing, it took me awhile to embrace that I had something to say that would help people be successful. A mentor of mine encouraged (pressured?) me into writing the book. I’m very grateful he did!
Also check out: 20 Parent Savvy Pinterest People to Follow
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Melissa Taylor is an award-winning educator and writer. She writes primarily about education, children’s literature, and technology for publications online and in print such as Parenting.com, Scholastic Parent and Child, Babble.com, Colorado Parent Magazine, and others. Her first book, Book Love: Help Your Child Grow from Reluctant to Enthusiastic Reader, was published November 2012 to critical acclaim.
20 Parent Savvy Pinterest People to Follow
I don’t know about you, but I’m a certified pin-addict! I love finding excellent parenting advice, creative play ideas, unique learning tips, inspiring craft projects, and so, so much more all in one convenient location where I can organize them and have them literally at my fingertips whenever the need arises.
Here are a few of my best Pinterest ‘finds’ I thought I’d share with my readers:
I’m L.R.Knost, author of Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages and Petey’s Listening Ears and the founder/director of Little Hearts/Gentle Parenting Resources. Check out Little Hearts/Gentle Parenting Resources‘ Pinterest boards, where you will not only have access to all of the excellent parenting resources I have discovered, but also all of the articles from this site organized into board categories such as Gentle Parenting/Discipline and Gentle Parenting/Babies and Toddlers. So easy and convenient!
Melissa Taylor@Imagination Soup is the author of Pinterest Savvy~How I Got 1 Million+ Followers (link coming soon!) which shares the in’s and out’s and do’s and don’ts of Pinterest for everyone from the Pinterest newbie to the veteran pinner and also of Book Love~Help Your Child Grow From Reluctant to Enthusiastic Reader which has excellent literacy tips, tools, and techniques. Her Pinterest boards offer everything from parenting tips to book recommendations to children’s crafts and activities.
Next up we have one of my favorite parenting authors, Dr. Laura Markham of Aha! Parenting. Dr. Laura is a clinical psychologist and author of Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids: How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting. Her Pinterest boards offer informative articles, tips, and ideas for parents of infants through adolescence.
Amanda Morgan, who holds a Master’s degree in childhood development, is the author of Parenting with Positive Guidance. Her Pinterest boards at Amanda Morgan @ NotJustCute offer creative and unique learning ideas for early childhood education.
Deb Chitwood is a Montessori educator and writer with a ton of ideas and resources to share which she’s organized beautifully onto her Pinterest page at Deb @ Living Montessori Now. A must-follow for homeschoolers and educators, as well as parents.
To child development expert, author, and international speaker Gill Connell of Moving Smart, a moving child is a learning child. Check out her Pinterest boards to “Find out why all those wiggles and giggles matter!”
Child and Family Therapist, Wendy Young of Kidlutions, offers helpful resources such as innovative play therapy activities and crafts for parents and educators.
Play at Home Mom is a group of moms, educators and therapists who provide resources for positive parenting and playful connection. Their motto is “Changing lives one PLAY at a time!”
“Mama to a vanful” Rachel Miller offers bright and colorful Pinterest boards with tons of play ideas, educational activities, and tips for family fun.
Featured on PBS Kids, Baby Center, Apartment Therapy, and more, this artsy childhood educator and mom, Rachelle @ Tinkerlab, offers Pinterest boards that abound with child-led arts and crafts and activities.
Passionate early childhood teacher and writer, Christie Burnett @ Childhood 101, has Pinterest boards with everything from family friendly recipes to fine motor activities to fun ideas for family play and connection.
You’ll find a little bit of everything parenting-related on SmilinglikeSunshine‘s Pinterest boards. From learning through play to breastfeeding and babywearing to toy and book recommendations, it’s like a parenting smorgasbord!
The Pinterest boards from The Educator’s Spin on It are chock full of educational activities, crafts, and ideas. Excellent resource for us homeschoolers, as well as for school teachers, early childhood educators, and more.
In their own words, HarperCollins Children’s Pinterest team describe their mission this way, ”We’re HarperCollins Children’s Books, and we’re here to help parents, teachers, and librarians discover great reads for kids, from picture books to middle grade.” From book recommendations to ‘Meet the Author’ boards to book-related activity ideas, parents and educators can find excellent resources here for literacy and learning.
Zina :: Let’s Lasso the Moon offers Pinterest boards of ”simple activities that elevate everyday moments into family traditions and memorable adventures.” With boards such as ‘Growing Creative Kids’ and ‘Lifetime Love of Learning’ you’ll be sure to find unique ideas for your little ones here!
From homeschooling to crafting to natural living, the Hippie Housewife has a little of everything parents need to raise happy, healthy children.
Delightful Children’s Books offers children’s book reviews, recommendations, and activities as well as homeschooling ideas, crafts, and more!
Mom and National Board Certified Teacher, Malia {Playdough to Plato}, shares playful learning activities for kids, holiday fun, and hands-on early literacy activities.
For our extra special kiddos who need a bit of extra special parenting, here is the link to the SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder) Blogger Network‘s Pinterest boards that contain a wealth of tips, activities, and articles to give those of us blessed with sensory kids the resources we need.
Mama Smiles – Joyful Parenting‘s Pinterest boards are chock full of ideas for “finding joy in everyday parenting through creativity, learning, and play.”
I hope you find as many helpful and creative ideas on these Pinterest boards as I have, and don’t forget to stop by Little Hearts/Gentle Parenting Resources‘ boards and snag a few pins along the way!
Gentle Parenting~A Trip Through Fantasyland, Doubterville & Reality City
From impossible expectations to mainstream misconceptions to the actual day-to-day realities, here’s a trolley tour through the world of gentle parenting that you won’t forget!
Our first stop on the tour is in Fantasyland, where we find perfect, well-behaved children, splendid in their white tunics as they listen with bated breath to words of peace that flow from their parent’s mouths like gentle springs of life-giving wisdom. In this lovely land of fantasy, children are simply tiny adults who calmly and articulately reason through any issues that may arise to disturb the normally perfect tranquility of family life. All such issues are quickly resolved as gentle parenting does its magical work to make children as perfect as their parents. And, once those pesky little issues are settled once and for all, parents and children return to their daily frolic through the daisy-strewn meadows and mossy forests of Fantasyland.
Okay, now to get our heads out of the clouds. We’re off to our next stop, Doubterville! Please keep your valuables secured and stay with the group, as Doubterville is well-known for its criminal population.
Here in Doubterville we find desperate parents begging and pleading for their wildly out-of-control children to calm down, but no one can hear their hoarse, weak voices over the ruckus of screaming, spoiled, entitled children hanging from the chandeliers and banisters, demanding that their parents hand feed them, buy them things, and clean up after them. There are no discipline issues here because, as everyone in Doubterville knows, there is no discipline without punishment, and gentle parents in Doubterville are too afraid of their children to punish them!
Whew! Glad we’re heading out of there unscathed. Out next stop might surprise you, people, so buckle up and get ready for Reality City!
As we arrive in Reality City, you’ll notice that some children are giggling and playing, some are crying, some are pouting, some are yelling, and so on. There seems to be the full range of human emotion represented, oddly enough. The parents, for the most part, are calm and happy, but you’ll see them lose it occasionally and yell or throw their hands in the air and stomp off for a little adult time-out. The children of Reality City are…well, children, and normal childhood behavior is viewed as normal. Gentle parents here aren’t perfect, but they work hard to equip their children with the tools they’ll need to be kind, responsible, compassionate citizens of the world and to set and enforce reasonable boundaries with creativity and empathy.
So there you have it, folks, gentle parenting from three different perspectives: the fantasy that holds gentle parents to impossible, unrealistic standards (and that they often hold themselves, to, as well!); the mainstream misconceptions that refuse to see that there are alternatives to punitive parenting and that equate discipline with punishment instead of guidance; and the reality that gentle parenting is simply imperfect people raising imperfect people in an imperfect world and doing so with kindness, connection, and communication.
I hope you’ve enjoyed our trolley tour today. Don’t forget to leave a tip (comment!) for your tour guide, and have a great day!
Related posts:
Practical, Gentle, Effective Discipline
Tots to Teens~Communication through the Ages and Stages
Your Baby isn’t Trying to Annoy You; He’s Trying to Communicate!
When Children Hit~10 Tips for Parents
Toddlers, Tantrums, and Time-Ins, Oh My!
In a Word
Last year instead of making a list of resolutions for the new year, I joined with a group of people who were choosing one word to focus on for the year ahead. My word was live. It was time for me to delve fully into life again after a long, painful season of losses in my life that included a loss of triplets three months into my pregnancy followed the very next year by giving birth to my stillborn son, Sammy.
And so this last year that is what I’ve done. I’ve lived…fully and wholly and completely. And I am equal parts grateful, satisfied, exhausted, and overwhelmed by it all.
Part of the reason I became overwhelmed last year was the constant challenge of trying to juggle my writing with homeschooling my children and nursing a little one and taking care of a household and being a wife and daughter and mother and business manager, etc.
I felt torn all the time, writing books and articles in my head while homeschooling and then planning homeschool projects in my head while I was writing, and on and on. I didn’t feel like I was giving anything my full attention, and the juggling was keeping me on the brink of exhaustion and overload on a daily basis.
So as 2012 was ending and 2013 was beginning with all of its promise and newness, I prayed about what my one word focus for the year would be, and the word that flashed into my mind immediately was intentionality.
I spent some time savoring and dissecting the word, feeling it out and examining it, and I liked it. I liked it a lot. So I sat down and drafted a provisional daily schedule for myself, setting aside specific blocks of time for writing and blocks of time for homeschooling and blocks of time for family, etc.
I’m not a schedule person normally, and I’ll be very flexible with myself in keeping to this timetable, but it has been incredibly freeing to know I have alloted time for each of the priorities in my life. When I’m homeschooling, I can focus my full attention on my little ones because I know I’ve set aside time for my writing, and when I’m writing I don’t feel guilty because I know I’ve alloted time for homeschooling and all of the other important people and things in my life.
It’s a beautiful synchronicity of freedom and order that is making my life easier, more productive, and far more relaxing than it’s been in a long, long time.
Intentionality~What a lovely new year’s gift to myself! (And a timely one, as well. I’ve got several books slated to be released this year including children’s books and Little Hearts parenting handbooks, and I’m working on another novel which looks to be a one to two-year project. Oh my!)
My older children are thinking about their word for the year, but with my littler ones, I’ve given them the word ‘grateful.’ We have a Happy Jar, and when they start complaining about things (as children will do 
), I listen to them until they’ve fully expressed their feelings (so they feel heard), then we process through those feelings together, and, finally, I ask them to share two things they are happy about which I then write down and put in the Happy Jar. We’ll all be adding to the Happy Jar throughout they year and, at the end of the year, we’ll pull out the notes and read them to remember to be grateful for the good things in our lives.
The idea of sharing this with my little people is to equip them with the ability to cope with the inevitable disappointments and troubles they will encounter in life and to work their way back to happiness through the gateway of gratitude. It’s a healthy life lesson that builds our relationship in the present because they know they can trust me with their feelings, and will serve them well throughout life, too!
Related posts:
Suffering in Silence~A Mother’s View
Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support and Resources
The Story of Us~25 Years and Counting!
Motherhood~The Timeless Tapestry
12 Steps to Gentle Parenting
[Reprinted from Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages by L.R.Knost now available on Amazon]
It’s been said that it takes twenty-one days to make or break a habit and that change comes easiest and lasts longest when it’s undertaken in small, bite-sized chunks. Those same principles apply when trying to transform your parenting, as well. Simply resolving on January 1st that, from that day forward, you are going to be a gentle parent and trying to change everything all at once is just setting yourself up for disappointment, frustration, and, more than likely, failure followed by that age-old enemy of peace…mommy guilt.
Instead, try setting yourself up for success by taking a year of ‘baby steps’ to create real, lasting transformation in your parenting. Here are 12 steps you can start any time of the year, not just on January 1st, that offer practical, effective guidance to help you on your journey to gentle parenting. Keep in mind, though, that failure is a natural, normal part of change, so remember to give yourself grace when you fail. (Also, giving yourself grace is good practice for learning to extend that same grace to your children, which is a hallmark of gentle parenting!)
January (Step 1)
Slow down! ~ Gentle parenting is, at its core, based on a strong, healthy parent/child connection, so intentionally including time in your life to build and maintain that connection is vital. Start the year off by examining your daily and weekly schedule and looking for things to reduce or eliminate. Add up how much time your children spend in school, sleeping, in daycare, with babysitters, at sports practices, in music lessons, etc. and look at how much or little time is left over. Time for your family to connect, time to play, time to simply be, are just as important as those activities, if not more so! Eliminate and reduce what you can, and look for ways to build connection into the things you can’t eliminate. For instance, if your child has homework each night, why not sit down and work through the homework with them? As humans, we learn better through interaction, anyway, so you’ll not only be connecting, you’ll be enriching your child’s education in the process! Another area that might benefit from a connection ‘rehab’ is that morning rush to get ready and out the door. Try getting everyone up a half hour earlier to ease the morning stresses that often lead to conflict and can result in a parent/child disconnect.
