Using Children’s Literature to Address Tough Topics
You’ve probably heard the hype about reading with your children: reading to your child can build empathy, develop language and cognitive skills, and strengthen the parent-child bond (Child Mind Institute, 2023).
However, children’s books are also a powerful tool for generating discussions with your children about important and complicated topics like…
Divorce
Puberty
Addiction
Bullying
Friendship
Death and loss
Peer pressure
Consent
Stress reduction
Handling big feelings
and more!
When something new and tricky comes up in a child’s life, giving them more age-appropriate information is usually better - and when you’re not sure how to broach a challenging conversation, a kid’s book can be a great place to start.
Here are a few questions you can start with after reading a relevant book:
What did you think of the story?
I noticed that in our book, [character] experienced [event]. Have you ever seen something like that happen? What was that like?
Do you have any questions about what happened in the story?
Did you agree with the way that [character] handled [situation]? Why or why not?
Do you think [character]’s life is like your life? Why or why not?
You can also use a children’s book as a jumping off point for explaining a new concept to a child. For example,
Parent: “Thanks for reading that book with me. What happened to the kid in the book?”
Child: “His grandma got cancer.”
Parent: “Yes, that’s right. Have you ever heard of someone having cancer before?”
Child: “Kind of. Miles told me that his aunt had cancer a few months ago, but I did not know what that meant.”
Parent: “That makes sense. What happened to his grandma in the book?”
Child: “She got very sick and had to stay in bed a lot. He was worried about her.”
Parent: “Yes, that’s right. Cancer is a type of sickness. It happens when a part of someone’s body starts growing too fast, and they get a lump called a tumor. Many people with cancer get very sick and get help from doctors and nurses.”
Child: “Do you have cancer? Do I have cancer?”
Parent: “No, you and I don’t have cancer. It does not happen as often as getting a cold or the flu. It is a pretty serious sickness. I wanted to explain that your Aunt Crystal has cancer, just like his grandma did in the book.”
Child: “Oh no. Is Aunt Crystal going to be okay?”
Parent: “Aunt Crystal will probably be pretty sick for a while. She needs to stay in a hospital for some time. We will go visit her and help take care of her.”
As you can see, using a story can help build a child’s schema for an unfamiliar topic in a way that a conversation alone cannot. It can also help normalize experiences that may feel scary or difficult, especially if you read a few different stories about the same topic.
Through engaging stories and thoughtful questions, you can use books to build understanding and foster open communication with your children.
