By: Anna Shannon,
on 10/16/2016
Nowadays we use the term ‘first ‘1000 days’ to mean the time between conception and a child’s second birthday. We know that providing good nutrients and care during this period are key to child development and giving a baby the optimum start in life.
The post The first 1000 days appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Faith Pray,
on 9/14/2016
By: Lizzie Furey,
on 9/14/2016
In times of political change and upheaval, as we’ve seen around the world through the last five years, I take great comfort in reading the works of political writers of various ages.
The post John Locke on politics, civility, and parenting appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Faith Pray,
on 8/25/2016
Let them eat cake!
They puzzled over my hand-drawn pieces of Picasso's Woman & Bird 
and then played "Pin the Nose on the Picasso"
After a scavenger hunt, and treats,
Ah the joys of the small things in life! 
By: Eleanor Jackson,
on 7/24/2016
Imagine a London merchant deliberating whether to send his ten sons to Oxford or to Cambridge. Leafing through the flyers, he learns that, if he sends the boys to Cambridge, they will make “considerable progress in the sciences as well as in virtue, so that their merit will elevate them to honourable occupations for the rest of their lives” — on the other hand, if he sends them to Oxford, “they will become depraved, they will become rascals, and they will pass from mischief to mischief until the law will have to set them in order, and condemn them to various punishments.”
The post Why God would not send his sons to Oxford: parenting and the problem of evil appeared first on OUPblog.
The Children’s Book Review: Which five words best describe LETTING GO: A Parent’s Guide to Understanding the College Years? Karen Levin Coburn: Reassuring, informative, warm, honest, insightful
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By: Monica Gupta,
on 7/6/2016
क्लिक करिए और सुनिए 2 मिनट और 23 सैकिंड का ऑडियो Parenting पर कृपया ध्यान दे – बच्चों की परवरिश कैसे करें थोडी देर पहले एक जानकार के घर से लौटी हूं मन बहुत खराब हो रहा है असल में, जानकार के घर बच्चे और मम्मी मे खूब कहा सुनी हो रही थी जितना मम्मी […]
The post कृपया ध्यान दे – बच्चों की परवरिश कैसे करें appeared first on Monica Gupta.
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By: Mayra Calvani,
on 6/25/2016
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By: Mary Ann Scheuer,
on 6/1/2016
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| from Flikr, by Enokson |
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| from Flickr, by Piulet |
"What if all of your reading material was selected by, or restricted by people who believed that they know what was best for you? Wouldn’t that be awful? Wouldn’t you resent it? And isn’t it possible that you might begin to associate books with bad things like drudgery and subjugation?"The first step to supporting your child is to encourage them to pick what interests them. During the summer, encourage them to seize the power and declare their own passions or interests. Baseball fan? Read biographies, baseball mysteries or sports magazines. Dolphin lover? Dive in deep, learning all about types of dolphins, threats on their habitats and scientists who study them.
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| 2016 Summer Reading Suggestions |
By: Emily Gorney,
on 3/18/2016
More than 70 years ago, psychologist Rene Spitz first described the detrimental effects of emotional neglect on children raised in institutions, and yet, today, over 7 million children are estimated to live in orphanages around the world. In many countries, particularly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the rate of institutionalization of poor, orphaned, and neglected children has actually increased in recent years, according to UNICEF.
The post The consequences of neglect appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Faith Pray,
on 2/1/2016
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| Strong and Courageous Photo by pixaby.com |
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| The Best Gift for Baby's First Christmas |
By: Barney Cox,
on 11/20/2015
What can the history of medicine tell us about food allergy and other medical conditions? An awful lot. History is essentially about why things change over time. None of our ideas about health or medicine simply spring out of the ground. They evolve over time, adapting to various social, political, economic, technological, and cultural factors. If we want to know anything about the health issues that face us today and will face us in future, the very first thing we should do is turn to the history of such issues.
