Child-Day-Care Books

I work at a proctor care agency. This book has been a great tool for helping children who are in Foster Care feel normal again. It's also been great to help the foster parents stop and realize all the different emotions and feelings their foster children are working through.

Maybe Days provided my 8 year old foster child with some comforting words. In language a young child can understand, it gives the "big" picture of the foster care sysytem. It acknowledges the fact that many aspects are unknown for the child as well as for the foster parents. My foster child has asked me to read it over and over again.

This book is just wonderful! It addresses the reasons why children enter foster care in a realistic but age-appropriate manner. It lets kids know that their feelings are normal...and that it is normal have a hard time adjusting. Maybe Days also addresses the uncertaintly that is such a big part of foster care...will the child live with his siblings again?...will he have visits with his parents?...will he go back to live with them?

Reading this book together is a good way to start conversations with children about their feelings and concerns. There is also an excellent guide at the end of the book for Foster Parents and other adults.

Christine Mitchell
author and illustrator of Welcome Home, Forever Child: A Celebration of Children Adopted as Toddlers, Preschoolers, and Beyond

Wish there were more books like this. Very nice and helpful for children. Good buy!

I work for and adoption agency with children in the foster care system and I LOVE this book. I have not found a better book to explain why to a child why they are in foster care and what is happening around them. This book explains complex topics in a very simple and easy to understand language.

This book has tons of activities for babies broken down by skill enhanced and then developmental stage. I think it would have been better organized and easier to use if it had been broken down in reverse, developmental stage and then skill. A lot of the activities are things that come naturally and you don't need to be told to do them, but there were still a lot of things to help you keep baby busy, and to help you to remember to work on certain skills you might not think of. It also helped you to really think about and understand the different activities and why they help certain skills, which sort of helps you gain perspective on how everything around you can be turned into an activity you can use to your and your baby's advantage. Worth the investment!

As a first time mom,of a child with special needs to boot, I had no idea. This book and the others in the series are great resources for finding things to do with your child other than watching Teletubbies for the thousandth time. If your child needs extra help in a certain area, like fine motor or listening skills, you can easily find a variety of exercises to help here. The later books in the series (Threes, Fours, and Fives) would also be a great resource for a homeschooling parent.

I am on a one year leave from teaching second grade to stay home with my 5 month old. The teacher in me purchased this product because I wanted to make sure my baby was not missing out on any learning. I wish I would have discovered it sooner as the guide is set up for babies not able to sit up, babies able to sit up, and babies able to crawl. It gives activities to do at each of these stages. It is easy to use and activities are divided into categories: listening and talking, physical development, creative and learning from the work around them. We were already doing some of the activities included, but the book offers many ideas I would not have thought of. Overall, I feel it is a great resource to have.

It's almost overwhelming. There is no way you can spend this much time teaching everything, but it's nice to be able to pick and choose fun things to do with your baby. It's easy to use in a well thought out layout from birth on, divided by sensory perception.

Not just for daycare! I am a first-time, stay-at-home mom and needed a way to tell if I was "doing all the right stuff" in regards to play, development, speech, music, etc. This book gives you exercises that are so easy for each stage of the first year of life. There is not a lot to read like a typical baby care book, but each section outlines what the child should be accomplishing and gives you exercises to ensure that your child reaches those development milestones. If you can look past the idea that it is written for daycare providers, you will find this book extremely helpful. I knew I was giving my child all he needed because I had these exercises to use as a handy guide. Good luck to you!

Very informative. Really needed the sample forms.

I ran a daycare myself for several years and thought I had everything I needed to be a great daycare provider. After reading this book,I realized I had a lot more to learn. Cyndi Beauchemin covers absolutely everything from soup to nuts. After searching for good daycare information, I don't need to look any further.Anyone who cares a great deal for children, and wants to provide the best for them ,needs this book. From Child Abuse Hotlines to Daycare Forms, it's all here. You will use this daily to provide the best daycare you can AND YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFUL.

