How do you encourage young children to read books? In the age of the Internet and electronic gadgets, is the library still relevant? Are there practical steps you could take to help your child fall in love with reading books? We talk about these questions and many more in this episode of Chatabout Children.

I talked with Megan about:

• What led her to become a teacher-librarian • What compelled her to write a book about nurturing a child’s love for reading • How to choose the right book to read to your child • Megan’s opinion on physical books versus eBooks • Why you should avoid mass-produced books in department stores and where to look instead • Why audiobooks are awesome • How teachers can inspire children to love books • How to make sure that our children balance reading with physical and social activities

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Bullying is one of the most common problems that school children experience. There are many strategies to approach this problem, and our guest for today offers one very effective strategy, and it has to do a lot with books.

• How Susanne’s experience as a refugee influenced her writing and work • Susan’s views on bullying • Practical know-how on how kids could help themselves or their friends face bullying • The importance of teaching children the context where they can communicate themselves most effectively • The story behind the book series “I am Jack” • Some signs that your child might be a victim of bullying • Two important support systems that will protect your child from bullying • How to understand the psychology of the bully • How to use “I am Jack” at school • The power of storybooks in coming inside a child's world • Why characters are so important in the success of stories • How books could teach little children about relationships • Why children need sunlight

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In this episode, we dive deeper into the countless benefits of interactive book sharing. Here, we also learn how to establish an effective reading or book sharing habit with your children, and, in case you already have one, we also tackle specific strategies you can use to maximize the time you invest in sharing books to them.

• The far-reaching benefits of sharing children’s books to children
• How sharing children’s books can help your child improve his or her vocabulary
• How reading books to children teach them grammar and sentence construction
• Why books are fantastic for fostering creative thinking, problem-solving skills, and innovation
• How reading books strengthen a child’s inferential thinking
• Reading books and a child’s predicting skills
• The relationship between reading and your child’s attention and ability to focus
• Why reading is a great way to expose children to the visual and auditory components of words
• How reading teaches children how to organize and sequence their ideas
• How reading develops a child’s communication and social skills as well as his or her educational opportunities
• Why books are powerful tools to teach your children empathy
• The difference between passive and interactive book sharing
• Tips for interactively sharing books with your child
• How to share a book with a quiet child
• The WH formula of asking questions when sharing a book to your child

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How could children’s books bridge the gap between parent and child in communicating emotional states? And just what goes behind the creation of a children’s books? That is what we talk about in this episode.

• What drives Josh in the work that he does
• How Josh wrote 7 books in 8 years!
• How writing about your own story makes it easier for you to write
• How Josh manages his ideas
• The story of how Josh learned how to draw
• The story of Josh’s first book, Being You is Enough
• The magic of writing and reading children’s books
• Why showing how we make friends with our emotions as parents have a powerful effect on our children
• Why listening—and not fixing the child’s emotions—is, sometimes, the best solution
• A teaser about Josh’s upcoming book, Magnificent Mistakes and Fantastic Failures: Finding the Good When Things Seem Bad.
• Josh’s “five-year” vision

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Sue Larkey is an autism specialist who has authored books and resources on the subject of autism spectrum disorders. Having taught students in the spectrum both at mainstream and a special autism school, Sue has a unique perspective on her area. In her work, she combines both knowledges from her practical experience and her extensive research in creating resources and interventions that inspire parents and educators to succeed in helping the children they love who are in the spectrum. Sue has a Master’s degree in Special Education and is currently taking up a Doctor in Education program focusing on inclusive education.

• What got Sue to be so passionate about autism spectrum disorders
• Current progress in our understanding of autism spectrum disorders
• The best way to understand what autism spectrum disorders are
• What “changes” after a child receives a diagnosis
• The overarching themes in Sue’s books, resources, and workshops
• The biggest area where educators need support within the classroom
• Strategies for encouraging the child to engage and connect
• Strategies for understanding and responding to the behaviour of children in the spectrum
• Why negative instructions don’t work well with children in the spectrum and what to do instead
• Recognizing the different sensory needs of children in the spectrum and responding to them effectively
• Strategies to help a child in the spectrum develop communication skills
• Playground tips and strategies

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In this episode of Chatabout Children, we talk about this range of learning-related problems that you and your child may already be facing. To talk about them and their available interventions, we've invited Tanya Barber.

• The difference between a clinical psychologist and an educational and developmental psychologist • The current state of specific learning difficulties based on Tanya's practice • What specific learning difficulty is • How specific learning difficulties were called in the past • How specific learning difficulties are diagnosed • What IQ tests are and how children with specific learning difficulties fare with them • What executive functioning is • The relationship between specific learning difficulties and attention problems • Red flags to watch on children that may have specific learning difficulties • Some success stories of children with specific learning difficulties • Learning styles of children with specific learning difficulties • Tanya's advice for educators • How to boost a child's self-image if he or she has a specific learning difficulty

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How can we teach our children to be effective, cautious users of the Internet? In this episode of Chatabout Children, we invited Kirra Pendergast to help us understand the difficult-to-navigate world of social media and the internet.

• How an incident at a previous job lead Kira to her current field
• The best age to teach children about social media and the best way to start doing so
• Trends, stats, and research on how parents introduce social media to their children
• How parents can monitor their children’s social media activity
• Examples of security child safety issues posed by children’s use of social media that parents are usually unaware of
• Parental controls that parents should take advantage of
• Behaviors parents should role model on their children with regards to social media use
• The best ways to describe social media platforms to children
• Children’s need for autonomy as they grow older
• Silent signs that something is wrong with your child in social media
• The importance of building trust-based relationship with your child

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Michelle Mitchell is an award-winning speaker, author, and educator who has incorporated years of grassroots experience into her books. After leaving her profession as a primary school teacher, Michelle focused on helping teenagers, particularly teenage girls, learn vital life skills to support them while at school. 

• How Michelle transitioned from being a primary school teacher to teaching kids how to be resilient • What resilience is • The importance and challenge of connecting with your child • The seven characteristics of a resilient child • Strategies on helping children develop resilience in their everyday lives • Addressing a child’s “I can’t” mindset • Why it’s okay for kids to start doing something poorly • Perfectionism in kids

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In this episode of Chatabout Children, we talk with Robert Vescio, a children’s book author, about his work and his thoughts on how adults could help children nurture a love for the written word.

• What drives and inspires Robert in his work
• Where Robert gets his ideas for his writing
• The challenges that Robert face when writing
• Some memorable comments from students in a few of Robert’s school visits
• Robert’s thoughts on what makes a good children’s book
• Robert’s advice for parents struggling to read a book to their children
• Robert’s newly released and upcoming books
• The power of pictures
• Take-home Message for Parents who have Kids Who Want to Write
• Encourage them to try new things and tackle new projects
• Start small, don’t push them to do too much
• Expose them to good writing
• Try out different forms like writing to a friend
• Let them enjoy writing

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In today’s episode, we bring in Todd Widman from CrossFit Headquarters to talk about children and exercise. Todd is a husband and father to three children aged 12, 9, and 2 and a half who currently lives in Montana, USA. 

Key Learnings

• How Tom found CrossFit
• How Tom decided to focus on training children and teenagers
• What CrossFit really is
• Why high intensity is relative to who is working out
• The importance of associating a workout with “fun” when teaching children how to exercise
• How CrossFit relates with the other sports that children engage into
• What contributes to the decline of physical activity among children and teenagers
• Myths about exercise
• The benefits of exercise to academic excellence
• How to fix the cycle of obesity in the family
• Tom’s top three benefits of exercise
• Tom’s vision for CrossFit in the future

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