The post What history can tell us about food allergy appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Angela Muse,
on 11/2/2015
Title: The Fox and the Snowman | Author: Angela Muse | Illustrator: Helen Wu | Publication Date: October 5, 2015 | Publisher: 4EYESBOOKS | Pages: 28 | Recommended Ages: 0 to 8
Summary: This is a story of a lone fox and his journey through a year of changing seasons. He discovers friendship and family in this colorful winter tale.
Also check out Lil Glimmer, The Nutt Family: An Acorny Adventure, The Pig Princess, The Bee Bully, Eager Eaglets: Birds of Play, Cactus Charlie, Suzy Snowflake, Monsters Have Mommies, The Christmas Owl, The Cat Who Lost His Meow, Caterpillar Shoes & Ten Thankful Turkeys by this author.
Angela Muse was born in California to a military family. This meant that she got used to being the “new kid” in school every couple of years. It was hard trying to make new friends, but Angela discovered she had a knack for writing. In high school Angela began writing poetry and song lyrics. Expressing herself through writing seemed very natural. After becoming a Mom in 2003, Angela continued her storytelling to her own children. In 2009 she wrote and published her first rhyming children’s book aimed at toddlers. Since then she has released several more children’s picture books and released her first young adult romance series, The Alpha Girls.
Angela’s husband, Ben Muse writes suspense/thriller books that can also be found on Amazon.
Check out what else she’s working on by visiting www.4eyesbooks.com
Prize: One winner will receive a $100 Amazon gift card or $100 PayPal cash prize, winner’s choice
Giveaway ends: November 15, 11:59 pm, 2015
Open to: Internationally
How to enter: Please enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.
Terms and Conditions: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. A winner will be randomly drawn through the Rafflecopter widget and will be contacted by email within 48 hours after the giveaway ends. The winner will then have 72 hours to respond. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, a new draw will take place for a new winner. Odds of winning will vary depending on the number of eligible entries received. This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. This giveaway is sponsored by the author, Angela Muse and is hosted and managed by Renee from Mother Daughter Book Reviews. If you have any additional questions – feel free to send and email to Renee(at)MotherDaughterBookReviews(dot)com.
Copyright © 2015 Mother Daughter Book Reviews, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up to receive the HTML from all of the Book Blasts hosted by MDBR in the Fall, 2015.
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By: Angela Muse,
on 10/29/2015
Our favorite season is here…autumn! We are celebrating by reducing the price on our adorable Thanksgiving book, Ten Thankful Turkeys. This colorful autumn tale follows ten turkeys as they get ready for an important celebration. This story teaches about gratitude using numbers. There are also fun turkey facts in the back of the book.
We hope you’ll gobble up this deal before it’s gone!
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By: Mary Ann Scheuer,
on 9/16/2015
I wrote to author Susan B. Katz, author of ABC School's For Me and several other books, asking her to talk with parents about the power of rhyming stories.
I notice that so many parents love reading these aloud to their kids. Why is that? Why do these stories play such an important part in children's language development? Can listening to stories actually help kids learn to read, even if they aren't reading the words at all? And what do you think makes the difference between a good rhyming book and a bad one -- what do you look for when you read aloud to kids?
Thank you, Susan, for your delightfully fun and thoughtful response.
Make Time For Rhyme
By Susan B. Katz
I grew up on a diet of books by the master rhymer, Dr. Seuss. I devoured Green Eggs and Ham, the Sneetches and that crazy Cat on the Loose. As a teacher for 20 years, I did lots of “rug” read alouds. Rhyme sure does please the little listener crowds. Parents will find that rhyme gives students a feeling of success. Children are able to predict the last word, they love to shout out a guess. That is what’s called a Cloze, and yes, it’s spelled with a Z. In my books, predictable rhyming patterns make clozing easy. Take for example, in MY MAMA EARTH, my second title. Students guess the ending words; that brain engagement is vital. I say, “My Mama makes the hippos snore and mighty lions proudly ________.” Clozing keeps them involved and on their toes so reading isn’t a bore. My most recent book, ABC SCHOOL’S FOR ME, features bears, at school, making all sorts of creations. Students also predict the rhyming words using the colorful illustrations.
