Reddit mentions: The best geography & cultures books for children

This will probably never get seen, but I'm a nanny/college student who has seen some awesome parents and some terrible ones. (Plus, I just started working for a new family with 4 terribly-behaved children- the result of lazy parenting- and I'm frustrated.)

-No one likes a picky eater. I'm not saying that your kid has to eat massive platefuls of food when he/she is not hungry, but do not let your kid think that he has control over what is being served for lunch/dinner. With the family I'm currently working for, it is so bad that the kids will ONLY eat peanut butter white bread sandwiches (no crusts) for lunch. Other than that, they will eat cookies, candy, etc. Tell your kid what you're having for dinner and teach him to eat what he is served (this goes both ways- don't give excessive portion sizes either.) Another family I worked with in the past did not give in to their children's demands- their kids are healthy, active, and eat great food.
-It's been said before, but READ CONSTANTLY. Don't go to the library for videos, go there for books. Don't censor what your kid reads, and create an environment where your child will become a voracious reader.
-There is absolutely no reason for a toddler to have a television in her bedroom- yes, the family I'm currently working for has a TV in EVERY child's bedroom. It's lazy parenting.
-Don't allow your kid to become too materialistic. Buy things at tag sales, avoid modifiers that place emphasis on something being new/expensive ("Look, Santa got you a brand-new bicycle!")
-Lead by example, always. Teach them that appearances are not the most important thing. If your 4 year old sees you spending hours on your appearance, she's going to learn to be similarly obsessive. The media foists enough messages of sexiness/beauty on your kids- don't add to it. (Example, I have witnessed one mother I work for turn her car around on her way to a PTA meeting because "I forgot my jewelry!" All of her children are excessively concerned with appearances and materialistic things, and judge others by invented standards- for example, "[Cousin] doesn't have stairs in her house, probably she can't afford a bigger house." "[Friend] doesn't have a pool, do you think she can't afford it?" "Doesn't [playmate] dress kind of messy? He doesn't dress very nice.")
-Your kids are NOT too young for trips and excursions. I'm not talking about going to an amusement park- they're fun, but they're 'invented fun.' Not everything has to be excessively planned. Go on an adventure. Go to the city and go to a museum that looks interesting. Take the subway to Chinatown. Visit a farm. Stop by the side of the road and look at stuff. Nothing bad is going to happen, and you and your child will both learn something. Go out of your comfort zone and stop going on day trips to the beach or the carnival. Your kid is capable of enjoying more interesting things. Go to a concert, even if you don't know anything about the music. And none of it has to be expensive- don't feel that you need to make a massive deal over taking your kid somewhere interesting. Find out when your local high school performs their musicals and plays. Go to a concert of the community orchestra. Go to the local Greek/Irish/Italian/Indian festival, even if you're not Greek/Irish/Italian/Indian. Instead of going out for pizza, try a Thai/Ethiopian/new restaurant- even if you're not sure you'll like it yourself.
-Every kid has the right to hear the word "no." It's a fact of life, and kids need to learn to deal with it just like everyone else.
-Teach your kid that certain rules can NEVER be broken, and follow through with punishment when they are. For example, last week I took four children (yes, the abominably-behaved ones mentioned above) to a large city zoo. The youngest decides that she simply doesn't want to walk with the group, so she turns around and takes off running in the opposite direction. She ignores my calls for her to stop, I am forced to abandon the stroller and her 3 siblings to chase her and grab her before I lose her. Meanwhile, she's screaming the whole way. My point is that this is not simply a behavioral issue- at this point, it turns into an unacceptable safety issue. Your kid must be able to behave in an acceptable manner in public, or learn that until he does, he will not be able to partake in those excursions.
-"A dirty kid is a happy kid." Letting your kid make mudpies/treehouses/forts/gardens in the backyard is okay. Encourage creativity in all forms.
-Spend as much time with your child as you can- but not at the risk of making him socially awkward. Go to playgroup, hire a babysitter, drop him off at a friend's house- even if you're a stay-at-home parent. I have seen detrimental effects on the social abilities of very young children who have the most devoted parents in the world. Let your kids be comfortable with other people.
-Make sure your kids know that they are (in all likelihood) a lot luckier than other kids around the world. Read books about other cultures, make sure your child knows that not all kids have the toys and loving parents that she has. If you want to buy a book about children from all over the world- my "kids" love a book that UNICEF produced called Children Just Like Me. It has profiles of children from all over the world, with pictures of their schools, their places of worship, their homes, their favorite things. It is fascinating and eye-opening, and enjoyable for kids/adults of any age.
-MANNERS. Use them and teach them. And don't be a hypocrite- even if you were not taught to use manners in every circumstance possible, make sure you say "Please," "Thank you," and "You're welcome" every chance you can get.
-In a similar vein, make sure your child knows how to speak appropriately. If you respond to whining/shouting, you're teaching that it is okay and a legitimate way to obtain your attention/response. Even a very young toddler can learn what "no whining" means. Tell him that you will not listen to whining, but he can ask in a normal manner. (I sound like such a stick-in-the-mud here, but seriously, it works. The two year old I've watched since he was a baby gets it because his parents and I will not tolerate whining. The four-year-old that I just started watching will whine, scream, and have a tantrum because he knows his parents will respond to it, and he'll get what he wants.)
-Care about your kids' lives. Do you know their teachers' names? Their favorite subjects? What new things they want to try?

