A couple of weeks ago, my husband went away with friends for the weekend. My daughter, a true Daddy's Girl, was ok during the day when she was busy. But when bedtime came, she became very droopy. Usually my husband is the one who reads to her at bedtime, and she just wanted Daddy. Alas, all we had were books.
To cheer her up on the first night, I suggested that we read The Donut Chef by Bob Staake, reminding her that it was one of my husband's favorites. She countered by asking me for books about daddies and daughters that we could read. She specifically requested Pink Me Up by Charise Mericle Harper (review here). We could not, however, find Pink Me Up. (What can I say? We have a lot of picture books in the house. I'm still looking for that one.)
I did find a book called Giddy-Up, Daddy! by Troy Cummings, and we read that. Then I pulled out Mitchell Goes Bowling by Hallie Durand and Tony Fucile. I read that one to her, substituting her name for Mitchell's name, and "she" for "he" throughout. She did not want me to read Because I Am Your Daddy by Sherry North and Marcellus Hall, because that was one for Daddy to read to her himself. The next night, after attending a birthday party, she was too tired for books.
And there you have it. While I've seen my daughter turn to books for comfort before, this is the first time that I've seen her specifically use books to make her feel closer to someone she was missing. I suspect I'd better stock up on books about kids and grandparents, for the days immediately following my parents' upcoming visit.
Do your kids do this? Use books to remind them of people? Or use books for comfort in other ways? If not, you might want to try it. Because it definitely works for us. Thanks for reading!
© 2016 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook.