Authors are discouraged from writing in rhyme by most publishers, of course. Editors receive a lot of rhyme that is, what we call, “forced.” But, there are those of us who continue to publish in rhyme, confident that children’s love of verse will stand the test of time. Rhyme helps students learn language patterns like: might, tight, bright, sight. This impacts their spelling, long term, so they get more words right. You can teach them that rhyming words live in a family. The “cat, sat, mat” words fill up the leaves on the “AT” family tree. Research shows that children who detect rhyme orally in their early years are much more successful as the time for reading print nears. Even “pre-readers” enjoy rhyme although they’re not decoding books yet. And, as for that Common Core rhyming Kinder standard—consider it met! Rhyming is fun and can even be silly sometimes. Dr. Seuss still offers the best example of funny, whimsical rhymes. Novels in verse are becoming more popular for sure. The most recent Newbery was awarded to THE CROSSOVER by Kwame Alexander.
The English language has so many exceptions to the rules. English Language Learners benefit from having rhyme as one of their literacy “unlocking” tools. I have written all four of my books in verse. Thinking in rhyme is both a blessing and a curse. I rhymed all of my middle and high school speeches when I was young. Rhyme and word play just roll off my tongue. Children like songs and poems, both of which are different forms of rhyme. Prose has a purpose and place too—you can’t rhyme all the time. But, rhyming helps children tune their ears and change out sounds. Rhyming is a natural part of jump roping on playgrounds. “Ms. Mary Mack Mack Mack, all dressed in black, black, black.” I probably haven’t jumped to that since I was very small. But, the rhyme makes it easy for me to recall. For songs that are on your phone, the radio, TV or in a Disney movie, rhyme makes words tickle the tongue, melts meaning into your memory. There is so much power in the rhyming word. For a child’s language development, it is like the wings of a bird.
Can you imagine a world without songs and chants? Rhyming invites imagination, it welcomes, it enchants. You’d be hard pressed to find a child who doesn’t like to play, with words, that is, like: say, day, way, today! I will continue to be a champion for writing and reading rhyming stories. The love lasts forever: college kids listen to rap (a.k.a rhyme) in their dormitories. So, find a good rhyming book that sings and allows kids to cloze. (Once in a while, you can still read them prose.) Rhyme is the foundation of word patterns and song. It makes students feels successful—how could that ever be wrong? Most importantly, rhyme gives children a love of language and reading. You feed your child three meals a day-- consider rhyme a literary feeding. It fuels your child’s brain; helps expand their vocabulary. Rhyme makes reading sound much less scary. Build a banquet of books for those picky readers at bedtime. I promise you, they will be delighted if you just feed them, I mean, read them, rhyme!
Many thanks to Susan B. Katz for sharing her thoughts on rhyme. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.
©2015 Susan B. Katz, via Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books
By: Ken Baker,
on 9/16/2015
By: Faith Pray,
on 9/11/2015
And now we come to our smallest wildebeest.
By: Angela Muse,
on 9/11/2015
We are doing a special promotion through 9/15/15 to coincide with our favorite season. We’ve teamed up with a bunch of really cool kidlit authors to offer some great free and discounted eBooks. 4EYESBOOKS has discounted The Nutt Family: An Acorny Adventure on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks & Kobo. Chess Nutt and his sister Praline are always pretending to have crazy adventures. What happens when these two acorn siblings have an unexpected real life adventure on their own? Things get a little nutty!
Other books in this great promotion will be discounted from 9/11 – 9/15. Check them out HERE.
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By: hannahehrlich,
on 8/27/2015
In this post, Tu Books Publisher Stacy Whitman discusses why avoiding discussions of race with young people can do more harm than good.
Many African American parents already know what “the talk” is. It’s not the talk that many white parents might expect—we’re not talking about the birds and the bees. No, this “talk” is the one where black parents have to sit with their children and discuss how they might be perceived by the world around them: particularly police, but also teachers, neighbors, and friends who are not from their racial background.