This workbook is an outstanding resource for anyone thinking of starting a Home Day Care! It would also be a valuable book to have if you are already doing Home Day Care. The book asks dozens of questions you may not have even thought of needing to be answered. It contains sample forms, contracts and schedules. It will answer so many questions and help you avoid so many pitfalls that I can't imagine starting or running a Home Day Care without this workbook. I highly recommend it! Cyndi knows of what she speaks and it shows.

This book has every piece of paper you could imagine would be necessary for running a day care.

As an author myself ("I Killed A Bunch of Folks"--a fine book but a slightly different genre) I can appreciate the amazing attention to detail Ms. Beauchemin has put into her work. She's thought through it all, and has really made my wife look like a professional in her day care business.

This book is absolutely excellent!
I think if you were to choose a reference to start your business, this is the one to choose. It has every aspect of childcare that you could hope to have to start your business.
Take a look at the info you get in this book for yourself. I don't think you will regret it.

I bought this calendar for my niece and she is so thrilled to have it that she calls her sister everyday as it is, but since she's pregnant too, my niece shares the little interesting facts each day with her. It's a great way to compare gestation timeframes too with friends and family that are pregnant during the same time as the receiver of the countdown calendar.
It pleases me that this gift pleases my niece as much as she is when she reads her daily gestation growth.

Countdown to My Birth is a very exciting way to keep up with the development of your child. There are all kinds of interesting phases that take place throughout the pregnancy and this calendar was a fun way for my wife and I to wake up each morning and "connect" with our child. We never read ahead and just looked forward to each new day when we could flip the date and see what our baby was going to "say." There is also a place to take "notes" on events that occurred each day as well as stickers with major marking points in the pregnancy (Hurray! You know I'm here, You hear my heartbeat, You see me in an ultrasound, etc.) I think what I really like about this is that it makes me (the father) feel more involved in the pregnancy and keeps me really excited to see my first child. I also think this will be a wonderful gift for my son when he is older so he can read what his mother and I were thinking/feeling during each stage of the pregnancy. I would buy it again.

Easy way to include hubby in daily baby growth in utero without getting out the heavy hitting books. Simply flip the calendar daily (after filling it out for your due date) and it tells you everything from being the size of a pea to suggesting eating finger foods 'cause I'm growing fingers today...

We cherished ours and still have it as part of our baby collection. I highly recommend it as a congrats on your pregnancy book.

I purchased one calendar for myself and one for my girlfriend who is currently pregnant. It's cute, especially for first time mothers. I haven't used mine yet, but I plan to once I get pregnant :)

This calender is so much fun. What a way to get daddy involved. We flip each page every morning and read what each day says. It gives you a great idea of what is happening inside of you each day of your pregnancy. It fun facts. My husband loves it. I plan on buying this calender for all future friends who get pregnant. It's worth it. This calender is probably most fun for first time pregnancies.

When I first read this book, I thought it was "rushed". Everyone seemed to be hurrying through the day. Then I realized that's pretty much like our own "day care days". I also loved that the daddy in the story is pretty much the primary care giver...he gets the kids dressed, takes them to day care, puts them in bed, etc. My husband is like this, also, so it was great for my daughter to see the daddy taking the kids to day care just like her daddy does. It is one of my daughter's favorite books...She especially loves the pictures and always insists on "naming" all the kids at the day care. (ex. "This girl in the picture is me, this one can be Ann Marie, that boy is Reed".)

This beautifully illustrated book tells about the day in the life in a toddler as he prepares for and goes to day care. The vivid illustrations are full of life and children love looking at them. The story is full of warmth and tenderness. The kids I teach at the preschool I work at love comparing our child care center to the one in the book. This is a great book for any child care center or any family who has or is preparing to use a day care facility.