This got ridiculously long- can you tell I was frustrated whilst watching four spoiled kids today? But do your best to be a great parent. You're not going to be perfect, but go with your gut and always try to do what's best for your kid. It may not be what he wants at the time, but it's what's best for his life and well-being.

Only you know your situation, but in your position I'd be having a discussion first with my spouse about why they're requiring me to tell the kids. At the least it seems you should be clear on that, and the answer may help you decide how to approach this.

When you do tell your kids, I think the most important thing is to invite them to ask any questions they have, either then or later on. Make it a discussion (and an ongoing discussion) rather than a declaration, and answer their questions clearly, honestly and in detail. In the longer term you may also want to check out Street Epistemology -- it's a great way to talk to kids in particular, because you'll be encouraging them to think about things for themselves.

Finally, you might want to check out The Book of Gods and/or The Belief Book by David G. McAfee, which are intended to help kids understand that many people believe different things about gods.

Good luck, and please let us know how it goes.

I think it's really normal at 4-5 for kids to be thinking about sameness and differentness and try to make sense of what they see.

The approach I take--after a lot of thought and research--is to teach and talk about skin color the same way we would about eye color or hair color. There are some good books that talk about the science of skin color - First Encyclopedia of the Human Body touches on it--my kid is obsessed with that book, All the Colors We Are takes a matter of fact and scientific approach. The book Children Just Like Me is another really useful resource when talking about different cultures and people.


I've also made a point to buy black, brown and Asian baby dolls and Barbies (not just the standard white ones) since she was about 2. At first I felt really self-conscious about doing this, but I think it's helped her see variety as the norm instead of thinking of her whiteness as normal and everything else as "other."

At this stage, that's the message you want to be instilling - everyone has lots of differences and they're all pretty darn normal and cool.

And finally--how to deal with loud kid comments in public. A few days ago my daughter shouted and pointed, "LOOK MOMMY! A little person!!! THAT'S NOT A KID!" I was embarrassed and felt bad and I told her in the moment that it's not nice to yell out people's differences because it might make them feel like everyone is looking at them--she got that--attention can be embarrassing.

When we got home we talked about dwarfism just like hair color or normal height -- it's something about you that get when you're born. I think I said something like, "even if a person is born to be a little person, their brain grows up just like yours or mine as they get older and when they're grown ups they have jobs and families just like any other grownup." She thought it was really really cool.

I'm sure she'll do it to me again. I don't know if there's a better way to handle it in the moment to be more respectful of others--but my main focus is trying to get a message of inclusiveness to my kid.

I dunno. This stuff is hard.

I'm not sure it's considered unique, but decent picture books.

They're a great resource for classrooms, not just for teaching reading, but often for the messages they convey.

Though, I'm a little biased, because I love picture books. Your girlfriend might appreciate something else.

But just in case, a couple I really like are Mem Fox, Whoever You Are (which has a really nice message of acceptance and equality), and Antoinette Portis, Not a Box, (which looks at imagination).

Hope this was helpful!

I got one of these indestructible books for my shower and it's awesome. Feels like real paper but it's tear proof and chew proof.

Also the book Counting on Community
has a great message and some beautiful pictures of all races of children.

