I read the press release of these new books with great interest especially when it mentioned "...the books illustrate everyday scenarios that can challenge parents and young children: getting ready in the morning, sharing toys, and going to bed at night. Along with simple dialogue and full-color illustrations, the books include color-coded text to cue parents about positive language to use with their children. The ParentSmart/KidHappy series teaches four positive parenting techniques: (1) how to validate a child’s feelings, (2) how to offer choices, (3) how to promote problem-solving skills, and (4) how to encourage alternative behavior."
So I immediately wrote in asking whether there is any possibilities of me reviewing the printed copies of these awesome books and a month later, these books arrived safely into our hands! Yes!!!
Without further ado, here goes my first review for the "ParentSmart/KidHappy™ Series" book entitled "Ready to Play! A Tale of Toys and Friends, and Barely Any Bickering":
Title: ParentSmart/KidHappy™ Series (Ready to Play! A Tale of Toys and Friends, and Barely Any Bickering)
Author: Stacey R. Kaye, MMR Illustrated: Elizabeth O. Dulemba
Publisher: Free Spirit Publishing
ISBN-13/-10: 978-1-57542-318-0
Paperback: 32 pages
Dimension: 8 1/4" x 8 1/4"
Description from the product page:
"Trouble sharing. Haggles over what to play. Jealousy, hurt feelings—and of course tears when playtime ends. For kids just learning to get along, playtime can be riddled with conflict. Ready to Play! offers healthy, lasting ways to help kids cooperate, develop social skills, and have fun.
When good friends Emma and Ryan get together to play, there's lots of fun to be had—and also plenty of playtime problems to be solved. Children will love the full-color pictures and whimsical story, and parents and caregivers will learn the language of positive parenting.
This book, and others in the series, provides a BONUS for parents and caregivers. With honesty and gentle humor, Ready to Play! shows how to handle typical playtime struggles by modeling three parenting techniques using color-coded text to teach the language of positive parenting:
* Giving encouragement
* Validating feelings
* Inviting kids to brainstorm solutions and imagine outcomes
These techniques are explained in detail in a section at the end of the book that is just for adults. The result: you get through everyday challenges with less stress while building your child's emotional intelligence and your own parenting skills.
Ready to Play! features:
* An engaging, realistic story that will ring true for parents and kids alike
* Easy-to-use techniques and positive language highlighted in color-coded text
* A section just for adults that explains the language of positive parenting
* An easy, fun way to improve parenting skills—by reading with your child"
This is my favorite book among the series! Ben is on the same page with me as this was the first book he chose for us to go through together, in fact he said 'Mummy read this first!'
Now, just want to clarify, I didn't follow the storyline in this book exactly. Instead of using the characters names (Ryan and Emma), I substituted them with Benjamin and Alyson, my children's names so that my 3 year old can relate himself with his baby sister in the story.
As I go through the book with him, I gently stressed to him that it is important for us to share things and take turns as well.
I also love the beautiful and realistic illustrations which clearly depicts the expressions on the child's face! I explained while pointing to my 3 years old why the child's face is in such way, for example on a page where the little girl is angry because she doesn't get things done her way and I gently explained to Ben that we have to mind our manners and must not be bossy and we cannot expect everyone to adhere to our wishes.
In addition, I also deviated a bit with the book as I saw the first page on the book is a background of toy horses in sandy brown color and one unique dark brown colored horse. I used this opportunity to teach Benjamin to identify the different horse from the rest (this is part of my activities with my 3 years old boy - which is to identify the same and/or different object)
My verdict? Definitely a must have book!
You can get this book from Amazon
and Free Spirit Publishing website.
I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a copy of the book in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"