February (Step 2)
Listen! ~ Once you’ve slowed down enough to breathe, it’s time to stretch yourself and grow as a parent. Like most changes in life, it won’t come easy, but the rewards are well worth it. Fred Rogers said, “Listening is where love begins,” meaning that when we listen, we really get to know someone, learn about what motivates them, and understand their thoughts, hopes, dreams, hurts, disappointments, etc. All behaviors communicate underlying needs, and what we learn about the inner life of our children by listening to them will help us to focus on the needs behind the behaviors instead of simply correcting the ‘symptoms’ (i.e. the behavior).
As a parent, it may seem instinctive to insist that our children listen to us so that our guidance and/or correction can be heard. In fact, the number one complaint I get from most parents is, “My children just don’t listen!” to which I respond, “Do you?”
The reality is that if a child doesn’t feel they are being heard, then even if they stand silently ‘listening’ while we lecture or rant or even just talk, the child is simply rehearsing in their brain what they want to say rather than actually doing any effective listening. As the only adults in the parent/child relationship, it’s up to the parent to be the first to listen, to really listen, because we are the ones with the maturity and self-control to be able to patiently wait to be heard.
March (Step 3)
Live what you want them to learn! ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” Consciously, intentionally, and consistently living out how you want your children to turn out is the most powerful and effective character training there is. If you want your children to be kind, be kind. If you want them to be respectful, respect them. If you want them to learn self-control, model self-control. If you want them to be compassionate, treat them with compassion. If you want them to feel joy, enjoy them. If you want them to feel valuable, treasure them. The bottom line is, your children are always watching and learning, so make sure what they see in you is what you want to see in them!
April (Step 4)
Breathe! ~ We all get overwhelmed by the seemingly endless demands of life at times, so this month remind yourself to relax and consciously focus on enjoying your children. It’s just a fact of human nature that when we enjoy something, we pay more attention to it, value it, and treat it better. Applying that fact to parenting, it makes sense to be intentional about taking time to laugh and hug and simply be with our children. Here’s a ‘bucket list’ full of ideas for simple, memorable fun to share with life’s most precious treasures, your children!
May (Step 5)
Book it! ~ It’s been said that our treasure lies where our time, attention, and love is invested. While having special family outings and activities is a wonderful way to enjoy our children, it is in the daily routines and busyness of life that the parent/child connection can often suffer the most. One of the best ways to stay connected with our children is to build time into each day to invest in them, and one of the best investments is in a love of reading. A love of reading is born on the lap of a parent, in the soothing cadence of a mother’s voice reading the same beloved story night after night, in the rhythmic sway of a rocking chair, and in the comfortable rustle of well-worn pages being turned one after another after another. A quiet bedtime routine that includes a nighttime story will not only help bedtime to be happier and smoother, but will also incorporate vital time for you to reconnect with your children at the end of every day.
June (Step 6)
Turn your ‘no’s’ into ‘yes’s'! ~ In any home, like in any civilized society, boundaries are necessary for everyone’s safety and comfort. With gentle parenting, setting limits focuses on connection and empathetic communication rather than control and punitive consequences. This month try setting limits using gentle parenting by turning your ‘no’s’ into ‘yes’s.’ Instead of “No, you can’t have ice cream until after dinner,” try “I know you love ice cream. I do, too! We’re getting ready to eat right now, but what flavor would you like after dinner?” This invites cooperation instead of triggering opposition, another hallmark of gentle parenting!
July (Step 7)
Play! ~ They say that the family that plays together, stays together, and there’s great truth to that. Play is the language of childhood, and through play we get to know and connect with our children on their turf, in their native language, and on their terms. It’s a powerful moment in a parent’s life when they suddenly see their sweet little one as a separate, intelligent, worthy human being who can plan, make decisions, snap out orders, and lead other humans on a journey through an imaginary rainforest or on a trip through outer space. This month, try taking on the role of follower in your child’s land of make-believe, and you’ll discover a whole new world in which your child is strong, confident, and capable, and you’ll come away with a deeper connection with and appreciation for the person, not just the child.
August (Step 8)
Eat well! ~ Along with all of the exercise you’ll be getting playing with your child, take stock of the kinds of food you’re providing to fuel their little engines and enrich their minds. Good nutrition may not be the first thought that pops into people’s minds when they think of gentle parenting, but studies have shown that many behavior issues and sleep problems have their root in unhealthy eating habits, nutrient-poor diets, and food additives (dyes, preservatives, etc.). Children, especially littler ones, don’t take change well as a general rule, and changes to the foods they eat are on top of the list of changes they’ll resist. As a gentle parent, working with, instead of against, our children will help to make eating healthy a fun family project instead of a food fight. Try letting your children help you make weekly menus and shop for the fresh ingredients you’ll be using, and let them help you cook, too. If they feel like a part of the change instead of a victim of it, they’re far more likely to cooperate. If you have picky eaters, don’t hesitate to serve them the same foods you normally do, just with a few added healthy ingredients slipped in to make them healthier. For ideas on ways to make healthy changes more fun, click here.
September (Step 9)
Don’t forget your funny bone! ~ Often the best parenting advice is simply~Chill out! Relax! Laugh a little, for goodness’ sake! Sometimes as parents we get so caught up in ‘fixing’ our children that all we see are problems. We start focusing so much on preparing our children for their future that we forget to let them live in the present. One of the main problems with that is that children are, by their very nature, creatures of the ‘now,’ living fully immersed in each present moment. G. Mistral said, “Many things we need can wait. The child cannot. Now is the time his bones are formed, his mind developed. To him we cannot say tomorrow, his name is today.” This month, pull out your dusty, old funny-bone, the one that used to keep you in stitches when you were a child, and laugh, on purpose, every day with your child. You’ll be amazed at how a good belly laugh can turn even the worst day into something a little easier to handle and how much a giggle-fest can heal the little rifts that tend to occur in the parent/child connection throughout each day.
October (Step 10)
If you build it, they will come! ~ A shared project can offer a real chance to get to know your child on an entirely new level, so this month find something to build together. Choose something they are interested in, whether it’s a model rocket or tree fort, and watch them blossom as they learn and build and grow. Your role is supportive~finding the materials, helping to read the instructions, offering suggestions or help when they struggle, etc. Simply being there through the process will enrich your connection with your child and offer you valuable insights into their interests and learning style, which will provide tools for you to use when helping them with their homework or homeschooling them.
November (Step 11)
Gratitude is an attitude! ~ Teaching our children to be grateful involves far more than simply instructing them to say, “Thank you.” We all want to be appreciated, and children are no different. Modeling the things we want to see in our children is the single most powerful mode of instruction, so living a life of gratitude ourselves goes a long way toward raising our little ones to be happy, grateful humans. Openly appreciating our children, telling them what we like about them, and thanking them for the things they do is a sure-fire way of inspiring an attitude of gratitude in their little hearts. This month, be intentional in finding things to praise in your children. Don’t be falsely enthusiastic or use “Good job!” as a brush-off to get them to leave you alone. Instead, honestly tell them what you like about them. Tell them ‘thank you’ when they remember to brush their teeth without being told or help their little sister with her block tower. Let them know you think their artwork is beautiful and don’t hesitate to give them a pat on the back for a job well done when they straighten their room. Remember, it is the hungry child, not the satisfied child, who craves food, and, in the same way, it is unmet needs that lead to attention seeking behaviors and unspoken approval that can create ‘praise junkies’ as the unpraised child seeks to fill the very human need we all have for validation.
December (Step 12)
Celebrate! ~ Take time this month to give yourself a pat on the back for working toward your goal of becoming a gentle parent. Congratulate yourself for all that you’ve accomplished and take stock of your successes as well as your failures. Don’t focus on your mistakes. Simply learn from them, forgive yourself, and move forward. Look back at where you were as a parent a year ago and compare that to where you are now. Don’t worry if you haven’t come as far as you’d like. Life is for living and learning and growing, and another year is about to start with a chance to move forward into a new beginning. Everything you’ve invested in your children in the last year has been worthwhile, and everything you’ll invest in the coming years will build on the foundation you’ve begun. So take this month to celebrate you and to enjoy the return on your investment!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you see a theme throughout this gentle parenting ’12-step program’? Getting to know and enjoy your children as individuals, intentionally focusing on building and maintaining a strong and healthy parent/child connection, and living what you want your children to learn are the bedrocks of gentle parenting. Walking through these steps, revisiting them when you find yourself struggling, and appreciating the incredible, miraculous gifts that each individual child brings into the world will keep you growing as a gentle parent day after day, month after month, year after year. Live. Laugh. Love. Enjoy!
Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages by L.R.Knost now available on Amazon
*Also published in The Natural Parent Magazine
Related posts:
Practical, Gentle, Effective Discipline
Tots to Teens~Communication through the Ages and Stages
200 Ways to Bless Your Children with a Happy Childhood
The Bookshelf~To Read or Not to Read
The Seven Wonders of the World of Childhood
Testing the Boundaries~What’s a Parent to Do?
100 Ways to Tell the Difference Between a Child and a Weed (in case you were wondering)
It’s Okay to Praise your Child
Judgey McJudgerton~In Defense of Parents Judging Other Parents
judgment (n.): the formation of an opinion after consideration or deliberation; an authoritative opinion; the ability to form an educated opinion using discernment, wisdom, and common sense
There is typically a backlash in the form of accusations of judgmentalism and intolerance whenever a passionate opinion is publically expressed, and that is no less true in the parenting world. The fact is, though, that all of us, simply by virtue of being intelligent human beings, make judgments. That is what we are designed to do. It’s how we learn. It is the purpose of education, research, and experience to impart the wisdom to make judicious decisions (i.e. judgments).
In an age when calls of “be true to yourself” and “do what seems right to you” abound, it’s surprising that expressing an opinion that seems right to you is so quickly met with condemnation. Even when an opinion is well thought out, thoroughly researched, and politely expressed, it is still often the target of such accusations.
Many times, of course, passion causes opinions to be expressed in less-than-kind and even condemning terms, and in those cases the backlash may have some justification. But when a well-considered opinion is stated courteously and still engenders charges of judgmentalism and intolerance, it is clear that a deep misunderstanding of the healthy and normal nature of judgment vs. the intolerant attitude of condemnation is at the heart of the matter.
To make a judgment is simply to form an opinion, whereas to condemn is to accuse and censure, based on that judgment. For instance, if through my education and life experiences I have formed the considered opinion that a person who wears a shiny red nose, big floppy shoes, and a painted-on smile is, in fact, a clown, then when I see someone who fits those parameters I will judge them to be a clown. That is a normal, positive, human expression of opinion, not a negative expression of disapproval. If, however, in my judgment of them as a clown I ostracize and reprove them, then I have moved from judgment to condemnation.
There is, however, a middle ground in the form of constructive, rather than destructive, criticism which has a place in the formation and expression of passionately held beliefs. If I have formed the judgment that hitting children is wrong no matter what euphemism is used (i.e. spanking, smacking, paddling, etc.), then I may express that opinion politely, but honestly, and let someone know that their choice to hit their child is, in my opinion, a mistake, and I will offer alternatives.
In the same way that gentle parenting is not un-parenting and will sometimes involve setting and enforcing boundaries, offering parenting guidance, by its very nature, sometimes includes constructive criticism. Just as a gentle parent may say to a child, “You’re having a hard time, aren’t you? I’m so sorry. I can’t let you hurt people, though. Hands aren’t for hitting. Let’s talk about some other choices you can make next time you’re upset so you’ll be ready,” a gentle response to a parent who uses physical punishment to control their child may be, “I can see you’re having a hard time. Hitting a child is unacceptable, though, for any reason. Let’s discuss a few alternatives so that you’re prepared with some practical, effective parenting tools the next time a behavior issue arises.”
That is where the rubber hits the road, so to speak. When I take my carefully researched, thoughtfully considered, educated opinion and apply it to a specific situation, communicating it kindly, but clearly, I am sharing my insights with the intention of opening a dialogue that will, hopefully, shed light on a subject. It may not be the person involved in the situation who learns something new, especially when it is a third-party article being discussed rather than a parent seeking guidance, but those who read what I’ve shared may go on their way with a different, perhaps gentler, perspective about parenting, and that is the point.
Kindness is always the right answer, but it is not kind to withhold information that may benefit someone, and that is where gentleness plays its starring role…in the kind, honest sharing of wisdom; in respectful, open dialogue; and in the strength to stand up for those too young and helpless to stand up for themselves.
Related posts:
Practical, Gentle, Effective Discipline
200 Ways to Bless Your Children with a Happy Childhood
12 Tips for Gently Parenting Your Adult Children (Hint: It starts when they’re newborns!)
The Measure of Success~Chinese Parents and French Parents Can’t BOTH Be Superior!
Tots to Teens~Communication Through the Ages and Stages
Our Children, Our World, Our Responsibility
My heart is broken. I’ve lost a child to stillbirth and many more to miscarriage, so I know loss all too well, and yet I have a six-year-old and can’t even imagine what the parents of the twenty precious children slain in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting are going through. The stray toys and shoes left in mute remembrance of the last moments before their little ones left for school, the empty bedrooms sitting in silent mourning through the long nights, the endless reminders that must steal their breath away at every turn.
I want to be angry, but I won’t waste my time and energy focusing on evil. Instead, I will pour my prayers out for the families and friends and communities so devastated, and I will do everything I possibly can in every way I possibly can for as long as I possibly can to change the world into a safer, more peaceful place for all of our children.