They're not board books but my preschool students love the Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems and Pete the Cat series. I ended up receiving a ton of board books and it would've been nice to get some hardcovers as well.

1. BJ's Brewhouse
   
2. IHOP
   
3. Panera
   
   I would take my friends of course! They are pretty much my family. I'd love to treat them to something nice. :)
   
   Random amazon
   
   Thanks for the lovely contest! Dinners on you!

Along those lines, could get her some fun notecards/stationary/postcards to write letters on. I had some with horses on it when I was about that age, with matching envelopes, and thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Otherwise maybe something for her new bedroom? A poster, a decorated bulletin board, a fun calendar? Something random like a lava lamp or mini terrarium? Just depends what she's into. Or maybe a book, if there's a book that's particularly special to him that she might enjoy, maybe with a friendship theme.

EDIT: You could also think about a moving survival-guide type book like this or this. Also found these awesome postcards - Enchanted Forest and Where's Waldo!

If she is reading younger then I would suggest picture books.

Ones by Robert Munsch like Paper Bag Princess or The Fire Station. They have pictures and are short but they are not babyish. I still find them funny.

A book my daughter adored was Children Just Like Me: A Unique Celebration of Children Around the World. It shows how children around the world live, where they go to school, what they eat, ect.

If she has a specific interest in a topic (like horses), any of the Dorling Kindersley books are great.

Are you ready for a bargain? I'm gonna sell you a bargain!

Buy just TWO books off of my teacher wish list at one cent plus shipping each ($8.00 total), and you can spend 5.39 on someone else's books!

(For example, Fallen, requested by my student Roja, and The Help, requested by my student Charmaine!)

Or, but THREE books off of my teacher wish list and save the other $1.39 for yourself!

(Maybe add Rikers High, requested by my student, Tyrone?)

Limited time offer. No purchase necessary. Raffle phrase Don't Sue People Panda is necessary for entry and selection. Bridget1989 is grateful for the opportunity and thinks you are awesome.

I'll give some historical context.

After WWII all our factories were still at full capacity and switched back to making personal cars, and all these returning vets on the GI bill want to college or back to good factory jobs and started buying homes and settling down.


Now the popular notion at the time was that city life was dying. Why get at best a row house or apartment in New york or philadelphia when you can build or buy a crafstmen house for the same price out in the suburbs. Also as civil rights was coming about it was convenient to cede the inner city to African Americans and poor and use things like loan restrictions to zone and price them out of the nice crime free suburbs.


So given the popular notion that the city and urban life was dying. Most city planning resources when into road construction so everyone could live out in the surburbs and take the new highways to their jobs. Entire cities were built up around this concept. In order to pay for this essentially halted Urban public works like subways and light rail. Why would you want to go on a stuffy subway with negroes when you can commute in your cadillac with radio and select-a-matic transmission?


So the results are profound and easy to verify. Any city that become major and modern after world war II has terrible public transportation: Examples include LA, Houston, Denver, Portland. Any city that was major before WWII tends to have still strong public transportation like Chicago, New york, Boston, D.C.


We basically decided as a nation that surburban life was awesome and gave up on public transportation. We even went steps further in places like LA where they actively bought out trolley lines just to close them down and pave over the tracks. Also the very way we designed our suburbs actively discourage pedestrainism and many live in places that "have no where to walk to". I'm ashamed to say that even my hometown Ann Arbor fell into that spiral and built many planned developments that have no feasible options of walking or biking to get to any retail area.


TLDR: city planners after WWII decided everyone (who was white) should live in suburbs and stopped funding public transportation.

Edit: for those who don't believe me this was covered by sociologists in the way things never were http://www.amazon.com/The-Way-Things-Never-Were/dp/0595348084

and lies my teacher told me http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0743296281/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457056096&sr=1-1&keywords=lies+my+teacher+told+me both fascinating reads

2 days late, but I actually have a couple book that do exactly this with fictional settlements in different parts of the world. Lebek, Barmi, Umm El Madayan, and San Rafael. They have incredible illustrations and thorough details about what developments have happened since the last snapshot and why. They're wonderful books. Great for inspiration when developing your own cities.

There's a book about a Prince... can't remember the title though. :S

(It might be called, "The Prince")

Edit -It's called King and King
Tons of great recommendations at the bottom.

