talking to kids

A while back I linked to this wonderful, insightful piece by (the always wonderful and insightful really) Rebecca from Girls Gone Child.

She calls bullshit on teaching your kids not to talk to strangers and I couldn't agree more. Go read the piece, I want to say everything she says and she writes it so much better than I could.

A few weeks ago I met a Mum who was anxious about talking to her young kids about any of the 'dangers' of the world and how to protect themselves. She knew it was regarded as highly irresponsible not to, especially given our country's crime rate, but she couldn't bring herself to shatter the peace and trust her children still had with the world.
I was that Mum some years ago, who of us want to talk about evil with our kids?

But I found an approach which is working for me, I'm teaching my girls to trust their gut. And the more I've committed to this approach, the more my eyes have opened to the opportunities to talk to my kids about keeping themselves safe.

We got this book out the library recently.

And when we got to this page, I saw the opportunity for a Conversation.

After lengthy discussion (every page has options of what you'd rather eat or wear or be - great book) it was unanimously decided we'd all rather be lost in a crowd.
And so I asked, 'If you were lost in this crowd, who would you ask for help?'

We talked about who looked as if they were in a hurry, and who looked a bit grumpy or distracted. We talked about who would be most likely to be able to help a lost child.
Lady with the baby came out tops. Followed closely by the Granny.

Life lessons. Without having to get into any unpleasantness. Trust your gut, be sensible, live, make friends, talk to strangers, learn from books.
These are things I can teach them.

24 books: advent 2013

Those advent matchboxes were cool, but I've used them twice so this year I thought I'd do something a little different.
We've collected a number of Christmas themed books over the years, including many from my childhood, and quite liking the idea of having special books out for special times of the year, I'd packed them all away with the decorations last January.
I recently pulled them out and discovered we had 14.

A visit to The Rural Child, a trawl through my Mum's kiddie book collection, some rolls of brown paper, my washi stash, a basket by the bed and ...

A very booky advent countdown has begun.

So far the girls are loving it. I numbered them mindfully, mixing up the old favourites with the new, making sure we open the longer reads on weekend evenings, the shorter ones for these first few days while school is still on and we're all exhausted at bedtime.
Friday finds the right number (they're all mixed up) and they take turns to open the packages.

There are some classics in there ...

And some delightful modern ones ...

And why are there TWO numbers on this one you ask?

Because obviously late at night as I frantically wrapped the last books I discovered I was one short ... and quickly made this one valid for two nights as it's packed with fabulous Richard Scarry goodness and totally worth savouring. Genius!

I love a slow, anticipatory build-up to Christmas!

Happy Book Giving Day!

I know, I know, this is not what 14 February is most well known for but ... I'm afraid I'm a bit of a Valentine's Grinch, and this ... (from International Book Giving Day's website):

International Book Giving Day is a day dedicated to getting new, used and borrowed books in the hands of as many children as possible.

... appeals to my heart far, far more.

As does this. A sign outside a house in Muizenberg, and a low wall which regularly gets filled with books, books free to any interested reader.
It's always a mixed bag there (as you can see) but the point is not to get precious about this, the point is to get reading.

People from around the world really get into the spirit of things on Book Giving Day, initiating all kinds of campaigns around getting children to read. There are many ways of getting involved, not least of all this fantastic plan hatched down here in the South by se7en.
The goal is to build, book by book, a library for a small community in Stanford, outside of Hermanus.

New books, old books, big books, small books ... read more here and get involved, I promise you it'll warm the cockles of your heart!

vumile and the dragon

My Dad is a big fan of chameleons. He always seems to have some in his garden and one of his great party tricks is to walk around catching flies with one standing on his fore-finger, poised and ready to strike like a tiny bug-eyed hunting rifle.

A few months back he discovered a clutch of baby chameleons, and although I knew the girls would love them, we were concerned they may love them just a little too much so we kept them secret. I felt a bit badly about that.

But I didn't feel badly at all when Hippo Communications sent me a review copy of the very beautifully illustrated Vumile and the Dragon by Claerwen Howie.

And neither did the girls.

We're all about books which work over multiple age groups in this family. We like books that us adults enjoy reading, with story-lines and illustrations varied enough to captivate both girls.

Vumile and the Dragon is all this. Friday was intrigued by Vumile's initial fear of the 'dragon' and reading the story provoked a long discussion on the meaning, and origins of, superstition. Sunday loved finding all the hidden gogga's in Lisa Strachan's rich and detailed colour plates, and long after we'd finished reading the story she was still hunting for the 'meleon's.

Claerwen Howie will be reading from Vumile and the Dragon at the Cape Town Book Fair in the “Children’s Zone” this Saturday, 16 June, between 10h00-10h45, and the book can be ordered directly from Print Matters or found at any good local bookstores.

There's even a picture, the black & white's are illustrated by Meg Jordi, of Vumile looking 'just like Grandad!'

Kinda.