by Donna | Feb 1, 2010
You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be –
I had a mother who read to me.
~Strickland Gillilan
The rhyme above came from one of the posters that we used to have hanging in our nursery. In the mornings when I got our babies and toddlers out of bed, I would read that rhyme to them—not so much for them, but to remind myself of the value of reading to our children. Today’s post is another review—of a toddler/preschool product that has been one of my favorites for twenty-five years!
The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes—our first picture Bible! All of our children loved this beautiful Bible story book, which was on our nursery dresser for over twenty years! They even called it “Little Eyes Bible”—“Can we read my ‘Little Eyes Bible’?” Too cute!
It is written by Kenneth Taylor, the man behind The Living Bible, so those of you who were introduced to TLB as a teen and loved it during your formative years will appreciate Taylor’s love for God’s Word and his life-long pursuit to make it accessible to all ages.
Anyway, picture Bibles are plentiful out there, but this was our favorite first for several reasons: (1) the pictures were incredible (see note below); (2) it has more Bible stories than many other Bible picture books—and has unique ones that are often overlooked in preschool materials; (3) some of the longer stories are broken down, so they do not become too long yet still do not cut out too much to the point that they lose the original story line; (4) the size is compact (see note below); (5) the stories focus on the character of God; (6) questions are provided after each story that are great for promoting discussion with your children (7) the stories are short and are readable in a quick setting before bed, etc.
Now, the downsides: (1) the one that we had with our first few kids is not available anymore; it is the one that had the best pictures, in my opinion, as they were beautiful artwork; the pictures in the new one are “modern”—some people like that better but I did not; (2) the old one was a little unwieldy; it was 9 ½ x 6 ½–and was somewhat awkward since it was long horizontally—the new one is perfect in size (6 ½ x 5 ½); (3) the old one is terribly expensive unless you can find it used; the new one, however, is extremely reasonably priced.
This is the perfect Bible to begin family devotions with toddlers and preschoolers. Each story takes only minutes—add it to your rising, bedtime, or dinner routine and start a tradition of reading the Bible together each day!
Link for old one: https://www.amazon.com/Bible-Pictures-LittleEyes/dp/0802405959/ref=cm_cr_pr_sims_t ($64 new!)
Link for new one: https://www.lamppostpublishing.com/preschool_little_hands.htm
(under $20)
Note about story book Bibles that are “phonetic”: This Bible story book is not phonetically or vocabulary controlled. This means that it was not written specifically so a new reader could read it. There are many “early reader” Bibles out there—and they are great for early readers. However, I preferred to use those for reading practice for the child and “non-controlled” Bibles and books for me to read aloud. Using “controlled” Bibles and books means that the vocabulary will be stilted in order to try to keep it at a certain readability level. Therefore, it will not be as great as “literature” but more useful to provide reading material for first and second graders. (Watch for reviews of phonetically and vocabulary controlled Bibles in upcoming posts.)
by Donna | Jan 28, 2010
“The lullaby is the spell whereby the mother attempts to transform herself back from an ogre to a saint.”
Florida Scott-Maxwell
How true that quote is! I can remember being in the worst of moods or utterly despondent, and as I sat down in my rocker with baby in arms and sang a lullaby—the world got just a little bit sweeter.
I enjoyed rocking and nursing our newborns so much. Then as they grew to be older babies and toddlers, I would often rock just a teeny bit before bed and naps. (We trained our toddlers to go to bed without being rocked, walked, or driven to sleep.) However, the real “rockies” were first thing in the morning and after naps. Our toddlers knew that we would go straight from the crib to the rocking chair. What sweet memories!
With the advent of “proppable” bottles and hurried lives, we have often lost the art of “rockies” and “read alouds”—two of my favorite activities with my children. I am so thankful that I had these times with my older children—which made me want to continue them with my littles as well.
We even had our own Reish Family Lullaby that I wrote halfway through childbearing—and that even my older kids would sing to the boys when they held them and rocked them—and I am sure that they will use it with their own children someday too. I will share it below. Feel free to put it with your own tune—and enjoy your “precious babies.”
Precious Baby
Precious Baby, how I love you,
How you make my heart to sing.
Precious Baby, how I love you,
Oh, the joy your young life brings.
How have I become so blessed…to hold you oh so near?
How have I become so blessed…to have you, oh my dear?
by Donna | Jan 21, 2010
“The only moral lesson which is suited for a child, the most important lesson for every time of life, is this: ‘Never hurt anybody.’”
Denis Breeze
A question that we get asked a lot is “How do you get your kids to NOT fight?” Obviously, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of little things that go into siblings getting along. I would never pretend that our children always got along perfectly—or that they never had “their moments.” They are really good friends—both those at home and those who are grown, but seven kids and two parents living in one small fourteen hundred square foot house allowed for a lot of, well, relationship training! When our children didn’t get along, we tried to use the opportunity as a teachable moment, a time to instruct in interpersonal skills, problem solving, deferring, Christian character, and more.