As to your Third question - I don't know that it is all that important to be honest. I think we, as adults, tend to focus on issues that children will naturally take in as normal. It has been my experience that they don't have any questions about it and when asked they don't seem to care about much more than their own personal issues. However, if you run into a child with a lot of questions or concerns like "why did Billy hit me and say my mommies were going to go to hell?" then colorful picture books help confirm to them that your family is perfectly normal and it is Billy that is wrong.

You will get a totally altered cultural landscape regardless.

It just may be altered by a group you don't consider to be part of the culture.

My mother's "white middle class suburban" childhood home is now a "lower middle class black & latino" neighborhood. After grandma passed, they sold it cheap to a nice family so they could have a home, and were happy to help a family. Were they sad to see the neighborhood they knew disappear? Yea. But it's culture, as they knew it, would disappear anyways.

There is basically zero immigration in Japan, and the culture and cities that my friends in their 60's grew up in is totally gone here, so it's gonna disappear anyways. Ceremony and photographs are the only thing they have to remind people. There are no kids barefoot running along behind Chindon as he plays his little tunes and marches to the corner market as an advertiser, you see him only in parades (where my picture is from). There are no Kamishibai entertaining them either - but you can still borrow story card sets at the library to remind middle school students what life was like before smartphones.
Cities are no longer majority farmers, with kids planting rice barefoot in the mud every spring; all my students detest getting a speck of dirt on their hands. Persimmons, once prized for their sweetness, now go unharvested on forgotten trees in abandoned orchards, feeding only the crows. Japan my have a strong mono-culture, but so much of it has changed anyways. Disney has a greater influence on my students than any emperor or Shinto Spirit.

Places where immigration and slowly shifting demographics is common will eventually see a wholesale change of their culture faster than Japan, but it will all change regardless.

Such is the way of things.

How about:

• This Crash Course US History Timeline Poster ($12)
  
• This Crash Course US Government Poster ($10)
  
• This beautiful book of illustrated maps ($25)
  
• Rad American Women A-Z ($17)
  
• Literally anything related to Hamilton
  
• A "On This Day In History" Calendar ($9)
  
• The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation ($15)
  
• A History of America in 100 Maps ($23)
  
• Something under "history classroom" on Etsy
  
  Also: Have you tried having a look at what she's pinned on Pinterest? You might find some helpful ideas there. Good luck!

Children Just Like Me

As a kid, my little sisters and I used to love seeing how kids around the world lived. This book is a gem

https://www.amazon.com/Children-Just-Like-Me-Celebration/dp/0789402017/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1522097689&sr=8-2&keywords=children+just+like+me

The Paper Crane by Molly Bang. I loved this in 2nd grade, it was an East Asian styled tale involving origami and magic
https://www.amazon.com/Paper-Crane-Reading-Rainbow-Book/dp/0688073336/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522097844&sr=1-2&keywords=paper+crane

Malala's Magic Pencil
https://www.amazon.com/Malalas-Magic-Pencil-Malala-Yousafzai/dp/0316319570/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522097952&sr=1-1&keywords=malala%27s+pencil

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

Unicef did some good ones like this. Is it:

Children Just Like Me: A Unique Celebration of Children Around the World

or

A Life Like Mine: How Children Live Around the World

NTA. She's basically decided to raise her kids homophobic in a passive sort of way. You should feel free to not hold back next time this comes up and give a polite, kid-friendly explanation.

Also, I have some gift ideas come Christmastime:

https://www.amazon.com/Worm-Loves-J-Austrian/dp/0062386336

https://www.amazon.com/King-Linda-Haan/dp/1582460612

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WEZR0KC/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

(Why yes, I've bought all these and more for my niece and nephew, fortunately their parents don't object to me indoctrinating them into the gay agenda).

Maps https://www.amazon.com/dp/0763668966/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_0uHuxbKPRE394

Great illustrated maps, bought for my 8 year old but the whole family loves them

Edit :you can see the US map in the customer images

Or something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Gods-David-G-McAfee/dp/1533066760. He is an atheist author that has studied religion and has done quite a few good books that might be helpful

I just published my first book and now working on the promotion and translation to Chinese. The genre is experimental fiction, and it's told in first person from the POV of 7 different characters. Here's the link to it, if you think it sounds like something you would like to read feel free to send me a PM and I will send it to your email https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B57FZKJ

> And yes, taken to a logical conclusion, science should be able to describe everything

The irony of this is that logic is explicitly not science, as science is based on evidence and logic is not. They are wholly separate and incompatible "ways of knowing".