Change, the real, lasting, world-revolutionizing kind, starts in the home. It starts with sowing peace into our children’s hearts from the moment they are born. It starts with modeling kindness, respect, and self-control to our children, not only in how we treat others in front of them, but in how we treat our children themselves. And it starts in our own hearts, in our own choices, in our own lives.
While human idiosyncrasies and weaknesses make a world completely devoid of violence and tragedy impossible, there is so much that can and should be different, better, safer. We may never know if the devastation of the recent elementary school shooting, or others like it, could have been prevented by different gun laws, security measures in schools, etc. But there is no doubt that the humans carrying out these senseless acts didn’t come into the world as violent killers. Something or someone, somewhere in their lives, broke the innocent children they once were and set off a series of events that led to horrific tragedy.
That is not to say that the individuals who committed these heinous acts aren’t to blame. They are. We are, each of us, responsible for our own choices, and, regardless of what previous life events, hurts, or tragedies we suffer, we have within us the ability to make the right choices, period. But, by the same token, if the hurts or tragedies that broke these individuals in the first place were caused by human violence, excesses, or failures, then those humans, as well, must bear their own responsibility.
The truth is that ‘hurting people hurt people.’ But if we raise confident, kind, heart-whole humans who can withstand the inevitable trials and troubles of life, if we ferociously guard our children’s innocence, if we model the kind of compassionate, forgiving, loving adults we want our children to become, then we truly can ’be the change we want to see in the world.’
Let’s change the way we raise our children from the present mindset of external control through punishment, threats, and intimidation and instead instill internal controls through guidance, understanding, and empathy. Let’s encourage cooperation instead of demanding obedience. Let’s model self-control to our children instead of inflicting our anger on our children. Let’s share our lives, hearts, hopes, and dreams with them instead of distancing ourselves with our electronic devices, heavy workloads, over-scheduling, and with parenting practices that promote isolation such as sleep training and negative, punitive behavioral modification such as spanking, public humiliation, and withholding our presence, support, and affection as a ransom for good behavior.
We may not be able to significantly change this present world for our children, but if we change the way we raise our children, we can change the future world through our children.
Will you join me?
Related posts:
Practical, Gentle, Effective Discipline
200 Ways to Bless Your Children with a Happy Childhood
12 Tips for Gently Parenting Your Adult Children (Hint: It starts when they’re newborns!)
The Measure of Success~Chinese Parents and French Parents Can’t BOTH Be Superior!
Tots to Teens~Communication Through the Ages and Stages
The Taming of the Tantrum: A Toddler’s Perspective
Bookish & Craftastic Advent Ideas
The countdown to Christmas is about to begin, so here are some of my all-time favorite book-related and crafty ideas for a fun and meaningful Advent!
Book Advent~Every year I put away all of our Christmas and winter-themed books and then pull them out on the 1st of December to make a Picturebook Christmas Tree. We read one each evening for a bedtime book Advent tradition that my little bookworms look forward to year after year.
Another idea (from Detail Gal Blog) is to wrap books and put them under the tree so that as you read them and the space under the tree empties, excitement for Christmas morning builds!
Wrapping just the covers of picturebooks and lining them up on a mantle or bookshelf like a 
colorful little Christmas tree forest is another awesome Advent idea from Reading Confetti!
Here are some Christmas and winter-themed book suggestions:
Source: lifeatthezoo.com via Melissa Taylor, ImaginationSoup.net on Pinterest
Source: holyspiritledhomeschooling.net via Melissa Taylor, ImaginationSoup.net on Pinterest
And these free, printable Advent activity cards…
Source: addapinch.com via Melissa Taylor, ImaginationSoup.net on Pinterest
or these service-themed Advent cards…
Source: aliedwards.com via Melissa Taylor, ImaginationSoup.net on Pinterest
would be awesome with these vintage-looking library book pockets.
Source: notonthehighstreet.com via L.R. on Pinterest
This year we are making an ornament a day to give as gifts to family and friends in what I hope will become another fun and creative Advent tradition for our family. If you want to give it a try, too, you can find some cute ornament craft ideas here.
And for more ideas about how to make the holiday season fun-filled and meaningful, as well as keeping the joy and wonder of childhood alive for your little ones year round:
In a twist on the Advent theme, here is A Very Toddler Christmas~24 Tips for a Safe, Stress-Free & Jolly Holiday
The Spirit of Christmas… The Great Santa Claus Debate
Making gratitude and generosity a standard of life… 7 Tips and Traditions to Make Giving a Standard of Living
The Reason for the Season… Celebrating Jesus with a Santa Claus Christmas
A happy childhood sends a child into adulthood with a baggage of confidence and kindness instead of disillusionment and anger. 200 Ways to Bless Your Children with a Happy Childhood
The human brain needs time to process, categorize, prioritize, analyze, and otherwise make sense of all of the trillions of bits of information that it receives each day. Non-structured playtime for children functions much like sleep does for adults, giving their brains the time and space they need to move short-term memory to long-term learning. 25 Reasons NOT to Keep Children Busy
In the world of a child wonders are as simple as sticks and sheets, leaves and books, boxes and giggles, and the promise in a rainy day. The Seven Wonders of the World of Childhood
Children who love to read…READ! Engaging children’s hearts in the wonder of reading instead of just training their minds in its mechanics. Raising Bookworms
From hitting to defiance to tantrums to testing the boundaries and more, here are gentle parenting tools, tips, and techniques…Practical Gentle Discipline
A Very Toddler Christmas~24 Tips for a Safe, Stress-Free & Jolly Holiday
What do you get when you cross a curious toddler and a Christmas tree covered with glittering, dangling ‘toys’ and enticing, shiny lights? At the very least, a season of toddler chasing and redirecting, and at the worst a season of shattered-glass hazards and tree-scaling, toppling nightmares. So what’s a parent to do? Must we scrap the tree so we can have a merry Christmas while we have little ones in the house? Not at all! Here is an Advent list with a twist…24 Christmas safety tips for parents with tiny people who love to explore:
1.) A Christmas tree plopped down right in the middle of a child’s playspace (i.e. family room, living room, den) is just too much temptation for any little person, so one solution is to place the tree in a lesser-used room such as a study or office or even a covered porch where the tree can be seen but is less accessible to little explorers.
2.) Another option is to place the Christmas tree in a play yard like the one pictured to keep the tree safe while still having it in a central location in the house for everyone to enjoy.
3.) A tabletop tree is also an option. Keep the tree away from the edges and watch out for dangling tree skirts and light cords so little hands can’t pull the tree down on top of little heads.
4.) For some families (like ours!) who have lots of little ones toddling around year after year, a child-proof tree may be the answer. We used fishline to anchor our tree to the ceiling after one tiny climber toppled the tree over on herself a few times, and non-breakable ornaments (homemade ornaments are great 
alternatives) tied to the tree with ribbons instead of metal hooks (choking hazard!) are the solution to our current little spelunker who loves to crawl under the Christmas tree and lay looking up at the sparkling lights from her little hidey-hole.
5.) Be sure to check that your artificial tree is fire-rated or your real tree is fresh (i.e. easily bendable branches, no dropping needles) and keep your real tree well-watered to reduce fire danger.
6.) Always check lights for broken, loose, or missing bulbs, and make sure wires aren’t frayed and sockets aren’t cracked. Turn lights off when leaving your home or going to bed.
7.) For outdoor lighting/decorating, be sure to use extension cords rated for outdoor use, and don’t overload the outlet by stringing together more lights than the instructions allow. Elevate cords to avoid them sitting in water or on dry leaves. Have lights on a timer or turn lights out when leaving your home or going to bed.
8.) When decorating, place figurines and keepsakes out of reach of little hands to avoid constantly chasing giggling toddlers who find your reaction to their snatch-and-run game a great source of holiday entertainment.
9.) Avoid decorating with real holly or mistletoe in areas accessible to small children, as both are toxic if eaten.
10.) Never decorate your tree with candles, and keep candles separated from pine branches on tabletops and mantles by placing them in deep glass votives. Never leave a small child alone in a room with a burning candle.
11.) Keep snow sprays out of reach as they can be toxic if inhaled and can cause injury if sprayed into eyes.
12.) When entertaining, keep hot plates away from the edges of tables and remind guests not to leave hot or alcoholic beverages within reach of small children.
13.) House guests may not be used to having small children around, so be extra vigilant about medicine bottles, unattended purses, open luggage, and other dangers that may visit along with your guests.
14.) When purchasing gifts, check labels for age recommendations. Keep in mind that even if you think a little one is advanced enough to enjoy a toy that is recommended for an older child, the toy may contain choking hazards or other dangers to a small child.
15.) Unless you like wrapping presents over and over and…well, you get the picture, avoid setting wrapped packages out under the tree if the tree is accessible to small children. Keeping your expectations in line with your child’s developmental stage is a key element to avoiding conflict in your parent/child relationship and making your holidays less stressful and more enjoyable!
16.) In the flurry of gift opening on Christmas morning, small objects from ripped open packages (like the 423 little plastic tabs to hold a $5 rattle in a cardboard box!) can end up scattered amongst the toys and boxes and paper, creating a sea of choking hazards. Keep a big box handy to throw packaging and wrapping paper into, and choose one or two toys to remove from their packaging for immediate play while putting the other opened presents away in another box to be opened later.
17.) Never let children throw wrapping paper into the fireplace, as this can cause a dangerous flash fire.
18.) Keep a close watch on your little one’s diet throughout the holidays. In the busyness of the season, nutrition often takes a backseat to convenience, and an overload of junk foods and sweets can cause tummy aches and crankiness which won’t help them or you to have a jolly holiday.
19.) Another nutritional danger of the season is unintentional weaning. If you’re nursing a little one, the constant changes in schedule, the busyness, the stress, and the baby being passed from one relative to another can result in missed feedings and reduced milk supply. Making a conscious effort to take regular nursing breaks in a quiet room with your little nursling will give both of you a chance to reconnect and de-stress a bit and keep your nursing relationship intact.
20.) Also, be very aware of your little one’s sleep patterns during the holiday season. All of the disturbances mentioned in #19 can wreak havoc on a small child’s sleep schedule and, along with the almost inevitable over-stimulation of the music, lights, and visitors, that can make the holidays a miserable time for a little person.
21.) Fireplaces should be regularly inspected to prevent chimney fires, and protective fire-screens and/or baby gates should be used to keep little ones safe.
22.) Space heaters are a well-known fire hazard. Make sure you are using them according to the manufacturer’s specifications and that they are in good working order. Never leave a small child unattended in a room with a space heater.
23.) Keep in mind that, while you know and love those visiting relatives your little one has never met, expecting a small child to instantly let a person who is a total stranger to them hold and kiss and 
play with them is unrealistic. If we want our children to exercise restraint and caution with random strangers at the park/mall/etc., we need to allow them to set limits they are comfortable with when it comes to physical contact and interaction with the ‘strangers’ in our homes, as well.
24.) And, last but certainly not least, while pictures of their little ones with Santa may be every parent’s heart’s desire, small children often don’t share that desire. Instead of forcing your child to sit in a strange man’s lap (not exactly a precedent we want to set for our children!), if your child isn’t comfortable with the idea, get creative and try getting pictures of your toddler standing near Santa while he plays peek-a-boo with them or try kneeling on one knee next to Santa, yourself, with your little one on your other knee. You never know, those pictures may end up being your all-time favorites!
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More ideas about how to make the holiday season fun-filled and meaningful, as well as keeping the joy and wonder of childhood alive for your little ones year round:
The Spirit of Christmas… The Great Santa Claus Debate
Making gratitude and generosity a standard of life… 7 Tips and Traditions to Make Giving a Standard of Living
The Reason for the Season… Celebrating Jesus with a Santa Claus Christmas
A happy childhood sends a child into adulthood with a baggage of confidence and kindness instead of disillusionment and anger. 200 Ways to Bless Your Children with a Happy Childhood
The human brain needs time to process, categorize, prioritize, analyze, and otherwise make sense of all of the trillions of bits of information that it receives each day. Non-structured playtime for children functions much like sleep does for adults, giving their brains the time and space they need to move short-term memory to long-term learning. 25 Reasons NOT to Keep Children Busy
In the world of a child wonders are as simple as sticks and sheets, leaves and books, boxes and giggles, and the promise in a rainy day. The Seven Wonders of the World of Childhood
Children who love to read…READ! Engaging children’s hearts in the wonder of reading instead of just training their minds in its mechanics. Raising Bookworms
From hitting to defiance to tantrums to testing the boundaries and more, here are gentle parenting tools, tips, and techniques…Practical Gentle Discipline
A Few of my Favorite Things
Thanksgiving is…well, a time for giving thanks! So here are 100 of my favorite things, each of which I am deeply, truly, whole-heartedly thankful for…
1.) I am so very lucky and grateful for having such an adorable, awesome, hardworking, resourceful, loving, and amazing hubby!
2.) My children~From a boy, a girl, and a baby over 25 years ago to a man, a woman, and six children ages 25 years, 23 years, 18 years, 13 years, 6 years, and 29 months old, our journey to gentle discipline has been a lifetime of love and a learning experience for all of us. ♥
3.) Gentle Parenting~Our parenting journey led us to gentle parenting by simple instinct well before we knew it had a name, without ever having read a parenting book or magazine, and years before the internet was even invented!