Beautiful illustrations highlight this book! The rich colors and bold designs are warm and fun. We particularly like the twist on traditional gender roles as Mom goes off to work while Dad does day care drop-off and pick-up, and cooks dinner to boot!

This book is a deffinate must for all toddlers. The two babies in my life adore this book. The combination of the colorful and expressive drawings with the soothing yet fun wrtiting is irresistable. Don't leave without buying this book!

I am a toddler teacher always looking for great new books to read at circle time - this is it! The story follows a simple format easy enough for 2-3 year olds in day care to understand. The illustrations are vibrant and easy for children to identify with. This is a wonderful book that lets children know that their world is important to us and that the emotions they feel are natural and quite common. This book is requested by my students on a daily basis!

I love this book. It's very detailed and doesn't let you forget a thing about the business of childcare. Keep every dime you earn!! I don't think you will regret the investment.
Try it!

As a professional in the childcare industry, it was quite refreshing for me to see such a valuable resource being made available to childcare providers. I have researched all of the various recordkeeping products that are available on the market , and I found that the The Home Daycare Complete Recordkeeping System is hands down the best resource currently available! The author of this book has obviously taken alot of time to explain practices and procedures in a manor that is professional as well as educational.

In my professional opinion, The Home Daycare Complete Recordkeeping System is a must have reference book for all childcare providers!

When you're in business, you don't have time to think about high level concepts -- you just want to know how to get things done. Thompson does an excellent job of giving you the information you need in a format that's easy to follow. I'd recommend this book to anyone who owns a daycare business -- Thompson is thorough in her examples and showed me several areas where I was missing potential deductions. This is a great book for daycare business owners!

This is a must have for anyone in the Home Daycare business. It is easy to follow and has saved me thousands of dollars over the past three tax years.

The Home Daycare Complete Recordkeeping System is chocked full of detailed information (w/examples!) and is a reference tool I continue to use. Every business needs a recordkeeping system and if you are in the DAYCARE business-this book is a must-have for your reference library.

Dr. Bernstein obviously gets it. He clearly understands these distractible kids and why they do what they do. He also understands their parents and the challenges that they face. More importantly, he understands what they can do about it! This book is packed with practical tips and strategies that parents can use to help their distractible kids do better in school and at home. Although obviously this applies mostly to ADHD kids, there are other reasons why a child could have trouble with inattention, and Dr. Bernstein's suggestions are applicable to them as well. He really tries to help parents understand why their kids do what they do, and also normalizes their own sometimes unproductive reactions. There are other books out there on this topic, but few of them are as thorough or helpful.

I bought 10 days to a Less Distracted Child at the same time as 10 days to a Less Defiant Child. I decided to read less distracted first, because frankly, I was angry with my 6-year old son. He is in kindergarten, reading at a high second-grade level, can add and subtract, and was getting daily reports saying he was NOT completing his work at school. My very bright son was getting labeled a trouble-maker and a "slow" child. I took his actions as defiance, but after reading Dr. Bernstein's book, I realize he is just EXTREMELY distractable. And, I really recognized myself in his descriptions too. On both sides - the exhausted, over-reacting parent and the distracted little kid.

As a parent with ADHD, it is highly likely my son has it as well. This book helped me to slow down and recognize that my son is trying his best, but completely lacks the skills to know how to keep himself on track. And that is my job as his parent to teach him.

This book is very easy to read, the steps are easy to follow, (even for a very distractable mom like me), and they make an IMMEDIATE difference. My son started bringing home silver stars (the highest they give for behavior) the day after I started using the steps in the book. I highly recommend this book to any parent who is struggling with a child who is under-performing . Also, if you have a defiant child, maybe you should read this book first and see if they are really just distracted.

This book has helped me so much. It feels like the book it is actually talking to me. I really recommed it even if you don't have anyone with adhd or add. Really good. If you are a parent that snap quickly you need to read this book.