Please do some research into epistemology and the theory of knowledge. This would be a good place to start.

The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton? It starts in the country, gets neighbors, then a small town and eventually a city grows around it. Eventually the descendants of the original family move it back out to the country and it is happy again.

I have H is for Hong Kong https://www.amazon.com/Hong-Kong-Primer-Pictures-Alphabetical/dp/1934159131, it has words in English and Chinese but the pictures are beautiful.

Yes. There are 6 children's books available for free from the author, today:
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Bear-Takes-Winter-Nap-ebook/dp/B07642XVKX/

https://www.amazon.com/Petunia-Garfunkel-Learns-Helpful-Childrens/dp/197842874X/

https://www.amazon.com/Night-Visitors-Picture-Children-Overcome-ebook/dp/B0763FPXQ6/

https://www.amazon.com/Small-but-Know-This-ebook/dp/B0777SXWZJ/

https://www.amazon.com/Hello-Around-World-Discovering-Differences-ebook/dp/B076862GHB/

https://www.amazon.com/Brave-Silly-Rabbit-Gioula-Chelten/dp/1547218924/

Theres a book I remember reading when Litte, Pathki Nana. its about a Kootenai girl.... don't remember much else from that, http://www.amazon.com/Pathki-Nana-Kootenai-Mystery-Children/dp/1880114097

I don't know for sure if it takes place in Montana, but south of Glacier park is the Flathead Indian Reservation, which also has kootenai (among others) in it.


And not quite in the right area but theres a true tale about Shep the Sheep dog, who'se owner died and the dog waited at the train for him. I think in Fort Benton, MT. I remember being fascinated with it when I was young, and having books on it.
http://www.amazon.com/Shep-Most-Loyal-True-Stories-ebook/dp/B00EXBQBV4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405538955&sr=8-2&keywords=shep+sheep+dog
I'm sure there are other books on him too.

The best I can come up with is Triple Trouble in Hollywood by Michael Pellowski. It's a series, actually. I remember twins going to Hollywood to see their cousin, who was a movie star and who happened to look just like the twins because everyone's parents were siblings (two sisters married two brothers). They all had to act in different parts of a commercial, showcasing each of their various talents. This is all suddenly coming back to me.

But I don't remember anything about a smashed toilet or a break-in. Hmmm. Another book in this series, which I've never read, is called Double Trouble Mansion Mystery, so maybe that's it??

http://www.amazon.com/Children-Just-Like-Me-Celebration/dp/0789402017/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1418141127&sr=8-2&keywords=children+around+the+world

Something like this might be helpful :D

I think I had that book as well. Was it about UNICEF and it showed kids from all over the world? I think it was called "Children just like me".

Here you go - be sure to look at some of the Customers who bought this item also bought as well:

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Gods-David-G-McAfee/dp/1533066760

My baby will be about the same age at Christmas. My husband and I have already decided we are going to get her nothing, or else use it to justify getting her things we want to get her anyways. Her favourite toys include a pop bottle full of water and glitter, a cocoa can with two marbles in it and a silicone baking mould. This baby doesn't need commercial toys. As far as justifying things we want to get her anyways, here's an example. My husband has a degree in geography, and love maps. He wants to get this book http://www.amazon.com/Maps-Aleksandra-Mizielinska/dp/0763668966 for our daughter, but it's too expensive for us to buy "just because" so we might use Christmas to justify it. But we are not going to go to the shops and go "Christmas shopping" and buy her a bunch of toys.

Yes. http://www.empik.com/mapy-mizielinska-aleksandra-mizielinski-daniel,p1059466744,ksiazka-p

English version: http://www.amazon.com/Maps-Aleksandra-Mizielinska/dp/0763668966/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394262790&sr=8-1&keywords=mizielinska

The Way Things Never Were: The Truth About the "Good Old Days" https://www.amazon.com/dp/0595348084/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_emfPAbX7ZSNV9

Children Just Like Me?

• The Belief Book
  
• The Book of Gods
  
• The Book of Religions
  
  ​

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Children-Just-Like-Association-Childrens/dp/0789402017#