4.) The Gift of Breastfeeding~I’ve been breastfeeding little ones for more than 10 years of my life and counting. ♥
5.) Books~I’m as passionate about promoting literacy as I am about reading books, collecting books, and writing books!
6.) Indie bookstores~I want to open my own someday.
7.) Book signings~Writing books is cool. People buying my books is even cooler. People wanting me to sign their books, though, is the COOLEST!
8.) My illustrator~My Little Hearts children’s book series, Wisdom for Little Hearts and Grumpykins, wouldn’t be the same without my illustrator (who also happens to be my oldest son!).
9.) The Many Faces of Giftedness~I believe that everyone is gifted in different ways, and Helping Unique Learners Find Their Genius is my way of shining a light on those gifts.
10.) Bike riding~My hubby built a european-style cargo trike for me to ride my two littlest in while our family enjoys our favorite pastime, biking through Celebration, FL!
11.) Cold snaps~We don’t get many cold days in Florida, but when we do we crank up the fireplace, bring out the warm blankets, roast some marshmallows, and enjoy every minute of it.
12.) Bedtime stories~When my little ones climb into my lap and we rock the evening away with old, familiar picture books they’ve heard so many times (at their request!) that they can quote them word for word, life feels perfect.♥
13.) Coffee~Just the smell is enough to turn a bad day into a good one!
14.) Coffee shops~I love little, out-of-the-way coffee shops with quirky owners and funny names for their coffees like ‘Black-Eyed Bull Dog’ (shot of espresso in black coffee).
15.) Paris~Never been, but someday…
16.) Dr. Seuss~I not only enjoy reading all of the Seuss-tastic books to my little ones, but I also love all of the unique crafts and activities people have come up with through the years to go with them.
17.) Giving~The true path to being blessed is blessing others!
18.) Attachment Parenting~Once out of the infancy stage, attachment parenting might be better called ‘connection’ parenting because the key is maintaining a healthy parent/child connection throughout childhood and adolescence and into adulthood.
19.) My parenting ‘bucket list’~All the things I love to do to give my children happy memories to take with them into adulthood.
20.) My Renaissance Girl~Think homeschooled children are unsocialized, over-controlled, locked-away-from-the-world misfits? Think again!
21.) Safety~Freedom to explore. Freedom to grow. Freedom to discover. All within the boundaries of parental guidance and protection. That is how it is in our home. And our home is truly a happy and safe place to be.
22.) Experience~The comfort and confidence that comes from years and years of parenting makes life soooo much easier than those early years where every disapproving word or glance from another mama made me cringe, lol!
23.) Excercise~I know, I know, but I really do like working to remain healthy and fit, especially since I can use what I’m already doing and just practice the 3 B’s of fitness… Breastfeeding, Babywearing, and Bouncing Back into Shape after Baby!
24.) Butterflies~I love watching butterflies floating past our picture windows and listening to the soft ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from my little girls and their excited chatter as they point out the colors and sizes flitting past in a silent symphony.
25.) Crazy~Beautiful~Wonderful Life!!!~My gorgeous daughter is a happily married Family Therapist and one of the few people I’ve ever met that grab ahold of life and ride it for all it’s worth. From skydiving to mountain climbing to scuba diving, she lives life to the full!
26.) Dirt~My 6-year-old is an adorable little dirt magnet. Her blue eyes never shine brighter then when they shine from a little round face smudged with a healthy coating of dirt! (The Seven Wonders of the World of Childhood)
27.) Shoes~Okay, yes, I do live in flip-flops. I live in Florida! But that doesn’t mean I don’t love a cute pair of red high-heels or some trendy boots!
28.) My laptop~’Nuf said, lol.
29.) Babywearing~I have six children. I need AT LEAST six hands. I make do with two. One won’t do!
30.) Elephants~Because they love their babies ♥
31.) My married children’s spouses~My older two are married to two of the most likeable, hardworking, kind, enjoyable people you’d ever have the pleasure to know, and that is a HUGE blessing for the whole family!
32.) Giggles~Bubbles of delight I love, especially from babies, extra especially from my babies and grandbabies. ♥
33.) My mom~My hero, my confidant, my best friend ♥
34.) Hope~The whisper that calls “Take heart” when my world comes crashing down.
35.) Diet Coke~I know. I know.
36.) Front Loading Super Capacity Washing Machines~I did mention I have six children, right?
37.) Electricity~Useful for running the afore mentioned washing machine and keeping my diet coke cold and an absolute necessity for the next item on my list!
38.) Air-conditioning~F.L.O.R.I.D.A. Lol.
39.) Dark chocolate~Well, really just chocolate period, but I do like dark chocolate best!
40.) Our home church~I love gathering together with people who all have the same Best Friend and love to talk about how much they love Him!
41.) Little Bookworms~As much as I love sinking into a comfy chair for a quiet afternoon of reading, the boisterous gathering of a bunch of little bodies and curious minds for an afternoon Author’s Storytime is even better.
42.) Pinterest~I’ve heard the jokes, but I’ve found some awesome recipes, household tips, and homeschool ideas on there, for real.
43.) Coupons~Love ‘em!
44.) Flowers~Not bouquets…not cultured gardens…the weedy kind my small people love to pick and bring me in grubby little hands that smudge my clothes when I give them thank you hugs. The Many Adventures of My Little Pooh Bear
45.) Snowglobes~So pretty!
46.) The ocean~I really don’t enjoy swimming all that much (shocking for a native Floridian, I know), but I love walking on the beach on grey, windy, drizzly days.
47.) LOTR~(That’s Lord of the Rings, if you didn’t already know!) We have read these books and watched these books again and again and again and…
49.) Clean sheets~There’s nothing quite like laying down on fresh, clean sheets at night.
50.) My Twitter Account~Never a lack of conversation there!
51.) Sleepovers~When it’s my girls, the giggling, squealing, and chattering are strung together in an endless daisy-chain of adorable energy. When it’s my guys, the thunks of basketballs bouncing on concrete and clunks of poolballs plunking into pockets are only silenced during kitchen raids.
52.) Cosleeping~My littlest is mellow beyond belief. She can get lost in the cacophony of homeschooling, housekeeping, and life in general, poor thing. But at night when she’s snuggled against my side, dream nursing at will, I’m all hers, and she’s all mine, and all’s right with her little world.
53.) Architecture~I don’t know why, exactly, but I love old buildings, bridges, doorways, stairways, and libraries!
54.) Ice~A glass filled with crushed ice and flavored with diet coke…Love!
55.) My pinch-hitter~My step-father-turned-adoptive-father…talk about redeeming the meaning of fatherhood in a child’s eyes!
56.) Christmas~Christmas music, Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Christmas decorations, Christmas presents…we put on a celebration of Biblical proportions for the Birthday Boy at our house!
57.) Ellipsis~Clearly…lol.
58.) Mexican food~A family favorite!
59.) Rain~I love it when the rain drums against our windows, inviting us to turn off our busyness for awhile and drawing us together to watch God water His garden.
60.) Watching Elf with my children~Yes, I am a dork.
61.) Nail polish~So feminine and pretty (before dishes, laundry, and diaper changes make it all flake off, lol).
62.) Van Gogh~The detail in his sketches is as breathtaking as the sadness of his life.
63.) The Beatles~Nothing like ‘Yellow Submarine’ sung by a four year old. ♥
64.) Frontloader construction vehicles~Yes, I have driven one, and, yes, I liked it!
65.) Picturebooks~Writing them…reading them…taping them back together after they’ve been eaten by a baby bookworm…lol.
66.) Jinglebells~So festive and fun (for about 5 minutes, then six children spending the entire holiday season jingling and jangling gets a bit overwhelming!).
67.) When Harry Met Sally~Love that movie!
68.) Texting~I admit it…I’m addicted.
69.) Broccoli~Happiness wrapped up in tiny trees.
70.) Facebook~I never knew how many awesome people there were in the world until I ‘met’ my facebook buddies. ♥
71.) Pink Lip Gloss~I don’t wear much makeup and never wear lipstick, but I love my pink lipgloss.
72.) Almonds and Raisins~Power-packed snack!
73.) Doc~My youngest son, such a young man (18-years-old and a senior pre-med university student♥) with such a heart for God.
74.) My iPhone~I didn’t know what I was missing!
75.) New Year’s Eve~I’ve never been to a New Year’s Eve party and don’t plan on changing that. I love watching movies and waiting for the ball to drop and ringing in the new year at home with my family every year.
76.) NCIS~Love that show…Gibbs is the bomb!
77.) My 15 Passenger Van~My van has hauled numerous youth groups to camp, carried bicycles to trails, helped people to move, delivered meals to those in need…it’s been a blessing to me and many, many others.
78.) Pizza~Hiding pureed veggies in marinara sauce is an art form, my friends, lol.
79.) My Bible~Dog-eared from being read cover to cover over and over, neglected at times when it was most needed, it stands as a constant in my ever-changing world.
80.) Homeschooling~As wonderful as homeschooling has been for all of my children, I’m most thankful for how it has protected the emotional well-being of my ‘unique learners.’
81.) C.S.Lewis~I appreciate writing talent, and I appreciate wisdom, and C.S.Lewis combined those traits exquisitely.
82.) Google~My goodness, the knowledge available with just a few keystrokes is staggering!
83.) Baby feet~What is it about a baby’s feet that just makes you want to kiss them?
84.) Challenges~Few things inspire me as quickly as a well-timed challenge to my ability. I simply MUST prove them (whoever they may be) wrong!
85.) Picnics~I am not an outdoorsy person. I don’t like bugs or heat or dirt in my food. But somehow PB&J sandwiches never taste better than when they’re eaten at a picnic table with frisbees flying past my head!
86.) Antibiotics~I know they’re overused, but when a real need arises, I sure am glad they’re available.
87.) Sunshine~As much as I love the rain, a sunny day in Florida is a beautiful, beautiful thing.
88.) Disney World~Need I say more?
89.) Rocks~Because my little mud-magnet loves them for some odd reason. ♥
90.) Parades~I LOVE parades and look forward to going to our local ones and watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (Although I turned it off last year because all they were showing was celebrity interviews, singers, and Broadway routines 
I watch it for the amazing balloons and marching bands!) and the Rose Bowl Parade every year.
91.) Cloud Watching~Who doesn’t love lying down in the cool grass with little people who see dragons, mice, and the occasional shoe in the fluffy shapes drifting by against a brilliant blue backdrop?
92.) Cheese~What a versatile product! Add it to almost any meal for a dash of protein, eat a bit after a meal to prevent cavities, and melt it with some salsa for a quick party dip!
93.) Art Galleries~Not the formal, stuffy kind (although I do like those), but the edge-curled, jelly-smeared, magnet-adhered-to-the-refrigerator kind. Love.
94.) Kittens~Small, fluffy, adorable…and my baby loves them and calls all living things that aren’t human ‘kitties’ (including fish, lol). ♥
95.) Hallelujah Chorus~Anything that can give me chills EVERY time I hear it is a favorite!
96.) Milk Duds~I know, but seriously, chocolate AND caramel in one little nugget of goodness? Win!
97.) Sunflowers~I remember being fascinated as a child walking under towering sunflowers as they turned their faces to follow the sun across the sky…beautiful.
98.) Home-grilled Hamburgers~My hubby (aka The Grill-Master) makes the BEST hamburgers on the grill!
99.) My Alma Mater~I’m a University of Central Florida Alum and a proud Knight!
100.) My Savior~Who stood in life’s courtroom when I was sentenced to death for my sins and took my place. ♥
Changing the World, One Little Heart at a Time
[By L.R.Knost, author of Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages now available on Amazon and through other major retailers]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A recent article in the UK based news outlet, The Telegraph, shared a startling image of the differences between the brain of a three-year-old child raised in a nurturing environment and the brain of a three-year-old child who suffered from extreme neglect. The image of the neglected child’s brain lacked “some of the most fundamental areas present” in the image of the nurtured child’s brain. Those areas of deficit included areas determining intelligence, the capacity for self-control, and the ability to empathize. The differences between the two images were so shocking that the neglected three-year-old’s brain looked like one of a victim of brain trauma, but, in this case, it was solely deprivation of a nurturing caregiver that caused the deficiencies.
“Professor Allan Schore, of UCLA, who has surveyed the scientific literature and has made significant contributions to it, stresses that the growth of brain cells is a ‘consequence of an infant’s interaction with the main caregiver [usually the mother].’ The growth of the baby’s brain ‘literally requires positive interaction between mother and infant. The development of cerebral circuits depends on it.’”
The article goes on to discuss the fact that eighty percent of the brain cells that will develop in a person’s lifetime are created in the first two years, making any significant recovery of potential after that period difficult to impossible. “If the process of building brain cells and connections between them goes wrong, the deficits are permanent.”
While it may be hard to grasp the idea of permanent brain damage as a result of poor parenting, scientists have known as far back as the Harry Harlow studies on primates in 1957 and the world has seen in the heartbreaking images of the neglect in the 1990 expose of the Romanian orphanage system that a nurturing, care-giving environment is essential to normal intellectual, emotional, and social development.
“This discovery has enormous implications for social policy. It explains two very persistent features of our society…Chronic disadvantage reproduces itself across generations of the same families. There is a cycle of deprivation – lack of educational attainment, persistent unemployment, poverty, addiction, crime – which, once a family is in it, has proved almost impossible to break…Parents who, because their parents neglected them, do not have fully developed brains, neglect their own children in a similar way: their own children’s brains suffer from the same lack of development that blighted their own lives. They, too, are likely to fail at school, to be liable to get addicted to drugs, to be unable to hold down a job, and to have a propensity to violence.
