They had me with the titles:
“Ready For The Day: A Tale of Teamwork and Toast, and Hardly Any Foot-Dragging”
and
“Ready For Bed: A Tale of Cleaning Up, Tucking In, and Hardly Any Complaining”.
Doesn’t that sound like heaven?
These titles from Free Spirit, written by Stacey R.Kaye, are like mini-parenting courses disguised as picture books. (They even colour-code the adult dialogue: green is validating feelings, blue is offering choices, and red is encouraging. All are effective parenting strategies, which are discussed thoroughly for the grownups at the back of the book.)
The first book is Daddy/daughter, the second one Mommy/son, and both take the readers through what can be a very stressful time of day, modeling ways to make it easier. The pictures are adorable, the characters are multicultural, and as you read you really feel like the scenes could be taking place at your house. Well, your house on a fairly good day.
At $12.99 for each of these hardcovers, they’re a steal if they help you to get the kids out the door and/or in bed with a smoother, quicker and more positive (i.e. less screaming, threatening, throwing, crying – and that’s just Mom) process. Plus, the stories are written in such a way that the kids don’t even realize that they’re supposed to be learning from them – always a bonus.
Check out Free Spirit Publishing for more information. I’d highly recommend both of these books.
Disclaimer: I was provided with the above-named titles for review purposes. Opinions are, as always, my own.
I think I will need to get these books 🙂