2016 Parenting Tips Wed 20 Jan: Developing Your Child’s EQ through Stories
2016 Parenting Tips 2016 Parenting Tips – Introducing the best books and method’s for developing your child’s empathy, creativity and emotional well-being. Pia will share the latest research behind picture books and language learning and how to overcome the challenges many parent’s encounter when reading to their child. Recommended titles,including “First 100 Books for 0-3 years” will be […]
Between The Lines: If ever there was a classic children’s book, Alice in Wonderland is it
This year is the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. You need not have read the book to recognise the iconic images of a spunky girl in a blue dress, a peculiar rabbit with a pocket watch, the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts. The story includes a number of unforgettable […]
Between The Lines: ‘Benign neglect’: giving kids the scope to learn, make mistakes and grow
“Benign neglect” is the phrase that best describes my parents’ approach to parenting in the 1970s. What today might be called “free-range parenting” or actual neglect, back then was just childhood. I grew up in a rural part of the American state of Pennsylvania; our home bordered a cornfield and a nature preserve with a […]
Between The Lines: Hong Kong kids can benefit from reading quality books
Numerous studies point to the same finding that children who love to read grow up to be more astute, aware, compassionate, resourceful and resilient than those who don’t read for pleasure. Parents and teachers should pause and give thought to what they want to accomplish in getting children to read. Finding joy and comfort in […]
Between The Lines: Religion in Hong Kong schools: teach it, don’t preach it
Schools should not promote religion, but they should teach it. Understanding history is impossible without an understanding of the religious traditions that helped shape the world. From a purely secular standpoint, even atheists should know and understand what they choose not to believe in. Schools have very different approaches to the question of religious […]
2015 Pop-Up Book Shop!
Please come by for a festive drink while shopping for children’s books this December! We will have a wide selection of English and Chinese titles, including baby book gift sets, transitional readers for those children beginning to read independently and chapter books for the book worms.
Between The Lines: Let children play musical instruments, their way
If your evening routine includes arguments, incentives and timers in order to cajole your children to practise an instrument, you might want to rethink your approach. While creating music should be a joyful lifelong experience, the path towards mastery of an instrument can be tempestuous if the motivation is wrong. Music, like competitive sports, Advanced […]
Between The Lines: How high-quality picture books can encourage kids to read more
High-quality children’s picture books are the building blocks to a lifelong love of reading. When I disparage commercial products in book form that are based on cartoon characters, my friends protest, insisting their children love storybook versions of their favourite animated TV series. I counter that recognising and enjoying stories about familiar television characters is […]
Between The Lines: Reading from the same page
Many will be surprised to learn that Hong Kong has the world’s lowest rate of family literacy – a term used to describe parents (or extended family members and other adults) and children learning together. Just 12 per cent of children in Hong Kong have that experience compared to an international average of 37 per […]
Between The Lines: How to teach difference between words and thoughts (Inside Out helps)
Animated feature films have come a long way since Walt Disney’s 1937Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. For films in the past two decades, the technical advances of animation are rivalled only by the increasing depth of storytelling. Like many children and parents in Hong Kong and abroad, our family recently watched and loved the […]
