One book children will enjoy is “You Are Brave” By Todd Snow, Pamela Espeland and Melodee Strong. I want my girls to grow up to try new things. I want them to be determined, confident, and seek unique opportunities. However, I also want them to be safe and know how to reason whether the opportunity or adventure is worth their time. In order to give them a strong foundation for good decision making, I am working on building their self-esteem while they are young.
Instills Confidence
You Are Brave is a book that helps instill confidence in young children. It also teaches them that their are times to be cautious as well as brave, for example the book says, “You are brave when you see and new dog and ask the owner if you can pet it.” This storyline is extremely simple, yet profound. Most children really like animals, and at first glance they immediately think it is okay to pet any stray animal they see in their vicinity. This books helps give parents an opportunity to start a conversation with your child or children that says, “Always ask before you touch strange animals you do not know.”
One evening as we sat around the dinner table, one of my daughters looked at her food and then looked at me and her dad, then stated, “I don’t want this, what is it?”
Before I could answer, her sister said, “You are brave, when you see new food and try it.” She also said, “Try it, try it, and you may.” (from Green Eggs and Ham).
If only everything in parenting were this simple and a quote from a book made everything better. Quotes, don’t always, but in this case it did.
What I like most about the book
- The illustrations are bold and beautiful.
- The books are multicultural, and my children can relate to the other children depicted in the book.
- The book is an easy early reader that children can learn to read on their own.
- The message is positive and practical.
- The book is interesting.
- The book encourages children to have healthy self-esteem.
- Also available as a board book.
- Perfect for kids because they can understand it.
This book is 1 of 4 in a self-esteem series: You Are Brave, You Are Friendly, You Are Healthy, You Are Helpful.
Since I have written this post, the books series have expanded, he now has a You are Important series as well.
“This post is not sponsored” Amazon links are affiliate links.