Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Monday, June 20, 2011

Reading to Your Child

Child_with_red_hair_readingImage via Wikipedia

I read to Liv everyday, several times a day. We read before nap time and before bed time. We also read at other quiet times during the day. She is learning so much from our simple reading, but mostly she is learning to enjoy reading, which is a life long lesson.
Recently someone suggested to me the book "The Read Aloud Handbook"
At first I was a little apprehensive about checking it out. I read aloud and though I don't need tips on how to read aloud to my child.
But I was presently surprised with the information in this book. In addition to showing a lot of studies about how reading aloud to your child can benefit them he also has some great individual stories about how reading helped these kids.
There is also a great list at the end of some of his favorite read aloud stories. In his book he explains what makes a good read aloud book compared to a silent reading book. He advocates reading aloud to much older children then people usually read aloud too.
I just loved how he gives some great advice to keep your children enjoying reading. Many toddlers and young children love to read, but often around 4th grade they lose that love. He gives lots of practical advice on how to keep that love and enjoyment going.
This book is an excellent resource for all parents and I would highly recommend at least checking it out from your library.
Right now reading with Liv is one of my favorite activities. I am now 30 weeks pregnant and feeling every bit of it. It being a hot, humid summer does not help much. Reading in the shade or on hotter days in the house with the ac on is one of the few activities that is relaxing and enjoyable for both of us.
I am hoping that these memories will stick with with her and she will love reading, and turn to it as she gets older for a relaxing activity, not the tv or video games like many children today.
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Friday, June 3, 2011

Book Review: The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood

As a suggestion from another blog I follow I checked out from the library Dr. Sear's The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood.
I am a Dr Sear's fan so I really hoped to enjoy this book.
While I found it very informative, it was also very repetitive. His book is great for someone who doesn't know much about nutrition, about eating more whole foods and eating organic and clean. Since I keep up on lots of this I found some of the stuff very obvious. But he did have some things in there that I have never heard of (possible link of nitrates to leukemia)For someone who does not know any of the studies out there they might find it eye opening. For parents who keep up with nutrition it is not that informative.
The cover says recipes included, there are a few at the end but not many. I was hoping for more.
I was also hoping for more about behavior linked to different foods and food additives. He briefly touches on this, but its very brief.
There are great suggestions on snacks and lunch box meals for kids, but I was hoping for more about meals and meal planning. Maybe suggestions for family meals, sample meals for different ages. Having a toddler it is often hard to plan meals. They can not eat all foods yet so it takes more creativity to feed them healthy. I would of maybe likes more on toddler eating and introduction of solids to babies. While he says how important it is to start off right he does not go into details on how.
There is a decent section on how much of certain nutrients children should be getting daily. Menu plans supporting this section would of been great.
Overall unless you have little or no nutrition knowledge I would say this is a check out of the library book. I would not spend the money since the book is full of repetition and lacks in practical advice.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Book Review-The Grocery Game

Example of an American grocery store aisle.Image via Wikipedia

Shop Smart, Save More: Learn The Grocery Game and Save Hundreds of Dollars a MonthThe Grocery Game is a book I recently picked up from the library in my hopes to save some money on groceries. She also has a pay website to help with the "game."
Her advise is very simple and really boils down to a few pages in the book. Buy in bulk only on sale with coupons. This is the short version of her advise. She discuss in detail about the rotation of sales in weeks and the during seasons. On her website she tells you what to buy at your local grocery store.
She offers other advise through out the book, on planning simple meals, dinner parties and other household things.
Her advise is not very earth friendly at all. She tells the reader to use all disposible for dinner parties, bbqs and other events to save time. This to me is not very budget friendly and also very bad for the planet.
Long story short her grocery advise can save some money, but not too much if you buy a lot of fresh foods, which I do. Check it out from the library is my advise, unless you buy lots of "commerical" foods then her book might do you some good.
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