Today’s WOW! Women on Writing Blog Tour guest post comes from Kim Hix, author of No One is Perfect and YOU are a Great Kid, a lovely book written about Zack, a young boy who struggles daily with ever changing moods. He tries to understand why he gets very sad, upset, discouraged and angry in response to what most would consider insignificant events. Zack often feels different, left out, and isolated due to his moods. This book will touch the heart of anyone who has a special child in their life who struggles with any degree of emotional, behavioral, or psychiatric disorder.

Even if you don’t have a child with a behavioral problems, you’ll enjoy No One is Perfect and YOU are a Great Kid for the story and the terrific illustrations by Lee Dillingham. Since we all know kids like Zack, this book can be a used as a conversation starter with your child, too. I’m giving my copy to our school’s counselor and you may want to send a copy to your school’s counselor, your pediatrician, or anyone who works with special needs kids.

You can learn more about Kim at her website Intense Kids, Great Kids.

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My son, Nathan, had eating aversions as a toddler, and didn’t like crunchy or dry foods. This was due to the severe reflux and low muscle tone he had as a baby. (Nathan was a preemie, born seven weeks early and weighing only 3 lbs. 11 oz. Hard to believe he’s over 80 pounds and turns nine-years-old this week.)

Nathan would gag and potentially vomit up anything that wasn’t slimy, squishy or creamy. He soon refused to eat crackers, cereal and even cookies. Instead, Nathan preferred foods like noodles, pudding, canned peaches, cantaloupe, small pieces of cheese, flan and yogurt. The lack of variety in his diet, and the fact that he was still barely in the 10th percentile at age two, were the reason I gave him toddler formula or Pediasure to drink between meals.

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If you have a reluctant reader at home, you may want to introduce them to comic books. Comic books?! Yes, when they’re quality books for emerging and reluctant readers from the likes of TOON Books.

TOON Books are high-quality comic books designed for children four-years-old and older. Each of their books are designed to offer newly-emerging readers comics they can read themselves. Also, each TOON book has been vetted by educators to ensure that the language and the narratives will nurture young minds.

TOON Books also feature original stories and characters created by veteran children’s book authors, renowned cartoonists and new talents, all applying their skills to help children discover the magic of reading.

Many TOON Books to choose from

Jack and the Box is the perfect book for beginning readers. It’s full of simple sight words and wonderful illustrations. It was written and illustrated by Art Spiegelman, who won a Pulizer Prize in 1992 for his book, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. Spiegelman claims he learned how to read from looking at comics and “trying to figure out if Batman was a Good Guy or a Bad Guy.” He even let his children learn to read from his old, very valuable collection of old comic books. Jack and the Box is recommended for children in grades K-2.

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This month, Global Wonders introduces an educational DVD series that encourages children to share, compare and discover the cultures of their family, friends and the world. Designed for children ages two to seven years, the DVDs engage children with stories of fun-filled play dates where everyday activities are transformed into moments of wonder and discovery. The characters as they sample food, play games, learn vocabulary words and experience a variety of cultural holidays, music and traditions.

Global Wonders was created by Rashmi Turner, a working mother and former executive at The Walt Disney Company who previously led educational productions, product development for media lines of businesses, marketing, and communications, for The Baby Einstein Company.

Learning about world cultures

With Global Wonders, children can gain a more enlightened view of the world around them. It’s also a great way to start a dialogue about different cultures if your children are the type who ask embarrassing questions like, “Why does that lady have a red dot on her head?” or “Why do those people have dark skin and talk funny?”

My children know people from India, France, Sweden, Mexico, China, Taiwan and Napal. We enjoy shopping at Asian markets and Mexican carnicerias, and frequently dine out at restaurants that serve Vietnamese pho, Chinese dim sum, Pad Thai, Japanese sushi and Baja Mexican seafood dishes.  So learning about other cultures isn’t new to our children at all though as parents, we do get our fair share of embarrassing questions.

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Do you remember Liberty Mutual’s commercials based on the concept of “pay-it-forward” – someone who sees another person participating in an act of kindness and is inspired to do the same for a stranger? Not surprisingly, Liberty Mutual received an overwhelming reaction from viewers. In response they created an entire website called The Responsibility Project. It’s a wonderful resource for parents to help them talk with their kids about personal responsibility in a meaningful way.

It’s also a social networking site. You can create a profile, save your favorite films and blog posts in one place, and share your own responsibility story.

My responsibility story

Teaching children responsibility is tough especially when it doesn’t come naturally to your child.

I’ll never forget the time that Nathan came back visiting from the neighborhood school playground with his grandmother. He couldn’t wait to show me the treasure that he found. Was it a cool rock or a pretty wild flower? No, it was a three-ring binder filled with dozen of pages manga-style cartoons that some grade schooler had patiently drawn. Nathan brought it home thinking that he could keep it.

