Do you think it is important to discuss difficult topics with kids as soon as you can?
Do you wonder how you can discuss some of these things with young children?
As an author of children's stories I hope to empower and inspire children and help get the conversation started on topics that can make a difference in the life of a child.
I believe compassion and understanding are key concepts to learning to create a better world, and stories are a powerful tool to help teach these concepts to children.
While creating the Emotional Animal Alphabet series I realized that the emotions and situations presented in the books inspired children to discuss their similar experiences, their feelings and their reactions. Talking about emotions is truly 'important talk' and I am so happy that these books can help get that conversation started.
After seeing how this series inspired conversation I decided to make it my goal to create more children's books that can help get the conversation started about important topics like bullying, death and grief, eating disorders, disabilities and more.
The importance of children's books
An article from the Oneota Reading Journal notes that children's books help students develop emotional intelligence and creativity as well as nurture growth and development of the student’s personality and social skills.
Children can adopt book characters like friends, relate to situations as their own and gather important information from a story. This is why it is important that the characters are diverse, the situations are relatable and the information it portrays is accurate. Even a fiction story can reveal information, like where a butterfly comes from, what a support animal is and how you can conquer fears. It is crucial that the information portrayed in a story has truthful undertones so that the child reading the story can learn and be inspired accurately.
The great thing about learning through stories is that it is natural and casual without the stress on learning.
Visit the Kindness Kangaroo Project YouTube Channel for read aloud stories
“Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today."
— Robert McKee..
Reading stories together is an important part of childhood development, but writing them together can be fun and rewarding too! Check out my Inspire a Story blog post for ideas in developing storytelling skills in kids.