Classic Children's Books To Add To Your Child's Brush, Book, Bed Routine
⌛ By LeAnna Owens ⌛
February is Children’s Dental Health Month and an easy way to teach your child to always brush his or her teeth at night is to make a bedtime routine that’s both easy to follow and fun! Cabell County Family Resource Network (FRN) has resources on how to structure your child’s nighttime routine. The Brush, Book, Bed campaign has helped parents everywhere bring order to the chaos of bedtime.
As part of the Brush, Book, Bed campaign, I’d like to share with you my favorite childhood stories my own mother used to read to me!
“I love you right up to the moon… and back”
This quote comes from my favorite book as a child called Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney. My mother reading to me was a very important part of my bedtime routine and this particular book was one of my favorites.
Guess How Much I Love You is about a baby rabbit trying to show his daddy rabbit how much he loves him. When I was little, my mother always changed the daddy rabbit into a mommy rabbit for obvious reasons. I only found out the rabbit was actually male after vehemently arguing about the subject with a classmate in 5th grade (thanks, Mom). Despite all of that this book continues to be my favorite, and my mom and I will often say “I love you to the moon and back.”
“But, Mama, but, Mama, what if I were a super smelly skunk, and I smelled so bad that my name was Stinky Face?”
Another book I loved as a child was I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt. This book is about a child asking if he were smelly, or scary, or had to live in a swamp, would his Mama still love him? I loved listening to my mother’s voice read this one, which is probably why I had three different books in this series, I Love You, Stinky Face; I Miss You, Stinky Face; and Merry Christmas, Stinky Face. The adventures of Stinky Face and his wild imagination along with the colorful illustrations by Cyd Moore made these books some of my favorites.
“She tucks me tightly into bed. Then asks me if my spider’s fed and hangs my favorite bat above me. That’s how I know my mama loves me!”
My Monster Mama Loves Me So by Laura Leuck is another really fun book to read before bed. Because my mom was a single parent, sometimes nailing down a bedtime routine could be very difficult, but with the promise of my favorite books, she could always get me to brush my teeth and go to bed. Reading to your child is very important for brain development. According to PBS, “reading daily to young children, starting in infancy, can help with language acquisition and literacy skills.” By reading daily to your children, you are preparing them for a brighter future full of a love for learning and reading! The structure of a bedtime routine is also very important; in fact, Parents Magazine encourages its readers to “create a solid routine” so that your kids get the best night’s sleep possible so don’t forget to Brush, Book, Bed!
The Cabell County FRN has a comprehensive children’s dental health resource guide and toolkit for eight different sectors. The guide has local, regional and national resources, so no matter where you are, you can benefit from this toolkit. For example, you can download fun teeth-brushing videos for your kids or find a dentist near you here. The guide is available here.
Copyright © MMXVIII Hourglass Omnimedia, LLC
LeAnna Owens is a Marshall University student debuting as Hourglass Omnimedia’s first intern. She lives in Milton, WV.
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