Read: 📚 Book Club or Reading at the Club! 📚

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Reading Saadiyat

When I heard that a beach club nearby was opening its doors to the public on weekdays to come, kick-back and read, I jumped at the occasion to enjoy the setting, catch-up on some of my reading list, and mostly to reinforce my kids’ perception of reading as a fun activity.

Many places in the United Arab Emirates are likely to make reading related events this year as 2016 was declared the Year of Reading! As for my London friends, keep an eye out for events around the end of this week, as March 3rd is World Book Day in the UK.

My New Home (by Marta Altes) and Petit Noun (by Géraldine Elschner) were the choices for my 4year old daughter. The first deals with the tribulations and excitements of changing homes and was a great way to get my daughter and I to have a conversation about how she has experienced our various moves in the past few years. I do know (and she reminded me that day again) that she misses her friends back in London a lot but just like in the book (and I reminded her of that AGAIN) she is making new friends and learning how to adapt to novelty and difference. As for Petit Noun, it’s an amazing metaphorical adventure about a blue hippopotamus in ancient Egypt… this book transports both parent and child, at different levels, to a world of reflection, colors, history and mystery.

As for my 18months old tot, I enlisted l’âne Trotro (and his sister ZaZa) to help me introduce her to potty training (wish me luck, that’s gonna take a while…) and then we read about good old Sophie La Giraffe’s busy daily schedule in Sophie’s Busy Day (…and I thought I was busy! 😉)

Saadiyat reading

I find that anticipating a book a long while before it’s released or you get your hands on it makes the eventual read even more enjoyable… I’m therefore disclosing two books I’m eagerly awaiting below (and feel free to add in the comments any recommended upcoming books):

  • The Importance of Being Little – What Preschoolers Really Need from Grownups (by Erika Christakis): a reevaluation of traditional teaching and parenting techniques, this book promises to propose an alternative approach which promotes a better learning environment by listening more closely to the needs of children and how they experience their surrounding and the teaching/parenting itself)
  • I Love You Madly – Marie-Antoinette and Count Fersen: The Secret Letters (by Evelyn Farr): it’s about newly discovered letters that promise to shed more light and confirm the much rumored loved-affair the Queen had with Count Fersen

Saadiyat

Pick a Parenting Style

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Here are a couple of parenting books I greatly enjoyed:

Battle Hymn of The Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua (disponible en francais: L’hymne de la bataille de la mère Tigre par Amy Chua)

China is on the rise! Not only economically but culturally. We are moving into a world where Western parents are enrolling their kids in mandarin classes at the age of 2, schools in New York are offering frequent cultural immersion trips to China and Western moms also want to know how Chinese moms raise their kids!

Here is a great book by a Chinese, westernized (2nd generation in America) mom caught between two cultures as she tries to raise her two daughters on rigid Chinese principles in America. It is inspiring at times, shocking at times and “lol” funny at others!

To associate with the story it’s ideal to read this book when your kids are at school age.

Funny quote from the book:

“Stop it Mommy. Just stop it.” [Lulu / the daughter]

“Lulu, I didn’t say anything,” I [the mom] replied. “I didn’t say one word.”

“Your brain is annoying me,” Lulu said. “I know what you’re thinking.” [Lulu]

bringing up bebe

Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman (disponible en francais: Bébé made in France. Quels sont les secrets de notre éducation)

This book is another insightful mommy memoir. The story is set in Paris where an American journalist becomes a mom and discovers that French parenting is as great as French Couture and French Cheese! It’s very witty and awakening!

To associate with the story or take advantage of the advice given, it’s ideal to read this book if you’re expecting a baby or you’re a new mom.

Passages from the book:

“These books can be useful to people who lack confidence, but I don’t think you can raise a child while reading a book. You have to go with your feeling,” one Parisian mother said.

“Having a baby who sleeps through the night early on seems to be the norm in France. Just as stories of terrible sleepers are easy to find among the Americans, stories of spectacular sleepers are easy to find among the French.”