“Nathan, that belongs to someone else, someone who spent a lot of time drawing those cartoons,” I explained. “It’s not something to keep. It doesn’t belong to you. If you don’t return it, they’ll be very sad that they lost it.”

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What happens when the family goes somewhere in the car and they can’t decide on what music to listen to – mom’s, dad’s or the kids’ favorites? Well, in my family, if it’s dad that’s driving we listen to sports radio, rockabilly, old time country, punk, or ska. Paul and I have similar tastes but don’t agree on everything. (I’m not a big ska fan, but can tolerate it most of the time. However, I can only listen to the Dead Kennedys in very small doses.)

The kids usually request Devo in daddy’s truck, which is fun but then you have to explain why it’s not polite to sing Devo’s “Mongoloid” out loud at a restaurant. Sigh.

If I’m the one driving, I listen to local rock stations or music I listened to in high school like Duran Duran or Bruce Springsteen. I’m also a talk radio junky, which is why my kids are very aware that Barak Obama is running for the presidency. (And love it when Randi Rhodes plays comedienne Rusty Warren’s Bounce Your Boobies on air.)

Occasionally, the kids will request Green Day’s American Idiot, which rocks but is full of f-bombs and drug references that I hope are going over their heads. Another sigh.

But if it were up to the kids, we’d be listening to the Disney CDs I received from the folks at Mom Central:

• Rhyming Circus by Ralph’s World (i.e. Ralph Covert of The Bad Examples)
• Juice Box Heroes from the Imagination Movers
• Choo Choo Soul
• Here Come the 123s by They Might Be Giants
• Disney Music Block Party – Disney favorites performed by Disney Playhouse regulars like the Doodlebops (Lucie’s favorites), the Wiggles and Dan Zanes

So far, I like Disney Music Block Party and Here Come the 123s. Like Devo (think the theme songs to the Nickelodeon shows Rugrats and Rocket Power – yep, it’s those Mothersbaugh brothers.) They Might Be Giants have created kids’ music that hip parents like, too.

I also gave a listen to Choo Choo Soul, which the kids like but I couldn’t stand. I’m just not into hip hop that much. Luckily, Nathan has a stereo in his room to listen to all his new Disney CDs with his sister. Unfortunately, they can never agree on what to listen to, and end up fighting more than listening to music. Sounds like we’ll have to ask Santa to bring Lucie her own CD player for the holidays.

I’m going to be chatting LIVE on with Kristen Chase on the Motherhood Uncensored Show about books and activities to prepare your little ones for their first year of school, whether it’s preschool, pre-K, or kindergarten. The show is on Wednesday, July 30 at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. You can listen to it live at blogtalkradio or you can call in at 646-915-8634 and chat with us.

If you missed it, you can listen to the archived show here.

For a lot of kids the first day of school is scary. Reading books and talking about school can help calm their fears. Here are some books and activities you can do with your child to get the discussion started.

Books

• Kevin Goes to School (Kane/Miller) – Belgian author Liesbert Slegers’s character Kevin and his friend Ali help make the transition to school less frightening.
• Something for School (Available in August 2008 from Kane/Miller Book Publishers) It’s the first day of kindergarten, and Yoon’s new teacher and classmates mistake her for a boy. Oh no! This book is about starting school and making friends instead of assumptions. By Korean author Hyun Young Lee.
• Little School (Kane/Miller) Australian author Beth Norling gives readers a realistic account of preschool life so your preschooler knows exactly what to expect when they start.
• Tibili: The Little Boy Who Didn’t Want to Go to School (Kane/Miller) French author Marie Léonard set a story of a reluctant first-time school-goer in Africa. Also available in Spanish and French.
•  First Day Jitters (Charlesbridge) Author Julie Danneberg’s character Sarah Jane is scared and doesn’t want to start over at a new school. With prodding from her father, Sarah Jane reluctantly goes off to school. She is quickly befriended by Mrs. Burton, who helps calm her nerves. Also available in Spanish.
• Kindergarten Countdown (Random House) By Anna Jane Hays and illustrated by Lind Davick. A little girl named Lucy counts off the days by naming what she’ll do in kindergarten, what she’ll wear, and what she’ll learn. (Read my review of Kindergarten Countdown.)

For more book ideas see my post Back to school book roundup.

Activities

Here are some links to articles that can help you prepare your child for that scary first day of school:

• First-day jitters: starting preschool by Isadora Fox, Ilisa Cohen and Diane Debrovner of Parents.com
• Cures for First-Day Jitters – by the American School Counselor Association
• Preparing for the First Days of School by Ellen Booth Church of Scholastic Parent
• 10 Steps for a First Trip to School from Scholastic Parent
• Click here for some school lunch ideas.