Reese loves to read. I mean this kid can have her head buried in a book for hours, the world could be falling apart around her and she’ll continue to turn the pages. The other day we were hanging out at home and she started in with the “I’m bored” routine. When she suggested a trip to our local library to pick out a few books, I was all over it. Free A/C, peace and quiet for a few hours, and an educated kid…Sign me up! Life Lessons
Normally she’s pretty good about picking out her own books but this time, she wanted me to pick. She asked me to pick some books that I loved to read as a kid so she could read them. The first book I found was “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day“.
Before I could ask her if she had read it she started to tell me what it was about. She said…”Oh yeah, that’s the book that teaches you that no one is perfect and that everyone has a bad day sometimes”. I was pretty impressed because she was spot on. She then went on to tell me, “Yeah mom, every book teaches you a lesson, you just have to look for it”. Life Lessons
This got me thinking, do children’s books really teach life lessons? Actually yes they do, and as my daughter said, you just have to look for them. Here are is a list of my favorite childhood books along with the lessons they have taught me.
Everybody Has Bad Days
In Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day we learn that everybody has bad days. With the storyline of exaggerated behaviors within a family, this book teaches the life lesson that no one is above having a bad day. We are all imperfect humans who love our family but can sometimes have bad days.
We Are Whole After All Life Lessons
Shel Silverstein’s book, The Missing Piece is a popular kids book that ultimately teaches the life lesson that we are often more whole than we realize. This book tells the story of a circle that goes around singing and experiencing the beauty of life while trying to find its missing piece. This book helps you see that sometimes the journey is better than what’s missing.
The Grass Isn’t Always Greener Life Lessons
The old school book, Where the Wild Things Are, will teach you that running away isn’t always a good option. What’s the saying, “the grass isn’t always greener on the other side”?! Perhaps Where the Wild Things Are helps teach this life lesson with a scary twist of dropping a young boy into a world of monsters as a way of teaching him that life at home isn’t so bad.
Helping Others Give Us Meaning Life Les
This is a great life lesson that several children’s books teach. The best example is from my favorite childhood book, Charlotte’s Web. This classic tells the story of a little girl who helps her farm animal friends so that they don’t end up at dinner. This journey of going out of her way to help her friends through a problem teaches us that helping others gives us meaning and purpose in life.
Do What You’re Best At Life Lessons
This life lesson is something we have to learn over and over again, but the children’s book Fish in a Tree will certainly help get you to see the depth of this lesson. Do not thrive to be a fish that can climb a tree, instead, focus on being a fish who can swim amazingly. This simply means do what you’re best at, don’t try to be someone else.
What have your favorite childhood books taught you?
