Ready for a book that tells you what to say?

We just added two new books to our library, Ready for Bed and Ready for the Day. They are from a publisher called Free Spirit, and fall into the category of books that are “good for you.” You know, life lessons and educational concepts disguised in a story that will engage kids and not bore them by the fact that they’re learning. I know these are good things, even though I personally prefer more creative and humorous children’s books.

The unique proposition of these two new titles, however, is that they are teaching both the parent and the child how to improve the often painful process of getting to bed or getting ready for school. The stories depict a parent and child negotiating with each other as they move through the tasks required, and positive behaviors are modeled for both parties by the characters in the books.

The subtitle of Ready for Bed is “A story of cleaning up, tucking in, and hardly any complaining.” This is real life, people: “hardly any complaining” is the best you’re going to do when you deal with a preschooler, so Ready for Bed addresses that perfectly.

I have heard my friends say that they would pay someone to just “tell me what to say,” and that’s pretty much what these two books do. The parent gives the child two choices, such as two outfits to choose from or two breakfast selections. When the child complains or gives a bad attitude, the parent acknowledges the grumpy feelings and then tells the child what an acceptable behavior will be. I’ve personally found both of these strategies to be effective, so I would say the book is right on. The fact that the story is teaching my son that yes, children do act uncooperative lots of times, but also yes, the next step is to compromise, works for me. Oh, and he says he LOVES them, so that works, too!
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