The second persistent feature is the dismal failure of rehabilitation programmes that aim to diminish the rate at which persistent young offenders commit crimes. Many different approaches have been tried, from intensive supervision to taking young offenders on safaris, but none has worked reliably or effectively. Recent research indicates that a large majority – perhaps more than three quarters – of persistent young offenders have brains that have not developed properly. They have, that is, suffered from neglect in the first two years of life, which prevented their brains from growing.”
Decades of research, not to mention simple human experience, have confirmed the importance of an interactive, attentive, and responsive primary caregiver in early childhood. And yet, unlike the more family-centered societies in third world countries, most industrialized societies have embraced a far more detached parenting mode typified by practices such as sleep-training, schedule-based feeding, non-family care-giving, etc.
Additionally, public policies in the most advanced nations on earth tend to be skewed significantly toward housing the results of childhood neglect in prisons and homeless shelters rather than addressing the root issues of that neglect. Tax codes favor two-career families, thus making it more difficult for a parent to choose to remain at home and provide a stable, nurturing environment. Public funds are poured into educating parents about public health concerns like obesity and smoking and vaccinations rather than into early parenting support such as breastfeeding education and crisis resources and information on normal child development and behavior.
The lost potential in the lives of these children and the resultant social issues because of short-sighted public policies is as unconscionable as it is unnecessary. Public attitudes must shift from “somebody should do something” to “let’s address this together,” and we need to go further than just reaching out to troubled children. While that is a vital step, and nurturing from another family member or a mentor can have a significant positive influence on a troubled child, that influence may be limited by brain deficiencies and associated negative behavioral patterns already in place due to neglect.
Let’s also go back to the beginning, though, and address the issues preemptively. Let’s reach out to families in need with our hearts instead of just our tax dollars. Let’s be the change we want to see in the world by mentoring struggling parents in our communities, organizing local outreaches such as parenting fairs, and supporting community centers and churches that provide weekly mommy and me classes or mom’s day out resources. Let’s provide schools with information packets about optimal early childhood care to send home with students with new babies in their families.
Let’s contact our local universities and ask them to consider giving college credit for early education/social work/nursing students, etc. to spend a certain number of hours every week mentoring at-risk new mothers. Let’s contact our government officials and petition them to implement tax breaks and incentives to stay-at-home parents with young children and to employers to encourage them to offer extended maternity leaves.
The research has been done. The reports have been written. The evidence is clear. Parents matter. Parenting choices have a profound impact on children and the people they will become, and the people they become will shape the world we all share.
Join Little Hearts/Gentle Parenting Resources in changing the world, one little heart at a time. ♥
*Also published in The Natural Parent Magazine
Related posts:
Practical, Gentle, Effective Discipline
200 Ways to Bless Your Children with a Happy Childhood
12 Tips for Gently Parenting Your Adult Children (Hint: It starts when they’re newborns!)
The Measure of Success~Chinese Parents and French Parents Can’t BOTH Be Superior!
From Behind the Curtain
There’s an About the Author/Illustrator page here that answers the questions about who I am as an author and gentle parenting advocate. But some ‘enquiring minds’ want to know more about the person behind what they are reading to their children and about who is sharing gentle parenting ideas with them. So, here I am…an open book, so to speak.
If I had to name my three best friends, two of them would be books.
Coffee makes everything better.
I own far more dictionaries and thesauruses than cookbooks (and actually use the dictionaries and thesauruses).
Dark chocolate is the cure for all emotional trauma.
I adore libraries and bridges and old buildings and stairways and fireplaces and rain.
I love anything and everything literary, from the imaginative flights of fiction to the pedantic realities of nonfiction.
My pseudonym, L.R.Knost, is a nod to my all-time favorite writer, C.S.Lewis.
The L in L.R.Knost stands for Linda.
I despise coconut, strawberries, and green beans.
Broccoli is happiness all wrapped up in tiny trees.
Public speaking gives me a stomach ache.
If I could go anywhere on earth for a vacation it would be Paris. “Paris is always a good idea.” ~Audrey Hepburn
The Lord of the Rings. Best movie series ever.
I can put out a kitchen fire in ten seconds flat. Ask me how I know.
Favorite children’s book character…Winnie the Pooh.
Favorite children’s book writer…Dr. Seuss.
Favorite children’s book…’Are you my Mother?’
Favorite sleuth…Scooby-doo.
Favorite person to quote…Albert Einstein.
Favorite football player…Tim Tebow.
Favorite poet…Robert Frost.
I’ve been married to the most amazing, hard-working, dedicated, funny, adorable man in the world for 25 years and 
counting.
I believe decorating should consist of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on every wall filled with dog-eared books, pictures of my family, and the odd garage sale find.
I enjoy word-play and crack myself up with obscure puns and cheesy jokes that have people alternately shaking their heads in confusion or rolling their eyes at me.
I consider characters in books read years ago as old friends and pull them off of the bookshelf for a visit every now and then.
I fail miserably at almost every ‘crafty’ endeavor, burn dinner embarrassingly often, have tried stapling hems up (more than once, should work, imho), and would rather write an entire novel than fold clothes.
I like cats.
Ice cream is not dessert. It’s the dairy portion of a balanced diet.
Bejeweled is addictive.
I don’t have insomnia. I only need three or four hours of sleep a night. (That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!)
I don’t like swimming or playing sports, but I love to bicycle and walk for hours on end.
There’s no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon in the fall than watching football and grilling hamburgers with my hubcap and our children…Go Buccaneers!
My sons (6’3″ and 6′) consider me to be height-challenged at 5’1″ and take great joy in coming up with ‘short jokes’ at my expense.
Fun is a six-point word in Scrabble (eighteen points if it’s on a triple-word-score).
I’m a babywearing, breastfeeding, cosleeping, homeschooling, gentle parenting mama of six (from 25-yrs down to 25-months-old) who started out as an unmarried, teenaged, pregnant, terrified girl twenty-five years ago.
Reading tips the joyful chaos of my life more toward joy and less toward chaos.
Writing is better than psychotherapy.
Logic and reason wrapped in compassion, fueled by passion, inspired by faith, and seasoned with a dash of whimsy…my creative muse in a nutshell!
Any questions you’d like to ask? Ask them in the comments!
Related posts:
The Story of Us~25 Years and Counting!
Motherhood~The Timeless Tapestry
300+ Nicknames for Your Babykins…Doodlebug…Snugglebunny…
After nine months of googling, polling family and friends, making list after list, and agonizing over making The. Perfect. Choice. the moment arrives…you’ve finally chosen your expected blessing’s name. The perfect name. The name that will be with them forever. The name that will appear on their birth certificate, their highschool diploma, their voter ID card, their college degree, their marriage certificate. Your first parental decision…check! And then your little one arrives, and as you kiss that tiny, fuzzy little head, you find yourself whispering, “Welcome to the world, pumpkin.”
Wait a minute. Pumpkin? That’s not the name you agonized over! Why, after all the effort you put into choosing The. Perfect. Name. would you call your new arrival something entirely different?!?
Actually, it’s a good thing! Here are a few reasons why:
‘The perfect name’ is for the whole wide world to use in interacting with your little one, but a nickname is just for you, a symbol of the intimate, interdependant, loving connection between parent and child. Also, while ‘the perfect name’ may be perfect for certificates and licenses and diplomas, it doesn’t reflect the personality of this unique and adorable new person who has their own special purpose for being here. And, really, resisting giving your little cutie an equally cute nickname would be just as hard as resisting the urge to blow raspberries on their squishy tummy or kiss their soft cheeks a thousand times a day or stare into their curious little owl eyes.
So go ahead, choose ‘the perfect name’ for your tiny blessing so that they can be known to the world, and then, when you start getting to know your little hugabug or dynamo or sunshine, choose another ‘perfect’ name to reflect who they are and what they mean to you
Here’s a list of some popular, and some not so well-known, nicknames to check out. If you’ve got a nickname for your little one that’s not on the list, share it in the comments!
| Ace Angel Angel-baby Angel-face Bab Babes Baboo Babs Babushka Baby-blue Babycakes Baby-dear Baby-diddle Babydoll Baby-doo Baby-face Babykins Bambina Bambino Bean Beanie Beanie-baby Bear Bearie Beau-bear Bebo Birdie Bitsy Bitsy-boo Blossom Boo Boo-boo Boo-boo-bear Boss Bubba Bubba-bear Bubba-dee Bubba-diddle Bubbles Bubby Bubby-doo Bubkins Bubs Buckaroo Bud Buddy Buds Bug Bugabear Bugadoo Bugaloo Buggie Buggie-boo Buggie-bunny Bumble-bee Bumbles Bumpkins Bumpy Bunny Buttercup Captain Care Bear Champ Cherie Chickie Chickpea Chief China-doll Chipmunk Chunk Chunky-monkey Coco Cookie Cookie-monster Coppertop Cowboy Cricket Cubbie Cubbie-bear Cubster Cuddle-bunny Cuddles Cupcake Cupie-doll Cutiekins Cutie-patootie Cutie-pie Daisy Darling Dear Dear-one Dearie Diddle Diddle-doo Diddles Diddly-doo Diddly-bear Dilly-bar Dilly-boo Dilly-doo Dimples |
Dolly Doodle-bear Doodle-bug Doodlekins Doodles Dot Duckling Ducky Duddy Dumpling Dynamo Freckles Friend Funny-bunny Funny-face Fuzzy Fuzzy-bear Fuzzy-bunny Giggle-bear Giggle-bunny Giggles Gigi Goose Goosie-goose Half-pint Happy Hobbit Honey Hoss Hugabug Huggy-bear Huggy-buggy Huggy-bunny Hunny-bunny Itsy Itsy-bitsy Jazzy Jellybean Jocko Juggernaut Kiddo Kiki King-kong Kit Kitten Kitty Lad Laddie Lass Lassie Lil’ Bit Lil’ Boss Lil’ Guy Lil’ Man Lolly Lollypop Loo-loo Love-bug Lovie Lovie-dovie Milk-monkey Mima Moe Monkey Monkey-doodle Moogie Moogie-bear Mookie Moonbeam Mouse Mr. Man Muddles Muffin Muncha-munch Munchkin Munchy Nanners Ninja Nipper Nutter-butter Paddy Panda Panda-bear Peaches Peachy-pie Peanut Peanut-butter Pet Pinkie-pie Pinky Pippa Poodles Pooh Pooh-bear Poppet Poppy Precious Prince Princess Professor Professor X |
Puddin’ Puddin-pie Pumpkin Punkin’ Punkin-pie Punkin-wunkin Punky Pup Racer Rollie-pollie Roo Rookie Scooby Scooby-doo Scout Scrappy Scrappy-doo Shortcake Shortie Short-stuff Silly-bear Silly-goose Silly-pickle Silly-willy Slugger Smiley Smoochie Snickerdoodle Snoopy Snow-bunny Snugabug Snugabunny Snuggle-bunny Snuggles Sparky Sport Sprout Squeaker Squeaks Squirrel Squirt Squishy Star-bright Stinker Stinker-bear Stinker-winker Stinker-winker-bear Stretch Sugarplum Sunbeam Sunny Sunshine Sweet Sweetcakes Sweetheart Sweetie Sweetiekins Sweetpea Sweets Sweet-tater Sweet-treat Sweetums Tabby Tadpole Tater Taterkins Teddy Teddybear Teddykins Thumbkin Tiger Tigger Tilly Tink Tinker-doodle Tiny Toodle-bear Toodles Tootsie Tootsie-bear Tootsie-pop Tootsie-wootsie Turbo Turbo-man Turtle Tweety Tweety-bird Twinkie Twinkles Tyke Waddles Whiz-kid Widdle-waddle Wiggles Wiggle-bum Wiggle-worm Winnie Wookie Wookie-bear Youngin Zippy |
Related links:
Ten Steps to Surviving the First Three Months with a Newborn
Love in the Time of Cosleeping
A Boy, A Girl, and A Baby~Journey to Gentle Parenting
Babywearing Basics Resource Guide
Breastfeeding, Babywearing, and Bouncing Back into Shape after Baby
Practical Gentle Discipline Guide
Four Ways Attachment Parenting Can Reduce the Risk of SIDS
The Science of Sleep: Newborns
25 Must-Have Books for Preschool Bookworms
Bookworm weighs in on must-have books for your children in Little Hearts’ How to Build a Home Library for Bookworms from Tots to Teens series. Check out 25 Must-Have Books for Baby Bookworms and 25 Must-Have Books for Toddler Bookworms, and check back for 25 Must-Have Books for Early Elementary Bookworms, 25 Must-Have Books for Tween Bookworms, 25 Must-Have Books for Teen Bookworms, and 25 Must-Have Books for Young Adult Bookworms in the coming weeks as well as literacy tips, book activities, and book nook ideas!
1.)
The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
This story of struggle and survival, illustrated in Eric Carle’s unique, brilliantly colorful style, follows a tiny seed as it beats the odds and fulfils its purpose…growing and blooming into a beautiful flower.
