Polite As A Princess

Polite as a Princess aims to teach kids good manners using the Disney Princesses - Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella - to showcase some of these manners. For example, Snow White waits for her turn and Ariel likes to share. Such easy everyday manners are shown to be traits of a princess. The book ends with "Don't you want to be just like a princess?" hence suggesting that every child can be a princess if the child is able to display such good manners. The illustration in the picture book looks as if it has been taken from the movie itself and is very eye-catching.

This is currently my daughter's favorite book. She's into Disney Princesses now. Not only does she have a crown, princess make believe make-up set, a Disney Princess handbag which grandma and gandpa gave her as a birthday present, she also has a fluffy princess-like dress and the list goes on...I was never very much into these kinds of toys when I was young and am wondering where she got this interest from. In any case, if the interest in Disney Princesses is motivating her to read books with Disney Princesses on the cover, then I have no objections - the only grouse I have is that these can be rather costly and therefore I had to teach her to be prudent.

Making reading relevant:

• Remind the child whenever the opportunity arises that she should be behaving like a princess


• Ask the child to describe scenarios they can behave like any one of the princesses


• Affirm the child that she's behaving like a princess when she takes the effort to exhibit these manners


• Ask the child to choose her favorite good manners and then talk about why it is her favorite

It's a different way of encouraging the child to have good manners and a little more fun for the parent as well! At least now when we role model we can compare ourselves to princesses as well! :)

Holes and Peeks

Last night's bedtime story was Holes and Peeks by Ann Jonas. I was really tired and was glad that it was one of those easy stories. It's a good book now that my child is learning to read. The easy words and repetitive style of the author makes word recognition a breeze.

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

I was watching A Place of Our Own a show for parents focused on parenting skills and tips. One of the pointers made for that particular series was that children behave better when they are aware and know what the consequences are of doing something. The better able they are in predicting the consequence to an action, the easier it will be to explain and effect the consequence. While I was mulling on how I could teach my children about cause and effect, I recalled reading this book to my kids a few months back. And an idea formed...

Not only did my kids enjoy the book, but they still remembered the story. In fact, they enjoyed it so much, they have an ongoing competititon on who can remember the sequence of events in the book without missing a beat. So I searched for the book, found it and read on to know what else I did to help my kids learn about Cause and Effect - I don't think it's too young to start them on some basic life skills!

The book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff tells a story of what happens to a spunky boy who gives a mouse a cookie. The boy soon realises that the mouse will want more than just a cookie. To go with the cookie, the mouse would like a glass of milk, then a straw, then a mirror, a pair of scissors and so the list goes on. By the time he is done meeting all of the mouse's demands, he is weary.  With a colorful and fun illustration of what happens to the mouse and the kid who gives the mouse the cookie, it was not only my kids who enjoyed it, I did too.

Here's what we did to learn about Cause and Effect:-

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  recall the sequence of demands (which was a fun activity by itself!)


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  Tried to recall why the next demand was made (for example, if he had the glass of milk, why did he ask for a straw?)


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  to help the kids to realise that cause and effect is real - we made some 'IF' statements. (For example, if you didn't sleep early ....?)


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  and it's true that if the child can accurately identify the effect, it'll make relating with him so much easier! You should try it...it's worth investing some time in this activity because it saves a lot more time trying to convince the child to do things later!

This week has been an emotionally charged one for my child. Last week he said goodbye to his Korean classmate who was going to live in New Jersey and this week he had to say goodbye to another classmate who was relocating to Chicago. For the kids who were leaving, starting over in a new place, with new classmates in fall and leaving behind what they have become familiar with and people whom they have come to have close ties with is traumatic. Similarly, the ones they leave behind have to deal with the knowledge that they will probably lose contact and become strangers with time.

Having to deal with this issue, I decided to search for such books and came across Half A World Away by Libby Gleeson. It is a story of two close friends, Amy and Louie, who are always together. Who do things together, who play together and who have developed such a close knit friendship that they can always depend on each other to come out to play just by having a special call for each other. However, one day, Amie has to go away - very far away. And this makes Louie feel lonely and empty. Similarly, Amy feels just as lonely in her new place. Louie calls out to Amy using the special call but there is no reply. He looks to the sky and imagines the clouds to be in the shape of dragons. In the place that Amy is, she wakes up and claims she had a lovely dream of Louie calling her. The illustration tells a story which is unspoken in words. For the sky that we see in the background has the dragons which Louie saw where he was. The illustration suggests that the friends may be half a world away, but they were still under the same sky. The story ends with Louie smiling in his sleep - leaving the readers to wonder if he was having a pleasant dream of Amy calling to him with their special call.

While the ending leaves us with a warm feeling, the story is one that does not seek to reassure the reader that the friends will meet again, or that they will be best friends forever. This story has no happily ever after. Instead, in a surprisingly subtle way, it tells the child that both Louie and Amy will have to find ways to deal with the loneliness that they feel.

While I was looking for more books which deal with parting of best friends, I found another which I felt was equally good. In fact it deals with a different perspective of parting. In Ira Says Goodbye by Bernard Waber, the child deals with feeling rejected that her best friend is excited to go to a new place when she is upset about losing her best friend. However, I passed this book because the scenario was different. I felt that my child would be able to relate to Half A World Away better. It is a story worth reading to children who are having to deal with separation issues especially when it is parting with best friends. The illustration - while simple - helps the child to relate to his own experience of playing with his own friends and sharing precious time.

Here's what we did as we read the book:

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  Looking a the pictures, I asked how he thinks the children were feeling when they were together. And again when they were apart.


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  Ask him if he knew why Amy had to leave (the story does not give any reason) and if Amy had a choice to stay


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  Look at the picture when Amy says she had a lovely dream and ask the child to spot what similarities he can find with the picture of Louie smiling in his sleep


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  Ask why there were 2 pages which had only clouds (without any words)


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  Ask why Louie was smiling in his sleep


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  Finally, ask how he felt about his own friend leaving and how he could make himself feel better

Personally, I feel rather sorry that the children of this day and age have to deal with so much change. I never had to deal with such painful childhood experiences. Life was very stable. Change was something that came in a blue moon. I hope that the children of now, who will become adults of the future, will be able to deal with change more deftly and become stronger persons because of these experiences in life.

Gift ideas:

Here's a book that we gave his friend - something to remember him by in the future - something that will help her deal with the change and give her strength to be unafraid to be herself and do the things that she wants to do. The book is called Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss.