Having children is time-consuming. Having three under seven is ... well...it's just not the greatest idea, let's leave it at that. We have reached the stage where everybody self-dresses, eats by themselves and no poops in the toilet, so that's encouraging. But the bedtimes stay bittersweet. When they were babies we used to carry them around or I would breastfeed them to sleep but as they grew older they started to develop an interest in storytelling. They sometimes fall asleep while watching videos with me or listening to audiobooks. Mostly, and that is like 95% of the time because they insist on it, my husband tells them bedtime stories. But there is one more thing we do, on occasion, and that is to read ''sleeping books''. No, not the famous Go the fuck to sleep, even tho, I must say, I am sometimes very tempted to buy that one. The books we have are The Rabbit Who Wants To Fall Asleep and The Elephant Who Wants To Fall Asleep. I am no book critic so I would encourage you to read the entire review of The Rabbit on the link above but here is my take away:
My kids mostly fall asleep being read to. Especially if my husband reads it. I think his vocal cords are laced with sleepy dust or something.
Many of the ideas behind The Rabbit who Wants to Fall Asleep are sound; I really like the concept of a story designed to reassure an anxious child that they are loved, good enough, and that their worries (...) can be deferred until the morning. There’s also plenty to be said for accustoming children to relaxing their bodies and succumbing to sleep, rather than fighting it.
There is this great part of the book where the mommy rabbit encourages Zoki (the name of the rabbit in Croatian translation) to take all his worries and put them in the box that we tuck under the bed and forget about until the morning, and we can be sure that we will find them there but we don't have to think (or better say overthink) about them. It offers a variety of relaxation techniques throughout the book, simple techniques that the children can practice themselves later on, if we are consistent about them, of course.
The main thing I disliked about the book is the feeling of trickery. That's what you do basically, you trick your kids to sleep in a way. And if you have older (or more insightful) kids they tend to see through it, and fast, so they tend to refuse it as a bedtime solution.
The book itself has reading instructions to it: you are supposed to insert your child's name in certain places, presumably so the kid sees themselves in the rabbit, some parts are meant to be read slowly, some part emphasized and at times the reader is expected to yawn. All of that serves the purpose of helping the child relax. At times I felt like I'm trying to hypnotize them.
My rabbit acctually eat the book
The other book from the series is like an enhanced version. The first thing that caught my eye was how much illustration is nicer in the other book. The Rabbit illustrations are very trippy and the Elephant ones are much warmer and calmer. The concept is the same but the main difference between two books is the part meant for parents is widen and has a ''most asked questions'' sections the response to the interaction that the author had with parents through social networks.
The author of both books is Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin, a Swedish psychologist and a pep talker for the ones who can't afford therapy (or as they call them,personal coaches, and I admit I am wary weary of those). He published a third book in Swedish this fall, The Tractor Who Wants To Fall Asleep. The Rabbit book is illustrated by Irina Maununen and the Elephant one is illustrated by Sidney Hanson. Bith Croation editions were published by Fokus and you can buy it here: Zeko Koji Želi Zaspati and Slonica Koja Želi Zaspati. Both are translated by Tamara Kunić.
We got Helena, the elephant, for Christmas from dear friends of ours and I frankly, totally forgot about it so I will really give that one a go because my eldest really doesn't buy into Zoki the rabbit anymore.
All in all, if you have a small kid or a restless kid or if your family is keen on practicing sleeping routines, Gina Ford types, you should give it a go. It definitely won't do the trick if five minutes ago they were jumping on the bed and healthy tiredness from free-range playing and going outside is irreplaceable, but if you are set on a sleeping routine and are looking for solutions for an anxious child the book is definitely for your family.
I look forward to expanding the theme of children's literature through a series of posts and I would love to hear, well, to read, your input. Wich books do you pick for your kids? Did you read this one? What do you think? Did it work for you? Do you have any other book recommendations? If you wrote something about kids books send me a link or if you plan to write something use the hashtag #booksrock so I can find you.
Previously I told you about the stories I read to my girl, once I happened to replace the characters of the "Little Red Riding Hood", telling her that she was the "Little Red Riding Hood", and it did not go very well, she started crying in the part that the wolf appeared. She prefers for now to sing children's songs before going to sleep.
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Great review! Thanks for sharing @big.mama! I kind of like the idea of putting your worries in a box that we tuck under the bed. I think I need to learn to do something like this!
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