Preview:
It is Autumn. A strong wind is blowing. It blows flower seeds high in the air and carries them far across the land. One of the seeds is tiny, smaller than any of the others. Will it be able to keep up with the others? Where are they all going? One of the seeds flies higher than the others. Up, up it goes…
2.)
Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberly (see related activities below)
This is a deceptively simple book with a powerful message for a small child…YOU can tell the monsters to “GO AWAY!” As children read along, they build a monster with the die-cut pages and then send it away again, one scary part at a time. Love this creative way of making children feel powerful and encouraging them to say “No!” when they’re faced with things that scare them!
Preview:
Big Green Monster has two big yellow eyes, a long bluish-green nose, a big red mouth with sharp white teeth, two little squiggly ears, scraggly purple hair, and a big scary green face! But…YOU DON’T SCARE ME! So GO AWAY, scraggly purple hair! GO AWAY, two little squiggly ears…
3.)
Petey’s Listening Ears by L.R.Knost (see author reading below)
Wisdom for Little Hearts weaves gentle parenting techniques into engaging, humorous picture books to educate parents while entertaining little ones. In this first book in the series, lovable little Petey and his stuffed friend, Beans, are having a difficult day filled with bad choices and their unfortunate consequences until Petey’s mommy and daddy step in with some gentle guidance.
Preview:
Petey was having a bad day. First, his daddy said not to pull the cat’s tail. But Petey didn’t listen. He wanted his furry friend, Beans, to get a catback ride! The cat scratched Petey’s hand. That made Petey cry. Then his mommy said not to dump his toybox out all over the floor. But Petey didn’t listen. He wanted to play pirate ship with Beans…
4.)
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Harold is a little boy with a HUGE imagination. With his purple crayon, he creates adventures and wonders that have little ones alternately holding their breaths in suspense and giggling with excitement. This is one book you will enjoy as much as your children do!
Preview:
One evening, after thinking it over for some time, Harold decided to go for a walk in the moonlight. There wasn’t any moon, and Harold needed a moon for a walk in the moonlight. And he needed something to walk on. He made a long straight path so he wouldn’t get lost. And he set off on his walk, taking his purple crayon with him…
5.)
If I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Seuss
In this classic tale by my favorite children’s book author, the incomparable Dr. Seuss himself, a little boy’s imagination runs wild with the limitless possibilities that only a child can truly appreciate as he pictures himself catching all sorts of fantastical creatures for his “New zoo, McGrew zoo!”
Preview:
“It’s a pretty good zoo,” said young Gerald McGrew. “And the fellow who runs it seems proud of it, too. But if I ran the zoo,” said young Gerald McGrew, “I’d make a few changes, that’s just what I’d do…
6.)
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
This is a lighthearted and imaginative story about a bossy little mouse and his good-natured little boy host. Children find it funny simply because of the silly series of requests and how one thing leads to another…to another…to another. Adults find it funny for the same reason because of how much it reflects spending the day with a small child! (As a bonus, this book is a great lesson on sequencing. After reading it in storytime, ask your children what happened when the mouse got the cookie he asked for, then what happened when he got the glass of milk, etc.)
Preview:
If you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to ask for a glass of milk. When you give him the milk, he’s going to ask you for a straw. When he’s finished, he’ll ask for a napkin…
7.)
Wacky Wednesday by Theo Lesieg
This is one of my preschooler’s (and toddler’s and early elementary kiddo’s!) absolute favorite books! Finding and counting all of the crazy, out-of-place things on each page…one on the first page, two on the second, three on the third, etc…is as educational as it is entertaining!
Preview:
It all began with that shoe on the wall. A shoe on the wall…? Shouldn’t be there at all! Then I looked up. And I said, “Oh man!” And that’s how Wacky Wednesday began…
8.)
There’s an Alligator Under my Bed by Mercer Mayer (see author reading below)
I’ve read this book to my little ones so many times (at their request!) that’s it is literally falling apart at the seams. From the humorous illustrations to the heroic little boy who rescues his father from the ‘invisible’ alligator, children from toddlers to preschoolers and beyond will love this book. And the author reading is as funny to adults as it is to children with the silly slap-stick style ad-libs by Mercer Mayer himself!
Preview:
There used to be an alligator under my bed. When it was time to go to sleep, I had to be very careful because I knew he was there. But whenever I looked, he hid…or something…
9.)
Peter’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats
Little Peter has a problem, and it’s sleeping in the next room! A baby sister has joined the family, and Peter doesn’t like it, not one little bit. And when his old cradle and crib get painted pink, Peter knows it’s time to take action. He takes his favorite chair (to protect it from being painted pink!) and his pet dog and sets off on his own, but on the way learns about growing up and the value of each and every family member. In this adorably illustrated book by the author of the Caldecott Medal winning book, The Snowy Day, children will find a kindred spirit in little Peter and enjoy watching him find his way back home again.
Preview:
Peter stretched as high as he could. There! His tall building was finished. CRASH! Down it came. “Shhhh!” called his mother. “You’ll have to play more quietly. Remember, we have a new baby in the house.” Peter looked into his sister Susie’s room. His mother was fussing around the cradle. “That’s my cradle,” he thought, “and they painted it pink!”…
10.)
I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt
My little ones giggle like crazy when I read this to them and then very seriously tell them, “I love you, my slimy green swamp monsters.” This is a lighthearted little book with a very reassuring message of unconditional love. One note is that the illustrations can be a bit scary for some children, but most will simply find them hilariously funny!
Preview:
Mama said, “I love you, my wonderful child.” But I had a question. “Mama, what if I were a big, scary ape! Would you still love me then?” “If you were a big, scary ape, I would make you a birthday cake out of bananas, and I would say, ‘I love you my big scary ape.’” “But what if I was a…
11.)
BookSpeak! by Laura Purdie Salas
This book is BRILLIANT! It’s suggested for grades 2-5, but I love sharing poetry and literary concepts with my children at all ages and this is a really fun and creative introduction to elements such as plot, characterization, sequel, cliffhanger (“Please, author, write a sequel fast!” begs a dog hanging from a cliff in one poem.) as well as imaginative ruminations on how characters might feel when readers neglect them ( “Don’t close the cover and don’t walk away./Don’t leave me squished in here day after day.”) and more! Preschoolers may not ‘get’ everything this fantastic book has to offer, but if shared in small bites they’ll enjoy the rhythm and rhyme and silliness and may just come away with more understanding of literary concepts than you might expect!
Preview:
I’ll tell you a story./I’ll spin you a rhyme./I’ll spill some ideas–/and we’ll travel through time./Put down the controller./Switch off the TV./Abandon the mouse and/Just hang out with me./I promise adventure./Come on, take a look!/On a day like today,/There’s no friend like a book…
12.)
Me and My Dragon by David Biedrzycki
This is a giggle-out-loud book with as much humor in the illustrations as the text. With hidden gems like a ‘knight’ light to discover along the way, reading this book is sure to hold everyone’s attention through storytime after storytime!
Preview:
Some kids want a dog. Some want a cat. I want a dragon! A big dragon wouldn’t fit in my house. Three-headed dragons don’t get along with themselves. I’d choose a fire-breathing dragon. I’d teach him how to fly…
13.)
Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
There’s a gorilla on the loose, and he’s letting all the other animals in the zoo out of their cages! The silliness that ensues as all the animals follow the oblivious zookeeper home and prepare to sleep in his room for the night make for a good laugh in this fun and delightfully illustrated picture book. Toddlers love this book for the animals, but preschoolers ‘get’ the humor of a whole zoo camping out in the zookeeper’s bedroom and enjoy it on a whole different level!
Preview:
Good night, Gorilla. Good night, Elephant. Good night, Lion. Good night, Giraffe…[or not!]
14.)
How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills
Rocket is a rambunctious little puppy who likes to romp and play and nap (sounds a lot like most preschoolers I know!). One day he meets a little yellow bird who wants to play school. Together, they play and argue and work their way through learning the alphabet and sounding out words until Rocket finally learns to read!
Preview:
Rocket loved to play. He loved to chase leaves and chew sticks. He loved to listen to the birds sing. Every fall morning after chasing leaves, Rocket would lie down in his favorite spot under his favorite tree. There he’d sniff the neighborhood smells and settle in for a good nap. But one day…a little yellow bird startled Rocket. “Aha! My first student! Wonderful!” she sang. Rocket was confused. “Student? I’m not a…” “But if I am your teacher,” the bird interrupted, “then you must be my student.” Rocket found it hard to argue with this bird…
15.)
Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg
A mistake isn’t the end of the world…it’s the beginning of something new and exciting! That’s the message in this deceptively simple book with interactive flaps and tears and splotches that help the perfectionist in all of us to lighten up and see possibilities instead of failures. Excellent book for preschoolers and beyond!
Preview: A torn piece of paper is just the beginning…
16.)
No Bears by Meg McKinlay
The precocious Ella, reminiscent of the infamous Pippi Longstocking, announces her absolute reign over her own book and declares that bears are dirty, nasty creatures and are, therefore, banned from her book. Little ones will giggle with delight as Ella misses seeing the kindly, helpful bear following her from one adventure to the next, and adults will enjoy finding the subtle inclusion of classic fairy tale characters along the way!
Preview:
Hi, I’m Ella, and this is my book. You can tell it’s a book because there are words everywhere. Words like Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After and The End. I’m in charge of this book, so I know everything about it-including the most important thing, which is that there are NO BEARS in it. NOT EVEN ONE…
17.)
The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds
This is a quiet masterpiece showcasing the art of encouragement with a bit of whimsy. When stubborn and discouraged little Vashti sits staring dejectedly at her blank sheet of paper in art class, her teacher’s gentle and unusual encouragement leads to a rush of creativity that then gets paid forward by Vashti herself. Love this fanciful little book!
Preview:
Art class was over, but Vashti sat glued to her chair. Her paper was empty. Vashti’s teacher leaned over the blank paper. “Ah! A polar bear in a snow storm,” she said. “Very funny!” said Vashti. “I just CAN’T draw!” Her teacher smiled. “Just make a mark and see where it takes you…
18.)
Light Up the Night by Jean Reidy
Science and geography concepts all wrapped up in a sleepy, rhythmic book about a little boy who transforms his blanket into various modes of transportation to explore the universe on his way to bed. A favorite for parents and children with its imaginative and soothing story that will lull little ones off into dreamland.
Preview:
When it’s time to sleep, it’s nice to know there’s a place that’s safe. In a cozy house, in a comfy bed, under a blanket that’s white and red under stars so bright they light up the night in your own little piece of the universe…This is my country, with highlands and plains, with farmlands and cities and highways and trains. It sits on my continent, far and wide, which kisses an ocean on either side, on half the Earth, which circles the sun, which hides its face when the day is done, while stars glow bright and light up the night…
19.)
A Friend for All Seasons by Julie Hubery
Take your little ones on a walk through the seasons with Robbie Raccoon and his favorite friend, Old Father Oak, as the sun shines in the summer, leaves fall and animals prepare for hibernation in the autumn, and acorns nestle in the ground throughout the winter awaiting spring to bloom. A sweet, enjoyable, and educational story all wrapped up in an adorably illustrated book.
Preview:
Robbie was born in a cozy den high in Father Oak’s sturdy trunk. In the spring he learned to climb on Father Oak’s strong branches. All summer long he played with his friends Chip and Blackbird in the shade of Father Oak’s green leaves. On the first day of fall Robbie woke early…all Robbie found was a chilly, silvery mist…And then the winter came, the cold, dark, sleepy time, when all the leaves and flowers hide and sleep…
20.)
Jack and the Beanstalk: How a Small Fellow Solved a Big Problem by Joy Schleh, Illustrations by Albert Lorenz
Albert Einstein said, “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales,” and this version of the fable, Jack and the Beanstalk, is a great place to start. Action, adventure, intrigue, suspense, you name it, this story is as spellbinding as they come and a wonderful introduction to the fairy tale genre!
Preview:
Since this book presents a fairly typical version of the text of the story, this preview is focused on what sets it apart from the others…the incredible illustrations! The illustrator took upwards of 60 hours per drawing, making the whole book a two-year project and with good reason. These aren’t just cartoons, there are detailed diagrams (to scale, no less!) of the castle, cats as big as tigers and a massive golden-egg-laying hen, schematics of Jack’s MacGyver-esque simple machines built with bits and pieces from the giant’s castle to overcome the obstacles he faces, and multiple ‘Where is Waldo’ type search-and-find pages. Amazing!
21.)
Dreaming with Rousseau by Julie Merberg
The mini-Masters series introducing children to the art of the Masters is marketed mainly to the toddler set, but its lively rhyming verses coupled with prints of famous paintings is a marvelous tool for sparking a love of art in preschoolers, as well. This little book is, itself, like a stroll back in time with Rousseau as your guide. Lovely!
Preview:
After a stroll in the starlit night, beneath a moon that’s pearly white, a girl falls asleep on a sandy bed, as magical pictures dance in her head…
22.)
Quiet Time with Cassatt by Julie Merberg
The lilting, melodic quality of the verse in this mini-Masters book coupled with the paintings of children and families will make this a favorite, for sure!
Preview:
It’s quiet time to think and rest and watch the world from a cozy nest. Time to sink into a soft blue chair and relax for a while without a care…
23.)