This book is great for that parent who is at their wits end with their kids behavior issues... if you are tired of yelling, threatening, spanking etc.. and having it go NO WHERE!! Then read this book. Nothing works all of the time but this book gave me "his" view. How he is thinking/reasoning and suggestions on how to deal with it. I don't have to yell(unless it's to get everyone's attention) I make suggestions and try and get him to tell me what the problem is or how to fix it. It doesn't work all the time but it does help considerably!!!

I've read many, many books on ADHD and distractibility (Hallowell/Ratey, Murphy, etc.). While those books supplied much-needed background info -- and I urge you to read them as well -- this book gives you ACTUAL STEPS TO TAKE when -- or before -- you're at wit's end.

My creative, intelligent, distractible son has had a lot of the issues described in this book: social interaction, homework trouble, depression and confidence. Although this is a "10-day" program, I urge you to read the entire book first, just to get an overview. It's full of great insight and will help you understand why/how your child learns differently.

I"m a "Type A" mom -- a list-maker, neat freak, get-it-done-now person -- and it's literally taken years to understand my son. This book gave me concrete ways to help my child navigate a world that's not set up for his way of approaching things.

NOTE: Check out "Right Brained Children in a Left Brained World" as well, if your child is particularly creative and "visual" as well as being distractible.

My husband and I have been married for five years. He has 3 children from his first marriage and his ex-wife is the classic "emotionally needy parent" plus she is having problems with alcohol abuse. When we had visitations with the kids we would have an adjustment period of 2 or 3 days. After that their behavior would usually mellow out and the rest of the stay was okay. Recently DCFS stepped in and ruled that the children were no longer safe in her care and turned them over to my husband and I. The children are 14, 12, and 9, plus they have a 3 year old half sister that was given into our custody. Our house has been a combination zoo and war zone since they arrived. My husband and I were at the end of our ropes when I found this book. She has been the answer to my prayers.

As the mother to four strong-willed kids ages 19 down to 5, and I have read many discipline books and tried various methods over the years. This one is the best, hands down. I have been using behavior charts based on Ruth Peters' book for a few years (of course, I don't use the charts with my 19yo, but I do with my others - ages 11, 8, and 5 right now). My children get compliments from even from complete strangers on how well-behaved and polite they are, and how nicely they get along with each other. Dr. Peters has another very good book written for parents of preschoolers called Never Too Early to Discipline. Also highly recommended. My house is calm and peaceful, my kids are happy. The wonderful thing is, this can be accomplished without yelling, nagging, threatening, or spanking! Read the book!

This book is absolutely readable! You learn real-life approaches to dealing with your kids! This is not a book of psycho-babble.

Got this for my 9 yr. old granddaughter. We were spending 4 hrs a nite on homework, her room was a disaster area and she was on a continuous restriction for her mouthing back and attitude. Knew something had to change. Wrote up the behavior plan based on this book; She actually liked the plan. Daily rewards and punishments, no more restrictions lasting days or a week, and privelege and money chips for good behavior, homework done in 1 1/2hrs and room straightened,dog fed,table set,coat hung up, etc every day. Amazingly within a few days, everything done as above! Her room is straightened with bed made and everything off floor in about 4 minutes(allowed 10 min). Homework always done without any hassle as soon as she comes in! Guess what she bought with her first savings? An ORGANIZER! Cannot praise this book enough! If you follow her steps and stick to the program yourself, you too can have amazing changes in your child. Her parents and I were so pleased and amazed with the change. I just wish I had had this book when my daughter was little. Would have made life so much easier! Every month or so, we reevaluate her program and make small changes on problem areas and that's about all the extra time needed. On the weekends, instead of homework, she straightens her closet or drawers or bookshelves. I showed her teacher the behavior plan and this book and she made copies of it for herself and other mothers when they are having problems. It will save your sanity and family and give house control back to you!

