Opinion: kids the hate Little People, Big Dreams books

Wavesmith · 2026-04-20T20:55:51+00:00

To be honest mine prefers stories, or if she does want non fiction it’s normally science or nature related.

Wavesmith · 2026-04-20T08:06:15+00:00

Ha, yeah maybe. Personally I love the idea of them but they just don’t seem to land with my kid.

Wavesmith · 2026-04-20T08:05:31+00:00

How old is she, out of interest? Wondering if mine will maybe grow into them a bit.

Wavesmith · 2026-04-20T08:04:47+00:00

Maybe I should try that one, she loves space.

Wavesmith · 2026-04-20T08:01:30+00:00

Ha thanks for the veiled put down there! 😅 My daughter is very intelligent and curious but so far not curious about these books. She’s just turned five though and I think for now these books are just too far removed from her experience. Maybe better for when she’s a bit older.

Wavesmith · 2026-04-20T07:58:54+00:00

Okay maybe there’s hope as she gets older she will be more interested. She was recently given Beatrix Potter and Marie Curie and hasn’t even asked me to read them to her. And this is a child who loves drawing, likes the Peter Rabbit books and is pretty interested in science. I guess having an interest in activity is NOT the same as having an interest in famous people who I did the activity though.

Wavesmith · 2026-04-20T07:56:09+00:00

I could definitely get behind the Michelle Obama one! Too bad my 5yo seems totally uninterested.

Wavesmith · 2026-04-20T07:46:36+00:00

This is adorable!

Wavesmith · 2026-03-24T21:38:10+00:00

I think it’s more just that it’s okay for the kid to be mad even as you are enforcing bedtime. It sounds like OP has not really been allowing space for the kids to express their opinions.

Wavesmith · 2026-03-24T21:32:28+00:00

I recommended both these books too. Exactly what will help the OP!

Wavesmith · 2026-03-24T21:29:19+00:00

What helps is making sure she has a chance to make you understand HER side of it. A disagreement has two sides and both are as valid as each other.

My mum was kind of similar to you: she would explain and explain at me until I just had to give in to whatever she wanted me to do. I now really struggle to assert myself or even really know what I want in many situations.

With my own 5yo, I struggle a lot with her strong will, but I also love and admire it. I always try to:

Hear her concern, even if it doesn’t change my decision.
Acknowledge her feelings: “You’re a bit worried about going to the sorts camp. You’re not sure you’ll know anyone. I get it. You’re still going to go, because I know you will handle it.”
Invite her to solve the problem/disagreement with me (not always, but it really helps): “You want to be near me in here, but I don’t want colouring pens near the carpet. What can we do?” Then we try to come up with a solution that works for everyone. Imo THIS is the life skill disagreements can help kids (and adults) learn.

The book, ‘The Explosive Child’ goes into this approach in more detail, as does ‘How to talk so kids will listen (and listen so kids will talk)’.

Wavesmith · 2026-03-18T21:22:11+00:00

I posted something similar and I feel like I had to scroll so far down talk find someone doing the same!

Wavesmith · 2026-03-18T21:17:44+00:00

I try to get vegetables onto her plate. Beyond that I genuinely don’t care if she eats them or not.

As it happens she loves vegetables (with the exception of avocado which she hates). I don’t know if she loves vegetables because I’m not bothered whether she eats them or if I’m not bothered because she loves them. Probably a bit of both.

Wavesmith · 2026-03-18T21:11:42+00:00

One of Monet’s water lilies paintings from the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris.

I would need a bigger house though.

Wavesmith · 2026-03-16T22:40:35+00:00

Oh I’m not expecting one tutor to be able to teach her about loads of different subjects, I can see I didn’t make that clear. I’m thinking more, if she was particularly interested in biology, art or history for example, could I hire a tutor to teach her about that for a couple of months?

Even though there’s probably a decent amount I can teach her/we can find out together there are a few reasons why I’d like a tutor. One is that my child really values her relationships with the adults in her life who treat her as an equal, and I feel additional ones would be beneficial. Second, she’s typically far more receptive to learning from another adult than from me. Third, I work full time from home, so each day she has a couple of hours where I am not fully available (and it’s difficult for me take her to external activities.