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
In this much-loved book, the gifted Shel Silverstein masterfully captures the bittersweet joy of sacrificial love and the human propensity for missing the wealth of beauty in that love in the pursuit of material riches. This story is as sad as it is inspiring, and makes a wonderful starting point for discussions about what really matters in life.
Preview:
Once there was a tree. And she loved a little boy. And every day the boy would come and he would gather her leaves and make them into crowns and play king of the forest…[And as the boy grew, he took all that the tree had to give, her apples to sell for money, her branches to build a house, her trunk to build a boat] and the tree was happy…but not really…
24.)
One by Kathryn Otoshi
Numbers, colors, and a lesson on bullying, sticking together, and compassion all in one amazing little book!
Preview:
Blue was a quiet color. He enjoyed looking up at the sky, floating on the waves, and on days he was feeling daring…splashing in rain puddles. Every once in awhile he wished he could be more funny like Yellow. Or bright like Green. More regal like Purple. Or outgoing like Orange. But overall, he liked being Blue. Except when he was with Red. Red was a hot head. He liked to pick on Blue. “Red is a great color,” he’d say. “Red is hot. Blue is not…
25.)
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl
This is a great first chapter book for storytime with older preschoolers who have a longer attention span and can remember the storyline from one chapter to the next. Funny and quirky with Roald Dahl’s signature style, this short book is a little lighter and less grizzly than some of his other works (though, be aware, there is a brief scary part).
Preview:
We have tears in our eyes/As we wave our goodbyes,/We so loved being with you, we three./So do please now and then/Come and see us again,/The Giraffe and the Pelly and me./All you do is to look/At a page in this book/Because that’s where we always will be./No book ever ends/When it’s full of your friends/The Giraffe and the Pelly and me…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My little girls don’t have many nightmares, but there is the occasional monster in the closet or under the bed who needs to be evicted. To go along with the book Go Away, Big Green Monster we made our own ‘Monster-Away Spray,’ guaranteed to send all scary monsters packing. Our colors don’t match those in the book perfectly because we just used foam stickers 
and googlie eyes from our craft box and blue spray bottles from the bargain bin at the fabric store, but my girls are thrilled with them! We filled them with water (and added a little spritz of febreeze in my six-year-old’s bottle because, “Monsters can’t STAND flowers!”) and then Daddy and Big Brother took turns pretending 
to be monsters and ran away squealing from the girls when they got sprayed. Now, a bit of bedtime spritzing in closets and under beds is all it takes to make my girls feel confident that they’ve rousted the beasties so they can sleep in peace! We also made a felt Go Away, Big Green Monster activity board to do together as we read the book, and, as soon as it was done, my toddler ran and got her ‘Monster-Away Spray’ and sprayed the monster. :) (Click here for more ideas on helping children cope with anxiety.)
Author readings:
L.R.Knost reads Petey’s Listening Ears…
Mercer Mayer reads There’s an Alligator Under my Bed…
Related posts:
Children who love to read…READ! Engaging children’s hearts in the wonder of reading instead of just training their minds in its mechanics. Raising Bookworms
In the world of a child wonders are as simple as sticks and sheets, leaves and books, boxes and giggles, and the promise in a rainy day. The Seven Wonders of the World of Childhood
Fairy tales in childhood are stepping stones throughout life, leading the way through trouble and trial. The value of fairy tales lies not in a brief literary escape from reality, but in the gift of hope that goodness truly is more powerful than evil and that even the darkest reality can lead to a Happily Ever After. Do not take that gift of hope lightly. It has the power to conquer despair in the midst of sorrow, to light the darkness in the valleys of life, to whisper “One more time” in the face of failure. Hope is what gives life to dreams, making the fairy tale the reality. Fairy Tales~The Lost Value of ‘Once upon a time…’
There is such a rush these days to get children sleeping through the night, weaned off the breast, eating solid foods, potty trained, reading independently, and on and on, that we seem to have lost the ability to simply enjoy life as it happens and let our children do the same. A Return to Childhood
On a Winnie the Pooh style ‘long explore’ my little Pooh Bear discovered the world in ways only a toddler can in…The Many Adventures of My Little Pooh Bear
Successful reading means far more than possessing the ability to read. Engaging the hearts of students moves reading success beyond a life skill and turns it into a life style. And graphic novels are too powerful of a tool in our arsenal to be disregarded because of pride or prejudice. Raising Super Readers~The MARVELous Power of Comic Books!
Parenting choices strongly impact the level and type of attachment a child develops and, by extension, the development of a love of learning. A love of learning grows when it isn’t stifled by fear or stress or regimented by over-structuring or a focus on achievement or competition. Parents fostering a healthy attachment are thus also fostering a life-long love of learning in their children. Love, Play, Learn!
200 Ways to Bless your Children with a Happy Childhood
[Reprinted from Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages by L.R.Knost now available on Amazon]
Let’s pack happiness into our children so the baggage they take into adulthood is goodness, confidence, and kindness instead of packing bags of hurt, struggle, and loneliness that will weigh them down for life. ~L.R.Knost
200 Ways to Bless your Children with a Happy Childhood
1.) Float boats in puddles
2.) Ride bikes
3.) Play hopscotch
4.) Blow dandelions
5.) Jump in a bounce house
6.) Take them to a museum
7.) Play hot-potato with water balloons
8.) Make a volcano
9.) Buy them a goldfish
10.) Have funoodle sword fights
11.) Take silly pictures with them in a photo booth
12.) Fix pancakes for dinner
13.) Let them climb trees
14.) Watch your language
15.) Make daisy chains
16.) Play board games and let them win so they’ll feel smart
17.) Teach them manners by being polite to them
18.) Teach them respect by showing them respect
19.) Look at them when they’re talking
20.) Build block towers and knock them down together
21.) Read to them
22.) Laugh at their jokes
23.) When they’re upset say, “I’m here. I’m listening,” and then just be there
24.) Go barefoot in the grass
25.) Thank them sincerely for muddy bouquets of weeds
26.) Pray for them
27.) Pray with them
28.) Tell them the truth
29.) Have wrestling matches & let them win so they’ll feel strong
30.) Let them believe in miracles
31.) Let them see you stand up for what you believe in
32.) Tickle them & stop when they tell you to so they’ll know how to tell someone ‘no’ when they don’t want to be touched
33.) Turn off the television
34.) Have a picnic on the living room floor
35.) Make shadow puppets
36.) Let them become best friends with their grandparents (or adopt a grandparent!)
37.) Build forts
38.) Let them help you fix the toilet
39.) Let them jump in piles of clean laundry
40.) Take them with you when you vote
41.) Have staring contests
42.) Make playing-card buildings
43.) Make a refrigerator box rocket and fly to Mars for dinner with them
44.) Fingerpaint with them
45.) Fingerpaint on them
46.) Let them fingerpaint on you
47.) Tell them corny jokes
48.) Blow bubbles
49.) Jump in puddles
50.) Play football in the mud
51.) Play basketball in the driveway at midnight
52.) Play baseball at the park
53.) Go to their teddy bear tea parties
54.) Play with slinkies on the stairs
55.) Let them teach you something
56.) Put band aids on invisible boo-boos
57.) Scare away the monsters
58.) Sing in the car
59.) Make silly faces in the mirror
60.) Roll in piles of leaves
61.) Turn off the computer
62.) Dance in the rain
63.) Make snow angels (or sand angels!)
64.) Let them help you help someone in need so they’ll learn to serve
65.) Make mudpies
66.) Cook dinner together
67.) Go stargazing
68.) Lay in the grass
69.) Go fishing with real worms
70.) Look for four-leaf clovers
71.) Walk in the woods
72.) Spot shapes in the clouds
73.) Dress up and take them on a date to the symphony
74.) Visit a planetarium
75.) Give them bear hugs
76.) Give them grace
77.) Share a secret
78.) Tell them about God
79.) Tell them stories about your childhood
80.) Get them a kitten
81.) Visit an aquarium
82.) Take them to the zoo
83.) Take them to the library
84.) Let them meet an author or a painter or an astronaut
85.) Let them dream big dreams
86.) Admire their artwork
87.) Make macaroni art together
88.) Go to a sunrise service on Easter
89.) Plant something together and watch it grow
90.) Go to a Passion play
91.) Go to a parade
92.) Play dress up
93.) Go to the beach
94.) Hike up a mountain trail
95.) Ride a bicycle-built-for-two (or three!)
96.) Hold them when they cry
97.) Forgive them when they mess up
98.) Help them when they struggle
99.) Encourage them to try again when they fail
100.) Let them choose the movie
101.) Listen to their endless stories
102.) Clap when they sing you a song
103.) Share a giant bucket of popcorn at the movies
104.) Rent a projector and hang up a sheet outside to make your own drive-in theater
105.) Take them to an airshow
106.) Take them to a Veteran’s Day parade and let them shake hands with a hero
107.) Tie a towel into a cape and play superheroes
108.) Make Christmas cards for nursing home residents and deliver them together
109.) Throw a surprise half-birthday party
110.) Climb on the furniture and jump over the lava
111.) Make a paper mâché globe
112.) Make paper airplanes and have a fly-off
113.) Fly kites
114.) Make sandcastles (or snowmen!)
115.) Give butterfly kisses
116.) Give Eskimo kisses
117.) Go to a petting zoo and let them pet a goat
118.) Play jump rope
119.) Go to their plays
120.) Go to their games
121.) Teach them chess
122.) Play twister
123.) Let them see you reading
124.) Go to storytimes at bookstores
125.) Go to a farmer’s market
126.) Make s’mores
127.) Camp in the backyard
128.) Cook over a campfire
129.) Build a model airplane
130.) Make up a secret handshake
131.) Wear the macaroni necklaces they make you
132.) Smile when they walk in the room
133.) Kiss them goodbye whenever you leave
134.) Dress up for their tea parties
135.) Play rock-paper-scissors
136.) Say please
137.) Say thank you
138.) Say you’re welcome
139.) Tell them you trust them
140.) Tell them they are good
141.) Tell them you love them every day
142.) Say, “I like you”
143.) Say, “You’re fun to be with”
144.) Tell them you miss them when you’re away from them
145.) Tell them they can always count on you and then be there when they need you
146.) Tell them about times you’ve failed so they know they don’t have to be perfect
147.) Catch fireflies in jars and then let them go
148.) Forgive them so they’ll learn to forgive
149.) Give second chances, third chances, fourth chances…
150.) Race them to the car and let them win so they’ll feel success
151.) Teach them how to skip rocks
152.) Use your gentle hands
153.) Stand up to bullies for them
154.) Tell them what you believe in
155.) Tell them you believe in them
156.) Treat them like they’re priceless so they’ll never doubt their value
157.) Let them hear you whistle while you work so they’ll know joy can be found in everything
158.) Grab a stick for a sword and slay dragons with them
159.) Catch ladybugs on your fingers and examine their spots
160.) Share a milkshake
161.) Have a sleepover in their room
162.) Go on a scavenger hunt
163.) Give them a hammer, nails, and scrap wood and watch the magic
164.) Work puzzles together that take weeks to finish
165.) Make grape popsicles and eat them together in the sunshine
166.) Be kind to them so they’ll learn to be kind
167.) Admit it when you’re wrong so they’ll learn to take responsibility for their actions
168.) Say you’re sorry when you mess up so they’ll learn it’s okay to make mistakes
169.) Let them see you cry so they’ll know it’s okay to be human
170.) Tell them you’re on their side
171.) Turn off your cell phone
172.) Build a birdhouse together and let them paint it all the colors of the rainbow
173.) Help them with their homework so they can play outdoors
174.) Play with them
175.) Sprinkle fairy dust on their bed to help them sleep
176.) Let them see you rescue a butterfly caught in a spider’s web so they’ll think you’re a hero
177.) Tell them about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and help them search for it
178.) Sit on the porch and wave at the passing cars with them
179.) Take a ride on a train
180.) Take them to see an alligator
181.) Read the funny paper in the newspaper to them
182.) Let them take care of you when you’re sick
183.) Listen so they’ll learn to listen
184.) Care about what they care about so they’ll feel understood
185.) Put others first so they learn sacrifice
186.) Help a neighbor so they’ll understand community
187.) Let them climb into bed with you when they have a bad dream
188.) Make them a cozy reading nook
189.) Squeeze yourself into their reading nook and cuddle up for storytime
190.) Read them fairy tales
191.) Buy them comic books
192.) Make paperchains for the Christmas tree
193.) Have a birthday party for Jesus before opening presents on Christmas morning
194.) Make blessing bags and mail them to our troops
195.) Build bookshelves and start a home library for them
196.) Treat them with compassion so they’ll learn to care
197.) Give them piggyback rides to bed
198.) Read them bedtime stories (and let them choose the book even if it’s the same one every night!)
199.) Show them you love them when they deserve it the least
200.) Live what you want them to learn
Related posts:
In the world of a child wonders are as simple as sticks and sheets, leaves and books, boxes and giggles, and the promise in a rainy day. The Seven Wonders of the World of Childhood
There is such a rush these days to get children sleeping through the night, weaned off the breast, eating solid foods, potty trained, reading independently, and on and on, that we seem to have lost the ability to simply enjoy life as it happens and let our children do the same. A Return to Childhood
On a Winnie the Pooh style ‘long explore’ my little Pooh Bear discovered the world in ways only a toddler can in…The Many Adventures of My Little Pooh Bear
Children who love to read…READ! Engaging children’s hearts in the wonder of reading instead of just training their minds in its mechanics. Raising Bookworms
The evolution of children’s communication proceeds at a steady and relatively predictable pace, though the timing is influenced by factors such as individual personality, cognitive development, home environment, etc. Here’s what to expect through the ages and stages…Tots to Teens~Communication through the Ages and Stages
From hitting to defiance to tantrums to testing the boundaries and more, here are gentle parenting tools, tips, and techniques…Practical Gentle Discipline
25 Reasons NOT to Keep Your Children Busy this Summer
Raising Super Readers~The MARVELous Power of Comic Books!
