Nowadays, parents face many new modern difficulties, have so many questions and often feel like there is no answer to their fears and dilemmas. But don’t worry! We are here to help and so is our April reading list. We are sure that the books we recommended will answer some of your questions. In addition, celebrating the fact that spring is finally here, we also listed a book that will give you plenty of ideas for the outdoor activities with your little ones.  

Did you have a chance to already read one of these books? Share with us how they helped you.

1. All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood – Jennifer Senior

In All Joy and No Fun, award-winning journalist Jennifer Senior , analyzes the many ways children reshape their parents’ lives, whether it’s their marriages, their jobs, their habits, their hobbies, their friendships, or their internal senses of self. She argues that changes in the last half century have radically altered the roles of today’s mothers and fathers, making their mandates at once more complex and far less clear.

This book, besides answering some of most complex questions of modern parents, also makes us reconsider some of our culture’s most basic beliefs about parenthood, all while illuminating the profound ways children deepen and add purpose to our lives. By focusing on parenthood, rather than parenting, the book is original and essential reading for mothers and fathers of today””and tomorrow.

2. Raise the Child You’ve Got””Not the One You Want: Why everyone thrives when parents lead with acceptance – Nancy Rose

Although we know it’s of no use, we have all been there – comparing our child with other children and ourselves with other parents. You probably caught yourself wishing your child was more patient”¦or more outgoing”¦or less impulsive”¦or more creative…or simply different from who he or she is. Trying to do better and banging your head against the wall because your child didn’t meet your expectations, feeling like you failed as a parent.

There is a way out of your endless loop of frustration, according to this book by parent coach Nancy Rose. She paves the way out of all your problems with a remarkably effective approach: leading with acceptance. This approach will help you discover what you can and cannot change about your child and gain peace of mind as you raise your children to become their best, happiest selves.

3.  131 conversation that Engage Kids – Jed Jurchenko

In this book, Jed Jurchenko author of the ,,131″ book series about parenthood, family and kids, discusses one of the most important parts of our lives – conversation! Explaining all the benefits of encouraging face-to-face conversations with your children, such as creating a connection, dealing with their everyday dilemmas and problems or just doing it for fun, he teaches you the best and most efficient ways to do it.

Besides that, he gives advice on how to help your children make friends, inspire change in themselves and others and how to feel free enough to share most parts of their life with you.

4. 101 Things For Kids To Do Outside – Dawn Isac

Make a garden out of plastic bottles, predict time with help of pinecone, measure how old is the apple tree in your garden, learn how to plant and raise sauce for your pizza, etc. This are just a few out of 101 activities for children and their parents to do outside, that you will find in the book by Dawn Isac. We all know just how important is to spend time outside, in nature, breathing fresh air and feeling the sun on your skin while doing something exciting and fun, therefore this book will help you to use your time with children in the best possible way, bonding and learning many useful skills and information.

If you have other books you’ve read and would like to share, please let us know in the comments below! We will add them to our new list next month.

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Led by the power of knowledge that one book can give a child, each year Novak Djokovic Foundation celebrates the World Book Day. On that occasion, we try to raise the awareness on how reading has a great positive impact on child’s education and development. Often children look for their first books at their school or city libraries. Therefore, we have recognized that a key to motivating children to read, is to invest in the libraries and their book funds. By wishing to connect as many children as possible with the enchanting power of books, we have organised several donations campaigns and collected thousands of books for children’s libraries from all over Serbia.

“When we saw that school libraries were outdated, that students were not able to read their favorite titles, and that they lacked books, we immediately launched this campaign to enrich the library funds. Our wish was to enable the children to grow up with their favorite characters, such as Harry Potter, The Three Musketeers, The Wizard of Oz, and also to get education from the school atlases and other encyclopedic publications. We all need to encourage a love of reading in children, and help them develop and refine their knowledge”   – Jelena Djokovic, the global director and co-founder of the Foundation.

In 2014, we presented primary schools in Ljig, Gruza and Sirca with 300 books, which renewed the school libraries and increased the number of books in their collection. Our friends from publishing houses  “Kreativni Centar”  and  “Evro-Giunti” took part, as well as the Serbian writer Una Kozic.

In partnership with publishing houses “Evro-Guinti”, “JRJ” and ” Kreativni centar”, in 2015, we have donated 550 books to primary school “Vladika Nikolaj Velimirović” in Valjevo.  The school that counts more than 650 students, has suffered extensive damage in May floods in 2014, and many books, encyclopedias, school atlases and other literature were destroyed in the library  premises. We have succeeded to change that for the better and filled the library shelves with fantastic books, such as “The Wizard of Oz,” “Alice in Wonderland”, “Five friends”  and many other contemporary  titles.