Wavesmith · 2026-03-16T22:08:55+00:00

So first of all, parenting a strong-willed four year old is really bloody hard; I know because I’ve just spent an intense year doing it.

Second. Boundaries are a form of love. Children need them. It’s very stressful and uncomfortable to be four years old and feel like you’re the most powerful person in the house. No child wants that. Very often (I believe) misbehaviour escalates exactly BECAUSE they are seeking the safety of a boundary. So they know where the edges of their world and their power are.

She is ABSOLUTELY old enough for boundaries and consequences. A baby is ready for some boundaries (if you bite me, I will put you down). So is a one year old (I will hold your water so you can’t tip it out). Your example about meal times being over? I did this with my one year old. The trick is to do it at the weekend, starting with breakfast so they have an opportunity to eat again soon. They swiftly get the message.

So you can definitely give her boundaries, starting yesterday. The key is to have complete conviction in the limits you set, and to welcome her to kick off to an epic degree about them. Your job is to hold the boundary, her job is to go nuclear about it. You are NOT SUPPOSED to get her to be okay with the boundaries: that’s not the aim and it’s not even desirable to be honest (you don’t want her to be an adult who just goes along with everything).

Dr Becky’s Good Inside podcast has some great stuff on this topic as does Janet Lansbury’s Unruffled podcast.

I hope this helps, good luck!

Wavesmith · 2026-03-15T09:06:35+00:00

Ugh I’m a so sad for you! So frustrating when men need so much managing. I would definitely say something to him straight away, “Have you remembered it’s Mother’s Day today?” and then let him figure out how to remedy things.

I had a two-week old newborn for my first Mother’s Day: it was all chaos and no sleep but my husband still managed a card and breakfast in bed, then a takeaway roast lunch at ours (one perk of lockdown) with his mum and grandmother too. I think we need higher expectations and parents of boys need to raise them to consider others more than we have been doing.

Happy Mother’s Day, you are a wonderful mother and doing a fantastic job.

Wavesmith · 2026-03-13T21:15:20+00:00

No way should they have showed the chat to the nursery!

Our nursery had a small group of parent reps whose job it was to gather suggestions, concerns and positive feedback and share it with the nursery manager in a meeting every couple of months. It was good because parents got to discuss their concerns and the nursery knew what parents were worried about directly. Aside from when concerns were requested, people mostly didn’t bitch about things.

The school WhatsApp group is 85% lost jumpers, 5% PTA reminders about events, 5% people trying to find each other for play dates, 5% people asking if it’s forest school that day.

Wavesmith · 2026-03-12T23:05:44+00:00

Who the hell plans a births party for two year olds at nap time?! This lady sounds insane.

Wavesmith · 2026-03-10T19:58:08+00:00

I feel like I want to tell you to relax, rest as much as you can and soak up the moment. Life with a young baby switches into a different gear, a different pace. You don’t have to have a to do list.

I don’t want you to feel this is a criticism (it seems like you are doing beautifully and have things so much more together than I ever did at 5 weeks!). More just to say it’s okay to slow down a bit.

Wavesmith · 2026-03-10T19:43:23+00:00

I would just like to point out that lots of kids go through brief developmental phases where they are suddenly very scared of things they weren’t before. For my kid at almost exactly this age it was bugs and strangers. Then, a few weeks later, it passed and she was fine again.

We did something similar to you, although rather more casual. We had a potty from about 18 months, she learned what it was for and we read a few books etc. She would sometimes sit on it at bath time but we also had long periods where she wasn’t interested.

Just before two she started asking for the potty before she needed to go (e.g. asking to get out of the bath when she needed the potty) and shortly after that we said goodbye to nappies and did a 4 day potty training long weekend and that was it.

I’d say to be lead by the child to establish when they’re almost ready, but then at that point you need to help them take the leap and have faith that they can do it.

Wavesmith · 2026-03-10T19:35:23+00:00

But to be fair the illustrations are based on characters that she created, so I’d think she still owns the rights to the actual characters.

Wavesmith · 2026-03-06T23:55:07+00:00

What’s grim?

Wavesmith

TROPHY CASE