*FREEBIE* How to Talk to Your Kids About ANYTHING Using Children's Books

"Mom, where do babies come from?"

I'm not really looking forward to having this awkward conversation with my girls, but it's one that I know I want to have.  My relationship with them is the most important thing in this world to me (along with my relationship with my hubby and God), and I know that good relationships are built upon good communication.

Although it's not *quite* time for the birds and the bees chat yet (and hopefully not for another 20 years!!), we have had to have PLENTY of other conversations with Charlotte and PLENTY of those conversations go in one ear and out the other.  She is only three after all.  

But, the conversations that have stuck, however, have all been because of a book!  My background in teaching has given me first-hand experience in how helpful books can be when you want to broach a certain topic with kids.  It's like all of a sudden, it's cool to talk about sharing or being kind or bullying or WHATEVER because it's not coming from YOU...it's the funny/cool/relatable character that learns something along the course of the story and, in turn, teaches your child an important lesson.

Charlotte really connected to "No, David" by David Shannon during a particularly rebellious phase during her terrible two's.  The little boy in the story makes all kinds of bad choices throughout the book and then gets a time-out.  We were able to talk about how important it was for David to make better choices and how his mommy still loved him no matter what.  If we caught her looking like she might like to make like Picasso with a crayon on the wall, we would say "No, David!" and she would stop in her tracks because she remembered the book and the conversation we had.  

As she and Lila get older, I know the issues we will want to talk about will get more complex and books will be our first go-to when we need to have a little pow-wow about something.  But let's be real...there's a whooooooole lotta books in the library and most of the time when you walk in, you don't even know where to start!

I've made this really easy for you/me!  I asked local parents to weigh in and tell me:  "What do you want to try and get through to your kids about today?"  The answers were as many as the day is long so I compiled them all into one big list and then got to work researching the best children's books about each and every one of the most important issues out there facing parents right now.

I made this list into a FREEBIE for you to download and print out to take as your companion to the library (or Amazon wishlist!).  Save it someplace close-by because you never know when you might need to talk about not picking your nose or teaching the value of a dollar ;-)

Click here to go to my sign-up page to get your freebie!  

As a family/newborn photographer that adores capturing genuine, loving moments, I know how important it is to you to have positive, open relationship with your kiddos.  You want to get this parenting thing 'right'!  Well, I think you are doing a fabulous job already!  My hope is that this list helps serve as a resource to you if/when you need it.  

Happy reading!  

xoxo,

Kristin