Children's Books: Questions & Activities to Help in Transition
Though my life's work has been primarily in caring for students and talking with them about the international life full of constant change, I find myself struggling to be a safe space for my own children to share their feelings. (That deep desire to see them be happy. Isn't that what we all want?!)
We ask our kids how they are doing and they often just say good (at least that's what mine do), but we know that it can't be that simple when they are moving or when their friends are moving. It can be so hard to unlock the door to our child's inner world.
One key to this door is in reading children's stories together as we get to look at someone else's experience. Children's stories are so wonderfully disarming. I can read the simplest story and be brought to tears. They speak to our own experiences and help us put words to them.
Though when I began working internationally my focus was students and teacher well-being, over the years I began to meet with more and more parents. Many parents had the same questions: Will my child be ok in this next move? And many had the same conclusion: They are resilient. They will be fine. They'll make new friends.
But the truth is resilience is only built when someone acknowledges and affirms our feelings and supports us when we are going through it, then we come out stronger on the other side.
For this reason, I will be posting about several stories I love that you can read with your child(ren) as you help them prepare for their own transition or for the transition of a friend. For each of these stories I will provide questions to ask and activities to do. These are mostly geared towards elementary aged students, though I originally wrote them for middle and high school students. If your child is willing to read these stories with you, it doesn't really matter how old they are. Reading them together will encourage conversation and open up the door to their experiences.
I kept running into parents and sending them emails with these suggested books and activities and figured it was about time to put it all together and make it easier to use. So here is hoping that these will benefit someone. If they do please connect with me and let me know!
Children's Book Resources
Amy Shuflin