by Brianna
A special book review for Mother's Day. Brianna and Ariel discuss a book just for moms. Not exactly a parenting book, so much as a book for parents. That will make them better parents. That has nothing to do with parenting. You'll see. This article has affiliate links in it. By using them to get the book, you're keeping Busy Nest News going. Thanks for your continued support! Summary of Run Like a Mother: How to Get Moving-- and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity, by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea
For May, the month of Mother’s Day, we decided to read a special sort of parenting book. Run Like a Mother, by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea, is a book for moms. In it, McDowell and Shea have a conversation with each other and the reader about what it takes to be a mother/runner. They detail their own struggles and triumphs with staying active after having kids, and offer readers solid advice on everything from just finding the time to preventing and rehabbing injuries (whether said injuries were brought on by running trails or slipping on toys). They cover selecting the right footwear, embarrassing playlists, setting reasonable goals, and how to stay relatively safe and comfortable on a run.
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by Brianna Wherein Brianna introduces a book that helps military kids understand where their parent is when they aren't at home. This article contains affiliate links. Using them helps keep Busy Nest News going. Thanks for your support! My Daddy Sleeps Everywhere, by Jesse Franklin and Tahna Desmond FoxMy Daddy Sleeps Everywhere, written by Jesse Franklin and illustrated by Tahna Desmond Fox is a picture book for military kids. On each page, Daddy is shown sleeping in a new position and in totally different terrains and climates. In concise, rhyming prose, Franklin explains that Daddy sleeps in forests, deserts, snow, and rain. Daddy sleeps on boats, prairies, airplanes, and in broken houses far away. But Daddy’s favorite place to sleep is home. The story is accompanied by Fox’s detailed watercolors depicting each location, with the sleeping Daddy (and his coworkers and gear) contrasting as a simple black and white line drawing. At only 1% of the U.S. population, military families are a minority. As such, there aren’t a lot of great books for helping our kids with the various challenges involved in our families’ service. With the rise of independent publishers, vanity presses, and viable online self-publishing options, more service members and spouses are opting to fill this gap with some much-needed literature. However, that doesn’t mean they’re all the same caliber we would expect of more mainstream children’s books. In fact, some are quite bad. So where does My Daddy Sleeps Everywhere fit?
by Brianna In which Brianna introduces the readers to one of her family's favorite books for dealing with a common childhood anxiety. This article contains affiliate links. By using them you're helping to keep Busy Nest News running. Thanks for your continued support! No Matter What, Debi GlioriApril is the Month of the Military Child. As the mother of a military child, I’d like to share one of our favorite books that helps us thrive in this lifestyle. The best part is, it’s a great book for any kiddo, whether they have a military parent or not. Lots of kids have worries about big things, but all that is required to sooth them is often gentle, steady reassurance. Debi Gliori’s No Matter What contains the simple, but important message that a good parent loves their child, even on a bad day. No Matter What features two kangaroos, known only as Small and Large. Large discovers Small throwing a fit and knocking over furniture. When Large asks what’s wrong, Small replies that they’re “grim and grumpy” and worry that Large does not love them at all. Over the next several pages, the two progress through dinner time, bath time, and bedtime while Small questions the steadfastness of Large’s love. “If I was a grumpy grizzly bear, would you still love, would you still care?” Each test is met with a calm “Of course...I’d always love you, no matter what.” When Small has calmed down and is accepting that Large’s love will survive any tantrum, they have more questions. Can you fix love? When they’re separated, does the love go with Large, or does it stay with Small?
by Brianna In which Brianna selects a few toys to help kids celebrate their family's military service. This article contains affiliate links. By shopping with these links, you're helping to support Busy Nest News. Thanks! As we’ve mentioned before (and will again in the coming weeks), April is the Month of the Military Child. Military kids sometimes have a pretty tough gig. We’ll talk more about those specific challenges in other articles, but today we’re looking at something fun: toys! Military kids are still kids, and so most of the toys they want will be the same toys every other kid in America wants. However, I believe there are some toys that will particularly resonate with their situation. I’ve rounded up a few fun toys to help military kids understand and celebrate their family’s service. Let’s get started!
by Brianna and Ariel In which Brianna and Ariel review and discuss a book that has been labeled a must-read for all parents of girls. This post contains affiliate links. By using them, you're helping to support Busy Nest News. Thanks! Strong Is the New Pretty, by Kate T. ParkerStrong is the New Pretty is a collection of photos captured and compiled by photographer Kate T. Parker. While photographing her own girls and their friends, she noticed that the most beautiful pictures captured them when they were being most themselves. These moments could occur during a moment of quiet reflection, intense competition, or any time in between. Parker set out to capture girls of all ages and backgrounds doing what they do best: being truly themselves. The result is a massive collection of stunning portraits of various girls laughing, playing, winning, and learning. Parker’s own girls, Ella and Alice, make many appearances within these pages, and it’s fun picking them out. Accompanying every photo is a brief quote from its subject, reflecting on what strength means to them, explaining what they were thinking in the moment, or telling a bit of their story. Parker captured the girls’ images, but the stories within this compilation are all theirs.