Though the burden often falls on parents of color alone to discuss these issues with their children, in reality all parents should address race with their kids in a conscious and meaningful way. Communities are also seeking ways to address interpersonal racial issues, 
particularly in schools. Having the tools to know how to discuss racial matters is essential for children from all backgrounds.
Research has shown that the “colorblind” approach—teaching children that it is racist to acknowledge racial and ethnic differences—is doing no one any favors, and in fact can reinforce racist attitudes and assumptions, and especially reify systemic racism. “Black children know irrefutably that they’re black by the time they’re about 6 years old and probably earlier,” one article noted in our research. Do white children know they’re white? If not, how do they think of themselves?
At Lee & Low, we’ve always believed that even the youngest readers have the capacity to understand and appreciate difference—that’s why many of our children’s books address issues like racism and discrimination. But you don’t have to take our word for it: many experts, educators, and academics have done work on this topic as well and their recommendations can help point parents and teachers in the right direction.
“Young children are hard-wired in their brains to notice difference and to categorize it. So it is vital during early childhood to put some context around making sense of differences,” said Shannon Nagy, preschool director in 2011 at Lincoln Park Cooperative Nursery School in Chicago.
Studies have also shown that not addressing difference does not make children colorblind—it only encourages them to absorb the implicit racial messages of American society. Children learn that race is a category even when parents try to teach them not to recognize race. Much like children learn to perform regional accents even when their parents are from another location, children learn 
how the larger society around them views race, via inference and transductive reasoning. “In other words, children pick upon the ways in which whiteness is normalized and privileged in U.S. society.”
Teaching children to be “colorblind” has led children (and adults) to believe that it’s rude or racist to even point out racial differences—even kids of color. This makes it exponentially harder to have frank discussions about racial issues when they need to be had.
“Nonwhite parents are about three times more likely to discuss race than white parents,” said a 2007 study. “It’s the children whose parents do directly address race — and directly means far more than vaguely declaring everyone to be equal — who are less likely to make assumptions about people based on the color of our skin.”
One study even had white parents dropping out of the project when the researchers asked them to discuss racial attitudes with their children, even when they went into the study knowing that it was intended to measure children’s racial attitudes.
Many argue that “the talk” should happen far more often than once, and that parents shouldn’t bear the sole burden to teach their kids about race—that it is a community-wide issue.
Erin Winkler provides several ways for parents and teachers to address the biases that children might pick up, including discussing 
the issue in an age-appropriate way, with accurate information that doesn’t shame or silence children for having questions. They also suggest encouraging complex thinking and taking children’s questions and biased statements seriously—“When children are taught to pay attention to multiple attributes of a person at once (e.g., not just race), reduced levels of bias are shown,” the author notes, and suggests that the most important thing parents and teachers can do is to give children information that empowers them to be anti-racist.
One New York City-area school asked, “Can racism be stopped in the third grade?” They began a “racial affinity program,” in which elementary-age kids were sorted by racial groups for discussions of questions that “might seem impolite otherwise,” and to then come together as a school community to discuss these questions and experiences in a way that fosters greater communication. Parents and students are mixed on whether this program succeeded, with Asian students noting that the discussions of race still focused on the dichotomy of black and white, and some parents uncomfortable with the idea of discussing race at all. The administration notes, however, that many of their students of color needed this program—mandatory for all students—to combat microaggressions between students.
Allie Jane Bruce, the librarian at Bank Street School in New York City, has been discussing race, biases, and stereotypes with the students in her school for three years, using children’s book covers as a launching point. “I’m constantly delighted by the new discoveries kids make, and by the wisdom and insight already present in 11- and 12-year-olds,” Bruce noted in her most recent series of blog posts about the curriculum, which she has named “Loudness in the Library.” She notes especially that kids at this age tend to feel very uncomfortable with discussing race at first. “The fact that race-related conversations are so very fraught is a huge part of the problem. We must be able to communicate in order to solve problems that exist at interpersonal, institutional, and societal levels. If kids in 6th grade already have the inclination to stay silent in conversations on race, how much stronger will that inclination be in adults? And if we can’t talk about race and racism, how will things ever get better?”
