When we did move, I took a lot of our lesser accessed books back to the free book shop, gave some to friends and sold a few, but many of them were too difficult to part with so simply had to come with us. Then we reached the milestone of living here for a year, the ideal opportunity to assess what we really use and need- more books have had to go. I refuse to throw them out, so they have gone to charity or been sold as we sadly don't have such a free book shop near us anymore.
Now we are down from three overloaded book shelves to one fully stacked bookshelf, one part full of books and miscellany and one with photo albums (another item I can't part with). Our needs as a family have evolved and so our resources need to follow suit to remain appropriate and suitable. My go to place is the book people website (www.thebookpeople.co.uk). I love the smells and feel of old books, but for the children and their sensory needs, they prefer new books that arrive in plastic and cardboard boxes. Their excitement begins with the knock on the door as the courier arrives to deliver the box emblazened with 'The Book People'. They know the books within will be interesting and different to your average textbooks. Generally there will be atleast one book suitable for each of my children in an order - deliberately- and I try to mix up the topics of the books.
I love to read books myself too, but barely have the time to do so these days- when i finally get time to myself I am too tired to read. A familiar story to you I am sure.
I have used this same website to send seasonal gifts to family who live hundreds of miles away too.
Today, only one of my ordered books arrived- the rest are in a separate box which should arrive tomorrow they tell me- but it is this book I wanted to tell you about anyway- which is handy.
image from ww.thebookpeople.co.uk via google images search
HELP YOUR KIDS WITH GROWING UP- A NO-NONSENSE GUIDE TO PUBERTY AND ADOLESCENCE by Robert Winston, published by DK.
I generally find any book published by DK excellent. I remember the eye witness guides they used to produce, and of course the How it Works book too.
This particular book caught my eye because of the author too. Of course the topic was what I was looking for too.
With a son who is turning twelve soon, a daughter who is 8 as well as my youngest at age 5, this book will have plenty of use I am sure.
It is split into colour coded sections addressing each aspect of puberty and adolescence. It is not just about physical changes and sex (although they are also included). The parts I need for my children and family are the relationships, achieving potential, healthy mind, digital life, wider world and families sections.
Each section has various parts to it with hints and tips for teens and parents as well as other facts and things to think about.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, my first port of call was p186, Communication skills. There is information on verbal and non verbal communication here, over a succinct double page spread. The graphics depict a mixture of people, the colours and sectioned layout maintain interest and concentration, and the short sentences keep information overload to a minimum. My plan is to read relevant sections, then leave it open in strategic places here so I am not placing any demands on people to read it, but it is available should they wish to. To avoid potentially inappropriate content being accessed at an early age the plan is to use clips on the pages, to keep the desired pages open only.
I have tried similar tactics previously with limited success, but that was through leaving a whole book out for people to access when they felt ready. Of course- said book was squirreled away, not to be seen again (until I cleaned the room top to bottom). Fingers crossed this approach works better.
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