However, one thing that we emphatically taught them concerning each other—from very young ages—is that you are not allowed to strike your sibling. I am sure that they did hit each other on occasion—or that “playing” got out of hand and what started as “normal” living room tackles became real pushes and shoves in anger, but I can’t say that I remember them, even as preschoolers, harming one another.
I think the whole not “striking your sibling” thing has to have three components to ward it off: (1) from the beginning of the child’s early memory, it needs to be ingrained within them that under no circumstances are they allowed to hurt others (siblings or otherwise); (2) it must be a “biggie”; in other words, it can’t just be a passing “don’t do that” or “go sit in the corner for that,” but instead must be a huge deal in your home, right up there with lying and other “biggies”; (3) it must be punished consistently if it occurs (while making a “big” deal out of this “biggie”).
Since this is a Positive Parenting blog, intent to give suggestions on Positive and Preventive Parenting, as opposed to Corrective Parenting, I will leave number three of the list above up to your personal discipline style. The other two, however, are taught through consistency and empathy training. Consistency in keeping appropriate behaviors in the forefront of their minds and hearts—and consistency in discussing these things all the time (as well as consistency in discipline). And empathy training by putting within their hearts that we must think of how others feel at all times.
I liken enforcement of the “biggies” of Christian parenting (lying, striking, disrespect, cheating, stealing, etc.) to a carseat analogy. People always say that they cannot “get” their kids to do something or to stop doing something, such as in the hitting scenario. However, those same parents somehow got their infant, then their toddler, to sit in a car seat every single, solitary time that child was riding in a vehicle. How could that be? Didn’t the child want out? Didn’t the toddler scream and throw fits? Didn’t you have to let him out and allow him to sit where he wanted to in order to have peace?
Of course, the answers to those questions are obvious ones. The child stayed in the car seat while traveling in the vehicle because there was simply no other choice. The same thing can be true of anything that is important to you in your parenting. If you truly want hitting (or lying or any negative behavior) to end, you must make it non-optional, just like you did staying in the car seat.
While I certainly do not agree with the above quote that the only lesson a child needs is not to hit someone, I do agree that ONE of the “most important lessons for every time of life, is this: ‘Never hurt anybody.’”
by Donna | Jan 5, 2010
Building a love for reading in our children has always been a high priority in our family. My master’s work is in Reading Specialist. I have taught people from age seven to seventy-seven how to read. And I have encouraged countless others in reading through tutoring hundreds of students. Reading has always been important to me as it opens the door to life-long learning in a powerful way.
It has been (accurately) said that “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” Ray and I took this saying to heart beginning with our first child twenty-seven years ago. Of course, daily story times and family read alouds are excellent ways to build a love for reading (and learning) in older children, but we have found that, as the quote above explains, we can make children readers quite literally from the crib. Below are some ideas that we have used to create “readers” literally years before our preschoolers and toddlers could read.
1. Mom and Dad read aloud to each other during late night nursing and/or rocking sessions.
2. Start collecting “baby books”–cardboard books, vinyl books, felt books, and other baby and toddler safe books. Put this in “baby’s book basket”–a baby-safe basket that sits on the floor of the room Baby spends a lot of time in.
3. Save certain books (for us this was felt activity books) for Baby/Toddler to use during quiet times like church or other “sit still” periods.
4. Play Wee Sing activity and other “song” and “rhyme” cd’s when Baby goes to bed. Graduate to lengthier “story” cd’s (such as Mother Goose Rhymes, Toddler Bible stories, fairy tales, or Aesop Fables) as your baby becomes a toddler and is better at listening.
5. Limit television and/or videos to very little or almost none in the first three years in order to build an appetite for books and “slower” activities. (Too much stimulation through tv and videos causes young children to develop short attention spans and little desire for books and less-entertaining types of activities.)
6. After your toddler falls asleep at night, sneak in his or her room and place a small basket of baby books in the corner of his crib. When he awakens in the morning, he will develop a habit of playing with his mobile and crib-attached toys–and looking at his baby books.
7. When weaning time comes around, replace one feeding with a story time session. We did this with each of our children, replacing the afternoon feeding with a baby-only story time and a sipper cup of milk or juice.
8. As your toddler develops a longer attention span, allow him to join in your older kids’ afternoon story times. As soon as he is disruptive or unattentive, place him in his crib. Joining older children’s story time is a privilege that he will earn as he matures enough to sit still with the other kids. (I usually did his baby-only story time, then allowed him to be part of our regular story time for one simple picture book, then put him to bed for his nap. As his ability to sit and listen lengthened, so did he amount of time he stayed in older kids’ story time.)
