Toy
Tips Parenting Book Club
Our
online book club:
This
is not a formal book club. There are no meetings and no memberships. Since there
are many different parenting styles and our readers have indicated that reviews
of parenting books would be helpful, we created this online community of dedicated
parent readers to read books of interest and check back to read the assessments
and reviews. Everyone can always use a little direction in something. We review
only non-fiction parenting books covering different age groups ranging from
pregnancy-adolescence and also children's books (classic or new) whose story
is based on character values and life lessons for a child. Each month, toytips.com
will feature one book from our pre-selected library. Book publishers submit
new titles to Toy Tips all year long. When a submission is accepted, it is read
by 10 parents and scored on a variety of categories: topic, content, interest,
length, information, credibility of the author and general parenting advice.
All books that have been pre-read and approved are then moved to the "next
shelf." From this, one is chosen to be featured as the selection of the
month. Since only 12 books are chosen per year and hundreds are submitted to
us, we tend to choose those that really stand out for one reason or another.You
have one month to read the book and email your review to marianne@toytips.com
by the first of the next month. The review can be as long or short as needed
and ALL reviews are read to write a collective review on toytips.com.
This review includes the Toy Tips evaluation. The books are available at your
local library or you may purchase your own.
Our
first month of book reading brought us 457 readers from 32 states! Thank you
to all the parents, grandparents and caregivers who participated! We read The
Secret Language of Children by Dr. Lawrence Shapiro and The Little Engine That
Could by Watty Piper.
Parenting
Book:
 The
Secret Language of Children
by Dr. Lawrence Shapiro
Assessment:
A book for any parent interested in learning about the emotional development
of a child at all stages.
Review:
Learning how to communicate with your child at any age is the most important
parenting interaction tool you have. Understanding what an infant cry means
or why your teenager is upset about a broken friendship or heartbreak is a challenge.
This book provides insight and ideas to assist parents through every age.
Coping
with emotions lies deep in psychological studies. Learning to become in tune
with them is a way to foster and maintain better parent-child relationships
at every stage of life. This book provides a general insight on some fears/
problems children may or may not communicate and provides tips and ideas through
conversation, writing and art to assist a parent on how to handle them. The
book also discusses how your child may understand the parent's verbal and non
verbal communication and how a child may react. A variety of "Try It' techniques
are interspersed through the chapters and provide an opportunity for parents
to think differently and try something they may have not done before while assessing
a problem with their own child.
Parent-child
reading:
 The
Little Engine that Could
by Watty Piper
Assessment:
Appropriate for children age toddler through elementary school and even
for adolescents and adults when a challenge lies ahead.
Review:
The classic story tells of a little train engine to try and try again. When
he thinks he can no longer make it up the hill, encouragement from his friends
and load motivate him to reach his potential. Fostering positive character development,
the will to go on, cooperation and to succeed are all traits that should be
taught in the earliest years. Some research studies suggest that exposure to
morals and good character stories enhance and promote well being and shape the
values and standards of behavior.
The Book we are reading
next month:
Teach
Me How To Say It Right- Helping Your Child with Articulation Problems
by
Dorothy P. Dougherty, MA, CCC-SLP
A
little information from the publisher:
Articulation disorder, the most common speech communication problem, is identified
in approximately 1 million preschool children each year. Research suggests that
problems with articulation, if left unchecked, can lead to reading and spelling
difficulties, social challenges, and self-esteem problems. The strongest resource
a child with an articulation problem can have is a well-informed parent who
knows which articulation behaviors are normal, which are not, and how best to
guide his or her child through the process of speech therapy. This book helps
parents decide whether the sound errors their child is experiencing are developmental
and within normal limits for their age. The book offers a range of strategies
to employ when a child does need some extra help to work through a particular
speech difficulty. The book also addresses the emotions parents deal with and
devotes a chapter to signs and symptoms of other common communication problems
that may co-exist. This book teaches the parents of children with articulation
problems how speech sounds develop, how to recognize developing speech problems,
and how to help children make the most out of speech therapy. It also provides
parents with activities to increase their child's language and articulation
skills.
Why
we chose this book: The topic of articulation disorder is one that
is not easily disscussed amongst parents and sometimes ignored. It is common
that when children are just learning to speak that they may have difficulties
pronouncing certain sounds or letters. However, it' best to know ahead of time
if this could be a warning sign for something else. This book is a short read
at 144 pages and an excellent source of information for any parent of a toddler/preschool
child.
All
reviews due by January 1, 2005.
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