Playground Confessions~Look Who’s Talking!
25 Must-Have Books for Toddler Bookworms
Bookworm weighs in on must-have books for your children in Little Hearts’ How to Build a Home Library for Bookworms from Tots to Teens series. Check out 25 Must-Have Books for Baby Bookworms and 25 Must-Have Books for Preschool Bookworms, and watch for 25 Must-Have Books for Early Elementary Bookworms, 25 Must-Have Books for Tween Bookworms, 25 Must-Have Books for Teen Bookworms, and 25 Must-Have Books for Young Adult Bookworms in the coming weeks as well as literacy tips, book activities, and book nook ideas!
1.)
Are You My Mother? By P.D.Eastman (a Dr. Seuss Beginner Book)
One of my all-time favorite books for little ones. They love the ‘snort’ and ask me to read the ‘snort’ part over and over again every time they dig this treasured book out of their book basket!
Preview:
Then the little bird saw a Big Thing. “Are you my mother?” said the little bird. The Big Thing said, “SNORT!” “Oh no!” said the little bird, “You are not my mother. You are a Snort!”…
2.)
On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman
This is a sweet and beautifully illustrated book to read to your little ones to remind them that they are a special and wonderful gift, not only to you, but to the world!
Preview:
So enchanted with you were the wind and the rain that they whispered the sound of your wonderful name. It sailed through the farmland, high on the breeze…
3.)
From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
I can do it! I can do it! That’s the toddler chant, and this whimsical book by Eric Carle captures that spirit beautifully as it encourages little ones to stomp, clap, and wiggle with gorillas, giraffes, and other creatures illustrated in Carle’s own unique style. Lots of fun!
Preview:
I am a seal, and I can clap my hands. Can you do it? I am an elephant, and I can stomp my foot, can you do it?
4.)
Corduroy by Don Freeman
All of my children have fallen in love with charming, raggedy little Corduroy from the first time they ‘met’ him while cuddling up for storytime, and he remains a favorite to this day!
Preview:
Corduroy is a bear who once lived in the toy department of a big store. Day after day he waited with all the other animals and dolls for somebody to come along and take him home…
5.)
The Best Nest by P.D.Eastman
A bit of humor just the right size for a little one, a fun adventure, and an easy to follow storyline make this book a definite must-have for toddler bookworms!
Preview:
Mr. Bird was happy. He was so happy he had to sing. This was Mr.Bird’s song: “I love my house. I love my nest. In all the world my nest is best!” Then Mrs. Bird came out of the house. “It’s NOT the best nest!” she said. “I’m tired of this old place…
6.)
The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen
This book is as fun for mommies and daddies as it is for children because you can’t help giggling at the silly pout-pout fish while enjoying the rhythm of the lyrical and humorous story!
Preview:
Deep in the ocean/Where the fish hang out/Lives a glum gloomy swimmer/With an ever-present pout./I’m a pout-pout fish/With a pout-pout face/So I spread the dreary wearies/All over the place…
7.)
I Was So Mad by Mercer Mayer
Rag-tag Little Critter is always getting into scrapes, and this day is no different as his curiosity gets him into trouble time and time again. Your little explorer will certainly relate to this funny little guy, and your heart will melt as you get a glimpse at the frustrations of life through the eyes of a small person in a big world.
Preview:
I wanted to keep some frogs in the bathtub, but mom wouldn’t let me. I was so mad…I wanted to play hide-n-seek in the clean sheets, but grandma said, “No, you can’t.” I was just so mad…
8.)
He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands by Kadir Nelson
Award-winning artist Kadir Nelson’s illustrations capture a multiethnic family and community from a child’s perspective in this visually engaging interpretation of the old spiritual, He’s got the Whole World in His Hands. Intermixed with the charming artistry are the deeply captivating and reassuring lyrics of this staple of American history that you will enjoy introducing to your little one in this unique storybook form.
Preview:
He’s got the whole world in His hands/He’s got the whole world in His hands/He’s got my brothers and my sisters in His hands…
9.)
Dr. Seuss’s ABC by Dr. Seuss
This is one of the best introductions to the alphabet available because, in addition to its uniquely Seussian illustrations, its trademark Seussical cadence engages little ones’ attention and brings them toddling back for more again and again!
Preview:
Big A, little a, what begins with A? Aunt Annie’s Alligator A-a-a. Big B, little b, what begins with B? Barber, baby, bubbles, and a bumble-bee…
10.)
The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone
Every one of my six children have eagerly asked for this book to be read and reread to them during their early years, including my littlest who is a toddler now. In fact, I’ve had to buy new copies several times through the years to replace the ones that fell apart from overuse! This is a family favorite that I’ll be buying for my grandchildren, no doubt.
Preview:
Listen, I have an idea. If you do not turn any pages, we will never get to the end of this book. And that is good because there is a MONSTER at the end of this book. So please do not turn the page…YOU TURNED THE PAGE! Maybe you do not understand…
11.)
Just For You by Mercer Mayer
Little Critter is the quintessential toddler in Just For You, stretching his wings and trying to conquer the monumental tasks of little-personhood such as eating a sandwich for lunch (minus the crusts, of course!), just for his mama.
Preview:
I tried to take a nap just for you, but the bed was too bouncy. I tried not to splash in my bath just for you, but there was a storm…
12.)
The Moon by Eli A. Cantillion
This is always a bedtime favorite for my little ones. It’s a soft, fuzzy book with a gentle rhythm that gets them all ready for sleepy-time and sweet dreams.
Preview:
When I am getting sleepy and snuggling in my bed, the moon is just rising to go to work instead. He winks at all the children and whispers them goodnight, them hums a gentle lullaby and switches on his light…
13.)
The 7 Days of Creation by Mindy MacDonald
This colorful board book with its cut-outs, raised trees and butterflies, and sing-song rhyming verses is one of my little ones’ most frequently requested books!
Preview:
God made all that you can see, mountains, rivers, and every tree. Every person in every land-He made us all with His own hand…
14.)
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems
If you’ve ever had a determined child reason with you using their own unique perception of what ‘reasonable’ entails, you’ll find this book as humorous as your little one will!
Preview:
Hey, I’ve got an idea. Let’s play ‘Drive the bus’! I’ll go first! C’mon, just once around the block! I’ll be your best friend…
15.)
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
The beauty of this book is the fun use of onomatopoeias that every little one will enjoy saying along with you as you read this to them again and again and again!
Preview:
We’re going on a bear hunt. We’re going to catch a big one. What a beautiful day! We’re not scared. Oh-oh! Grass! Long, wavy grass. We can’t go over it. We can’t go under it. Oh no! We’ve got to go through it! Swishy swashy! Swishy swashy! Swishy swashy…
16.)
Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
In this sweet, lyrical story a little llama struggles with bedtime separation from his Mama llama until she comes and soothes his fears and helps him fall asleep. It’s charm is not only in its adorable illustrations, but in the reality of the bedtime struggles it depicts with gentle humor and empathy.
Preview:
Llama llama red pajama reads a story with his mama. Mama kisses baby’s hair. Mama llama goes downstairs. Llama llama red pajama feels alone without his mama…
17.)
When My Baby Dreams by Adele Enersen
Mommies and Daddies will love this book as much as their little ones will with its whimsical photos of a sleeping baby traveling the world, sailing the seas, and resting among the moon and the stars in this unique and sweetly humorous first book from new mama, Adele Enersen.
Preview:
When my baby dreams of traveling the world…she starts her journey on the back of an Indian elephant…
18.)
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr.
This is a fun book my little ones enjoy ‘reading’ along with me. With its simple, rhythmic cadence and repetitious wording, it makes it easy for small children to memorize and feel like they are already successful readers!
Preview:
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, what do you hear? I hear a lion roaring in my ear. Lion, Lion, what do you hear? I hear a hippopotamus snorting in my ear…
19.)
Classic Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A.Milne
While all of my children (and I!) love the Disney version of Pooh, the classic books and illustrations are treasures that every little one needs to be introduced to. There is just so much depth and richness of story and meticulous detail in the classic version that is lost in the glossy, albeit fun and adorable, Disney Pooh. Your little ones will love discovering new things about their favorite ”silly old bear” in these re-released books!
Preview:
Once upon a time, a very long time ago, about last Friday, Winnie-the-Pooh lived in a forest all by himself under the name Sanders. “What does ‘under the name’ mean?” asked Christopher Robin…
20.)
My First Batman Book (Touch and Feel Board Book) by David Katz
What could possibly be better for your little superhero than a lift-the-flap, touch-n-feel, interactive Batman board book? Not much! This little book is awesomely entertaining for little hands and a great introduction to the wonderful world of superheroes.
Preview:
Batman and his pal Robin zoom away in the Batmobile to protect the people of Gotham city…
21.)
Pride & Prejudice: A Babylit Board Book by Jennifer Adams
With vintage-looking, Regency-inspired illustrations and a charm that honors Jane Austen’s lovely style of writing, this whimsical ‘counting’ board book introduces little people to the characters and setting in one of my all-time favorite books!
Preview:
1 English village; 2 Rich gentlemen (Mr. Bingley & Mr. Darcy); 3 Houses (Longbourn, Netherfield & Pemberly)…
22.)
Jane Eyre: A Babylit Board Book by Jennifer Adams
While this is another ‘counting’ book, that’s secondary to its real purpose of introducing a new generation of readers to classic literature. I love the iconic references to items, quotes, and characters (always have had a crush on Mr. Rochester…sigh) found in Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel, Jane Eyre, in this unique little board book from Jennifer Adams.
Preview:
1 Governess; 2 Trunks; 3 Candles (“It is always dangerous to keep a candle lit at night”)…
23.)
Painting with Picasso by Julie Merberg
This isn’t my favorite of the Mini Masters series, but it’s an interesting introduction to Picasso’s unique style and gives a good overview of his abstract paintings as well as his more realistic pieces accompanied by simple, rhythmic verses that your little ones will enjoy while being exposed to the work of a master!
Preview:
An artist paints people in all different places and captures the feelings that show in their faces…
24.)
A Magical Day with Matisse by Julie Merberg
The fun and lively poetic quality of the verses in this Mini Master board book will keep your little one entranced as you share the lovely reproductions of Matisse’s work. One note, though, is that it does contain some of his non-anatomically detailed nudes (no clothes, but no body parts depicted, either), so be aware of that if it’s an issue for you.
Preview:
Grab your hat! Come out and play where sailboats bob on a blueberry bay…
25.)
A Picnic with Monet by Julie Merberg
The light and airy poetry that accompanies this introduction to Monet truly honors the enchanting, dreamy quality of his work. Little ones will enjoy this magical journey through the countryside in this lovely marriage of art and verse!
Preview:
Through a field of poppies, red and bright, past a flock of turkeys, feathery white…
Note: Many of the books in the 25 Must-Have Books for Baby Bookworms and the 25 Must-Have Books for Preschool Bookworms are great for toddlers, as well, and vice-versa.
And here are some simple and economical ideas for starting a home library for your little bookworm:
Related posts:
Children who love to read…READ! Engaging children’s hearts in the wonder of reading instead of just training their minds in its mechanics. Raising Bookworms
In the world of a child wonders are as simple as sticks and sheets, leaves and books, boxes and giggles, and the promise in a rainy day. The Seven Wonders of the World of Childhood
Fairy tales in childhood are stepping stones throughout life, leading the way through trouble and trial. The value of fairy tales lies not in a brief literary escape from reality, but in the gift of hope that goodness truly is more powerful than evil and that even the darkest reality can lead to a Happily Ever After. Do not take that gift of hope lightly. It has the power to conquer despair in the midst of sorrow, to light the darkness in the valleys of life, to whisper “One more time” in the face of failure. Hope is what gives life to dreams, making the fairy tale the reality. Fairy Tales~The Lost Value of ‘Once upon a time…’
There is such a rush these days to get children sleeping through the night, weaned off the breast, eating solid foods, potty trained, reading independently, and on and on, that we seem to have lost the ability to simply enjoy life as it happens and let our children do the same. A Return to Childhood
On a Winnie the Pooh style ‘long explore’ my little Pooh Bear discovered the world in ways only a toddler can in…The Many Adventures of My Little Pooh Bear
Successful reading means far more than possessing the ability to read. Engaging the hearts of students moves reading success beyond a life skill and turns it into a life style. And graphic novels are too powerful of a tool in our arsenal to be disregarded because of pride or prejudice. Raising Super Readers~The MARVELous Power of Comic Books!
Parenting choices strongly impact the level and type of attachment a child develops and, by extension, the development of a love of learning. A love of learning grows when it isn’t stifled by fear or stress or regimented by over-structuring or a focus on achievement or competition. Parents fostering a healthy attachment are thus also fostering a life-long love of learning in their children. Love, Play, Learn!
