Will The Courageous: A Story About Sexual Abuse by Amy Barth talks about 6 year old Will who was sexually abused by his babysitter, Nana’s nephew but was terrified to tell anyone. What follows is a series of odd behaviour  from Will, such as having stomach aches,  nightmares, fear of going to his babysitter’s house and also wetting his bed.

The number of sexual abuse cases among children are on the rise but yet, this is a subject that many parents find difficult to broach. With books like Will The Courageous, it helps ease the communication of such issue between parents and young children. It enables us to teach our young children and make them  aware of the difference between the touch of someone who is showing them affection and the touch or approaches of someone who is trying to take sexual advantage of them.

Most important of all, Will The Courageous encourages young children not to hide such sexual abuse incident BUT to always tell their parents or those whom they trust about it.

Disclosure : The above titled eBook is courtesy of Loving Healing Press but all opinions expressed are solely my own.

What Do You Use to Help Your Body?  Maggie  Explores the World of Disabilities by Jewel Kats is a book about how Maggie discovers  people’s disabilities while going out on a walk around the neighbourhood with her Momma. She also learns how these people uses special aids to help them overcome their disabilities. The book is written in a simple and easy to understand story which is ideal for children aged 6 years and above. I thought the illustration were also a big help as they clearly show the disability aids, which many children may not have seen before OR have seen before, but are not aware of what they really are.

If you are more observant, you may also notice that the characters in the book consisted of people from many different cultural background. Thumbs up to the author and illustrator for including that. Another great lesson from the book was to send the message across to all child readers that people with disabilities may not be comfortable with questions and that they should always respect people’s disabilities.

Disclosure : eBook for the above review was provided by Loving Healing Press but all opinions expressed are solely my own.

• ISBN-10: 1455808385
• ISBN-13: 978-1455808380

My nephew is what you would call a book worm. Every time I see him, he has his head in a book. His biggest love is fantasy books and he loved the Harry Potter series as well as the Percy Jackson books. I think he just loves getting lost in a world that is so different from ours.

He will spend hours reading and even takes his book with him on the school bus every morning. Whenever he comes to stay at my house, he will make sure he has his favourite book with him so he can fit in a couple of hours reading before he goes to sleep.

While some people might think this is unhealthy, I feel that reading will give him a great head start in life. His vocabulary is amazing and he has a wonderful imagination. Since my daughter enjoyed the Kane Chronicles series, I thought he might like them too and I was not wrong. He  absolutely loves the Kane Chronicles and I have just bought him part two, The Throne of Fire. He read the first book in a matter of days and he seems to be ploughing through this one just as quickly, if not faster. I would definitely recommend this series for anyone who loves their fantasy novels.

When one child is an underachiever, it seems that the child has absolutely no motivation whatsoever to do anything. The truth is they are truly motivated to do absolutely nothing. It is a hidden expectation and no matter what happens, no matter how hard this child tries, they will never achieve what is expected of them. So, it sets them up to follow the prescribed path of being an underachiever.

In a way, these kids are highly motivated to resist whatever is expected of them and therefore fail. Somewhere, somehow they have received the message that they are not worthy of achieving and when they don’t, they can then say, you are right, I am not any good.

So what can be done to change your child from putting all their energy into absolutely nothing and shifting it into something that accentuates their abilities? Does your child use the phrase ‘I don’t care’ on a regular basis? This is an excellent tool for them to fool themselves into believing that nothing really matters anyway. It has a way of taking any pressure off of them to take action in a positive and productive manner.

Do not allow your child to have a plethora of things in their room where they can ‘hang out’ by themselves. Begin to make this child accountable for his/her actions or lack of action. Make them earn their ‘toys’ by being productive and then follow the productivity with rewards and positive reinforcement. Continue to shift the ‘it does not matter’ feeling to ‘everything you do matters’. It will never happen overnight, but it will allow the child to test the waters and try to achieve without fear of failure. Coach your child and allow them to feel what achieving feels like and that even the fear of accomplishment can be overcome. Listen to the child as he states his fears by what he says and how he acts.