I am the mother of a nine year old boy and a six year old girl that were beginning to take control of the house. I tried everything, but nothing stuck. Don't Be Afraid to Discipline really works! It is easy to implement and can be tailored to any family's special needs. Friends and teachers have been so impressed by the change in my children that they have all requested the title of the book. All that have begun the program are ecstatic! Privilege chips seem to be the key with my kids. They are even doing extra chores in order to earn extra chips. My son recently turned in 20 chips for a new computer game. He was proud of his accomplishment. So was I. Life in my household is calm now. The house is neater, the kids are happier, the parents are happier. We have more time to enjoy each other because the daily expectations/chores are taken care of without a fuss. My kids are self-sufficient in many respects. God bless Dr. Peters. Her program has been the answer to my prayers.

This book was everything you want in a good read, funny, exciting, sad, inspiring. I also found a new book to read from one of the last diary entries in the book!!!! i have 3 kids and life is insane most of the time so to sit down and laugh that other people are certainly going through the same things i do on a daily basis makes me feel better.

Mommyhood Diaries: Living the Chaos One Day at a Time by Julie Watson Smith is a wonderful and insightful book. Fanatic and honest stories, connecting each one with the bond of motherhood. I loved it!

Julie Watson Smith has captured something very real in this book: the need for mothers - from all walks of life - to find something that unites us all. We're not alone on this journey, and we ought to delight in the chaos. Even on our worst days, (this book addresses those bad days, too) motherhood is a gift, and this is celebrated on every page. A wonderful book, like a warm cup of tea for the mommies collective soul.

What a wonderful collection of diaries/stories in this Mommyhood Diaries anthology! It is filled with thoughts and stories that will make you laugh and cry and I am honored to be a part of this inspiring and captivating book!

Paula Schmitt
Award-winning author of Living in a Locker Room: A Mom's Tale of Survival in a Houseful of Boys (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, Inc 2005) www.paulaschmitt.com

This is a great collection of stories from around the world! There are some that will make you think, cry, laugh and above all open your mind to Knowing that no Mother is alone in this world.

If you are a Mom, know a Mom or even want to impress a Mom, try reading or giving this book as a gift. I am also very proud to have been a part of this and think that there is something in this collection for everyone.

This book was such an inspiration to me and such a blessing! Dorcas writes from the standpoint of a wife and mother and it was an incredibly refreshing read!

I was given this book from my sister-in-law and she did not have any idea of the impact it would have on me. I was in the family at one time and had met Dorcus before briefly. I am from Oregon and it was a blessing to be able to go with her to every spot in Oregon that she went and where she lives. She mentions family that I am related to by marriage so could relate to the characters. I expecially enjoyed relating to her telling about the lessons she learned through her family and the feelings that she shared about the frustrations of raising them, both the children and in her marriage. I find her very real, gentle and loving and giving to her family. It is not action packed but tells of our own ordinary days and how important they are. Thank you Dorcus!

Loved it! A peek into a 'normal' family life in America, full of love, laughter and trouble. Smucker portrays her family in a real way, not too perfect, just right. A must read for the winter days when it's too cold to go outside and the couch is calling.

I love reading about the Amish and Mennonite people and this book is a wonderful read. Dorcus Smucker takes each chapter of her book and writes about family, friends, home, etc. Reading this book makes me wish I could live in the country.

Many things we may or may not take for granted--wall-papering with a spouse, a family cross-country trip, teaching a teen-aged son to drive--Dorcas Smucker highlights in her tender, yet straightforward prose.

Though Ordinary Days isn't chronologically organized, I found I liked the categories Smucker uses to group her short tales: Family; Seasons; Relatives; Places; Lessons. The last grouping held my favorites, with the final chapter providing drama and a great resolution.

Never preachy, endearingly humble, Smucker lets her faith shine behind her writing, a skill that's served her well through years of writing a column for my local newspaper. We need more honest, humorous people of faith like Dorcas contributing to media everywhere.