Parents, what does “the talk” look like in your home? Teachers and librarians, how do you approach discussions about race with your students and patrons?
Stacy Whitman is Editorial Director and Publisher of Tu Books, an imprint of LEE & LOW BOOKS that publishes diverse science fiction and fantasy for middle grade and young adult readers.
Enter to win a copy of The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed (HarperCollins, August 2015), written by Jessica Lahey. Giveaway begins August 21, 2015, at 12:01 A.M. PST and ends September 20, 2015, at 11:59 P.M. PST.
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By: Faith Pray,
on 7/28/2015
The twins are fast approaching ten!
"Tween twins!" Winnie reminds me.
"Double digits, doubled!"
And just like that, a decade ebbs with moon and tide.
By: April S. Hopmere,
on 7/23/2015
Hello! It has been sooo very long since I have blogged on this blog. I am still reading and writing, but things have taken a bit of a different turn for me. It's so interesting to look back on this blog and see this progression of growing up...
Here's what's changed! :)
1. I have two little girls. I LOVE them. They are hilarious, cheeky, stubborn and the very sweetest.
2. I have 4 cats, and no other pets at the moment.
3. We've just sold our very first house and now are moving to the country! We're off to Wagga Wagga NSW and we are very excited.
4. I am going to write, again. I am hoping that this lifestyle change will enable me to have more time to write. Which is hard to manage as -
By: Beckyb,
on 7/23/2015
I have heard for some time now how great Family Life's Passport2Purity program is for families. When I was given the chance to review the program - I jumped at it. I love the whole concept - time away with your preteen to talk through tough topics like sexuality and purity. We need that and often don't make the time to do it with our kids.
The kit comes with a CD Set, a travel journal, and a tour guide. It is so well laid-out that a parent can really spend very little prep time to make the weekend a success - prep is important, but I wanted to encourage parents that it won't be a huge effort that will bog you down. You walk through the tour guide page by page and pre-view the videos they feel the parent should view ahead of time to be ready for the weekend. The weekend is laid out so carefully - I love the time set aside for fun activities and yet, they do give you a great timeline of how to effectively get everything accomplished within the time frame. All of the parts of the kit are updated and not only look modern, but even the DVD's are well-done and will appeal to our teens. Having a tool like this is such a blessing.
Our daughter is a bit young for this and we have not used it yet, but I can not wait to spend this time together learning and growing. I highly recommend this easy-to-follow way for parents to guide their children into sexual purity.
I was sent a copy of the kit for review by the publisher for an honest review on my blog.
Thanks so much, Stacy, for this wonderful and useful gathering of ideas and resources about why and how to talk about race with children. When we don’t, what children pick up about race – and neuroscientists are discovering that children notice racial differences at least by the age of 6 months – is the silence. They learn that though they see race, adults don’t want them to talk about it.
Of course the challenge for many white parents and teachers is that, having rarely talked about race ourselves, it can be awkward and uncomfortable to do so with children. Diverse books are such a great way to introduce the topic. Sharing books with children, we can give them both permission and language to say what they see. You can start with the entire catalog of Lee & Low books, and here’s a list with some thoughts on types of books: http://coloringbetween.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-talk-about-race-list-of-books.html
Another argument for diverse books is that they can actually reduce the intergroup anxiety which leads to prejudice. Here’s a report on how picture books about friends from different racial groups can shift children’s attitudes: http://www.slj.com/2014/05/diversity/how-cross-racial-scenes-in-picture-books-build-acceptance/
And here are a few other resources I’ve found particularly useful:
– THE FIRST R: HOW CHILDREN LEARN RACE & RACISM, by Debra Van Ausdale and Joe Feagin, is a fascinating study of racial attitudes in 3-5-year-old children in a diverse preschool.
– ARE WE BORN RACIST? New Insights from Neuroscience and Positive Psychology, edited by Jason Marsh, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, & Jeremy Adam Smith, is a highly accessible collection of short essays about the latest findings on race. Great for a book group discussion.