“There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully, as those we spent with a favorite  book.” – Marcel Proust

With each donation, the power of a book enlarges. That’s why, in 2016, we organised a donation campaign “Books with love”. For each donated book, the Foundation donated one more. As a result of the campaign we have gathered 1.500 books for the children in the SOS Children’s village in Kraljevo.  Many “small book donors” aged 5-10, along with their parents, grandparents and other people of good will donated their carefully selected books to a group of less fortunate children in Kraljevo.  It was so great to see that there were so many kids who decided to do something good for other boys and girls and to donate the books they no longer use.  Now the children in Kraljevo are able to enjoy stories, novels and poems, to improve knowledge and their  imagination.

©Vemicphoto

© Jelena Vemic

“Access to books and the encouragement of the habit of reading: these two things are the first and most necessary steps in education and librarians, teachers and parents all over the country know it. It is our children’s right and it is also our best hope and their best hope for the future.” – Michael Morpurgo

As a result of our traditional charity event “Walk a Mile for a Smile”, the funds raised from donations of the sponsors who supported the campaign and from the participants in this charity were invested in the enrichment of the library of the  primary school “Milivoje Borovic”  in Mackat, Serbian village. In 2016, we delivered this donation in the amount of RSD  587,892  to this school that counts more than 200 students.

Your support means a lot to us, because only together we could achieved such a large number of donated books. Thanks to you, children from all around Serbia got an opportunity to flow into the magical world of reading. If maybe you didn’t participate in one of these donation campaigns before, let this day inspire you! Make children from your neighborhood or nearby park happy by giving them your favorite childhood book. Or take some time off before going to bed, and read your little one his favorite bed time story. Believe us – each book that made a child smile, is remembered forever. We wish you a happy World Book Day!

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Once they start school, children face many challenges. How to master complex mathematical operations, how to understand the world of science and society, and how to develop expressive language skills. We were all told in school that the more we read, it will be easier for us to express and style our speech, thoughts, and beliefs.

  A person who develops a healthy reading habit is more than just a well-read person. He/she has more self-confidence, has more confidence in what he/she is saying and is able to deal with any unforeseen event. This is why we, the grown-ups, must pass the habit on to our children.

 How to inspire a child to read?

Experts believe that developing a child’s belief in his own ability to acquire knowledge through reading is one of the most essential encouragements for reading. This is what scientists refer to as the feeling of self-efficacy.

Self-efficacy   develops a positive self-confidence  in children  and  belief that their hard work and effort will pay off. They learn that through reading  they are capable of gaining knowledge and experience.  

In this way, children’s fear of reading is also reduced. If a teacher or a parent manages to develop the self-efficacy assessment ability in children, they are on the right way to inspire their children to make an effort to discover and resolve all the tasks that unfold before them as they read.

Some of the first steps that parents can take in order to develop a feeling of self-efficacy in children in the reading process are:

• emphasizing the importance and value of reading as a useful activity;
• creating a positive atmosphere for reading;
• encouraging the need for reading;
• helping a child to develop a believing in himself as a reader.

Teachers have a key role in motivating children to read.

Who should motivate a child to read?

Child’s motivation for reading starts from several places – parents, siblings, or school teachers.  A child’s love for books and their enthusiasm for learning and enjoying reading should be nurtured every day.

From the earliest age, the family should develop a positive attitude to books in their child. The child needs to believe that it is an active process as they grow up. A process which they will enjoy and which will provide the new knowledge and skills.

Teachers may have a key impact on the development of a positive approach to reading. Once the approach is ingrained in the child, reading becomes one of their favorite activities. Children themselves will initiate reading in their free time.

 How can  teachers in schools motivate children to read?

Teachers are the ones who create an encouraging environment in which a child continuously interacts with the reading process. They should create a socially-constructive approach additionally improving and encouraging a child’s motivation for reading.

A teacher can achieve this in the following ways:

• to the degree possible, by adjusting the topic of selected compulsory reading and homework with a child’s age and their interests;
• instead of a conventional approach where a child reads compulsory reading on their own, a teacher can organize activities of reading in pairs or in groups;
• by asking a child to share their experience after they finish a book, whether in writing or orally and with their friends;
• by motivating children to also link the books with their certain life experiences; and
• by organizing classes where children can talk about the material they read in their free time – online texts, manga comics, books other than compulsory reading, magazines.

The magic of reading! The moment when you sit in your special corner, holding a book and get transported to another world, often distant and unknown. The most wonderful thing is imparting love and a positive attitude toward everything  to children, even reading. Reading shapes us and makes us active, capable and wise. When they realize that they learned a lot of new things, children are motivated to keep searching for answers. That is why you should encourage the child to enjoy the magic of reading.

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