MBC: Ask Me

Welcome fall with the Meaningful Book Club.

When you are looking for a ‘welcome, autumn,’ type of book to enjoy with your child, Ask Me is a lovely choice.

More than highlighting the fall season with beautiful illustration, this book focuses on relationship. We know that the benefits of positive relationship in learning are tremendous. We know that children need to feel seen and appreciated as the individuals that they are by the adults in their lives - not just moved through a series of drop-offs, pick-ups, mealtimes, bathtimes, and bedtimes.

Ask Me, written by the late Bernard Waber and illustrated by Suzy Lee, is the story of a conversation between an adult and a child as they make their way through an afternoon in the park. Conversation is one of your greatest tools of connection as a parent. Yet it isn’t easy to know where to begin with a young child, or what conversation can look like. This book can help. Ask Me offers an accessible model that celebrates the experience of a back-and-forth dialogue between parent and child. This particular conversation centers around some of the child’s favorite things.

Developing the habit of talking with your child about their perspective is important for their overall well-being and sense of self, as well as their language and communication skills. Aim to create warm and respectful rapport that tells your child, “my parent is interested in me and my experiences. They want to hear about my daily life. They ask thoughtful questions. They are caring, curious, and accepting.”

At this time of year, many parents seek to have conversation with their children about school - asking a child what they did during the day, what their teacher is like, who they played with or sat with at lunch. And that makes sense. But conversations about school should happen within the broader experience of talking about life with your child. Make conversation a habit of relationship - not just your parental checkpoint to see what’s happening in the classroom.

We’ll share more about how to talk with your child - in general and about school - in the weeks ahead. We want to suggest you start here, with creating and practicing this foundational work with conversation. Dialogue about the classroom will come much more naturally with this in place.

Ask Me can help set the tone and show you, and your child, what that foundation might look like.

Enjoy!