by Brianna In which Brianna reviews two picture books ideal for Women's History Month. This article contains affiliate links. When you purchase something using these links, you're supporting Busy Nest News. Thanks for your continued support. Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty and David RobertsThis month, we’ve been reading and writing about children's books that celebrate Women’s History Month. While learning about women from the past is very fun, I also enjoy finding books that depict girls and women living and working in a way that is true to who they are. Whether these books are fiction or nonfiction, it is important for all children to see that girls can be and do just about anything they want. In short: representation matters. The latest book in this vein that I’ve read to Monkey is Rosie Revere, Engineer, by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts. Rosie Revere is a little girl who is very quiet in her grade two classroom, but in her attic at home she builds amazing machines and inventions with her classmates’ cast-offs and broken things. She used to build and demonstrate her inventions for her family, until an uncle reacted in a way that she did not feel was very supportive. From then on, she hid all of her inventions, and kept them to herself. That is, until her great-great-aunt Rose, who used to build aircraft, comes to visit. Rosie can’t resist building her a machine to help fulfill her dreams. When Aunt Rose witnesses the failure of Rosie’s machine, she surprises Rosie by offering sincere congratulations on her efforts, as well as encouragement to try again, and books to help her along the way. After that, Rosie feels free to invent in the open, and she and her classmates celebrate trial and failure every day.
By Ariel In which Ariel discusses the BabyLit Primers that feature famous female authors and strong female characters. Celebrate Women's History Month by bringing the classics alive with these board books! This post contains affiliate links. By using them you help keep Busy Nest News up and running. Thank you for your continued support! BabyLit Primers written by Jennifer Adams and illustrated by Alison Oliver I love the BabyLit series, written by Jennifer Adams and illustrated by Alison Oliver. The series brings together two of my greatest passions in life: literature and instilling a love of reading in my child through stellar children’s books. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the series, Jane Adams and Alison Oliver use famous works of literature as inspiration for board books, giving our children their first taste of the great works that have endured. Each book in the series is different. Some are counting primers. Some are emotions primers. Some are weather primers, but each is unique and each is beautiful in their own way. What better way to celebrate Women’s History Month than by highlighting famous female authors in a way little ears can hear?
By Ariel In which Ariel reviews how she mixed and matched accessories from the Pura Kiki to transition from a infant bottle to a toddler sippy cup. She tried them all! This post contains affiliate links to her favorite bottles and accessories. Pura Kiki Infant Bottle 5 oz. & Vacuum Insulated Bottle 9 oz. We have been using the Pura cups since Bean was about a 10 months and I am still just as in love with them now as they day I bought them. But mine isn’t the only opinion that matters – Bean is the one who uses them. Does she love them? Who knows, she is a toddler.
By Brianna In which Brianna reviews Women in Science, a book that attempts to restore women in history as the scientific pioneers that they were or are. This article contains affiliate links, by using them to purchase the items we describe, you're helping to support Busy Nest News. Thanks! Women in Science, by Rachel IgnotofskyWomen’s History Month exists because the default version of history tends to leave women out. Of course women throughout time have made substantial contributions to the world. We must always remember that history (as my professors drummed into my brain on a daily basis for four years) is not what actually happened, but rather what we write about what happened. A logical first step to put women back into history is to examine- in writing- their contributions to various subjects, and allow them to regain their place in the timeline. Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World is Rachel Ignotofsky’s attempt to do just that.
By Ariel In which Ariel and Brianna discuss The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell - a book which outlines how to apply the five love languages philosophy to our relationships with children. This post contains affiliate links. By using them you help keep Busy Nest News up and running. Thank you for your continued support! The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman & Ross Campbell Summary: The 5 Love Languages of Children As a parent, caregiver or teacher we communicate love to our children the best ways we know how. But are they receiving it? The Five Love Languages of Children: The Secret to Loving Children Effectively, by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell, teaches us how to apply Chapman’s love language philosophy to our relationships with the school-aged children in our lives. In this book Drs. Chapman and Campbell help us to understand how to convey unconditional love, how to use all five of the love languages to communicate love and model best practices, and how to effectively discipline in harmony with the philosophy.
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AuthorsAriel and Brianna are friends who met while working in a library. Now they collaborate to develop life-enhancing book club experiences. Archives
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