Marigold Twinkletooth and the Star-Coin Surprise: A Tooth Fairy Tale
Written by Jamie Kucia
Ariel is a bit nervous. She will play her first T-ball game tomorrow, and she is about to lose her first tooth.
As Ariel prepares for bed, the loose tooth pops out. She places it under her pillow and wonders whether the Tooth Fairy will visit her. Her question is soon answered. When the Tooth Fairy arrives, she appears confused and flustered. This is a different kind of tooth fairy, filled with humor and zany antics. The glossary and Tooth Fairy message add to the fun of this interactive tale.
What kind of wish will the Tooth Fairy grant Ariel? Can Ariel find the confidence to play T-ball?
This Readers’ Favorite Award winner will delight preschool and primary grade readers. Read it aloud to appreciate the onomatopoeic words and sounds.
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Hai uses poetry combined with the beauty of nature to convey a message of unconditional love. This book allows a parent or grandparent to give young children an outlet from a stress-filled world.
The digital images of animals and natural scenes portray a vision of calm and beauty. Hai manages to reduce the rhymes to no more than two lines, which perfectly convey meaning.
This book should be read aloud before bedtime as a perfect way to prepare for a restful sleep. I would especially recommend it for children in the four-to-seven age range.
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When Your Child Learns Differently, You Don’t Have to Navigate It Alone
Every child learns in their own unique way. Some children may need extra time, different strategies, additional support, or simply a teacher who understands how they learn best. As a parent, recognizing that your child may be struggling can bring a mix of questions, concerns, and uncertainty—especially when you’re not sure what to say or where to begin.
The good news is that you don’t have to figure it all out by yourself.
As a New York State-certified Special Education and Nursery through 12th Grade educator, I know how important the partnership between parents and teachers can be. Open, respectful communication can help everyone better understand a child’s strengths, challenges, and individual learning needs.
In this article, I’m sharing practical tips to help parents feel more prepared and confident when talking with their child’s teacher about learning differences. I’ve also included helpful guidance from Understood.org, a valuable resource for parents and educators supporting children who learn and think differently.
Remember: asking questions is not being difficult, and advocating for your child is not being demanding. It is being an important part of your child’s educational team.
The goal isn’t to find someone to blame. It’s to build a partnership that helps your child feel understood, supported, and capable of succeeding.
How to talk to your child’s teacher about learning differences and ADHD
Teachers can be a big source of support for struggling students and their families. Use this discussion guide to help raise your concerns and talk about how you can work together. What’s inside
General tips
If you don’t know why your child is struggling
If your child has a diagnosis
More resources General tips You may not be sure what to say about your child’s challenges, and that’s OK. Take a deep breath, and remember that the teacher is there to support your child. Here are some tips to help get ready for the conversation.
Make an appointment. You don’t have to wait until parent-teacher conferences to talk with your child’s teacher. But remember that teachers’ workdays are jam-packed. Ask to schedule a 15- to 20-minute appointment, either in person or by phone or videoconference. Be sure to thank the teacher for their time and support — gratitude can help build the relationship.
Prepare what you want to say. When you meet with the teacher, be clear and specific. Spend some time before the meeting to plan what you want to say and ask. Try writing your ideas down, recording voice notes, or practicing with a friend. Focus on these key areas ahead of time:
Challenges you want to talk about
Strengths or interests that can help your child complete tasks
Responses you can use if the teacher says something you weren’t expecting or that heightens your emotions. For example, you can say, “Let me think about that and get back to you.”
Be open to working together. A strong partnership with teachers can have a positive impact on your child. Keep in mind that successful partnerships are built on mutual respect. If you’ve had bad experiences at school, you might have trouble trusting that things will go well. You can ask for the meeting to include a staff member you know well or a family member or friend who can help you go into this conversation with an open mind.
Prepare yourself emotionally. Talking about your child’s challenges can bring up strong emotions. It helps to practice what you want to say in advance. During the conversation, you can take a deep breath or refer to your notes if you need to pause and steady yourself.
Follow up after the meeting. Send a thank-you email for taking the time to meet. Summarize what you talked about and any next steps you agreed on. Make a plan for checking in again by suggesting a date or timeframe. Talking regularly can help you build the relationship. You don’t need to wait until there’s something specific to talk about.
If you don’t know why your child is struggling
Talking with your child’s teacher is a great first step in getting answers and finding the right support. Planning ahead can help make the conversation go smoothly. Ask for a time to talk by phone, by email, or in person. “Hi. I’m the [parent or caregiver of X]. I’ve noticed my child is having challenges with [reading, math, paying attention, etc.]. I’d like to set up a time to talk about it.” Start by explaining your purpose. “Thanks for meeting with me. I’d like your help understanding some challenges my child is having with….” Share some details about what you’ve noticed. “This tends to happen [when, where, and how often].” “I started noticing this [how long ago].” Share strategies you’ve tried at home. “I’ve tried [which strategy], and that has helped [a little/a lot/ not at all].” Ask for input. “Is this something you’ve noticed too?” “Any strategies you use at school that might help at home?” “Do you think I should talk to the school counselor about my child’s challenges?” Talk about next steps. “Thanks for your time. Let’s talk again after I’ve had a chance to try some of your suggestions. What timeframe feels reasonable for us to check in?” After the meeting Tips What you can say Follow up with a thank-you email. “Thanks so much for your help. Can we check in after I’ve had time to think about this and talk about what happens next? How about we check in two weeks from now?”
Remember, You are not alone, and you can have a productive conversation with your child’s teacher.
A truly interactive book that encourages distance communication, learning new vocabulary, healthy snacking, and building independence for toddlers and grandparents.
The simple rhymes that incorporate lots of sounds entice toddlers and preschoolers. Simple, large, and expressive illustrations convey the message effectively. I would have preferred to see the “wowa” cut with a knife and carry the glass, but I understand the message intent of the young child learning responsibility.
The simple act of a grandmother and a toddler preparing a healthy snack together while communicating by phone reinforces the importance of connection in a modern world in which relatives often live far apart.
I recommend this book for children ages two through five, their parents, and grandparents.
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My Little Eye Spies ABC Christmas: Finger Trace and Find
Written and illustrated by Ella’s Pearl Publishing
This activity book serves a dual purpose. Parents or teachers can provide a multisensory approach to learning the letters and associated vocabulary while enjoying a book about Christmas traditions.
Toddlers and preschoolers are instructed to say the letter, say the sound, and then trace the letter. Next, they will name the things on the page, name the things that begin with that letter, and finally, trace the letter again. This approach reinforces memory learning and addresses various learning styles.
There is an answer key at the back of the book that may be used repeatedly for practice.
I highly recommend this book for parents and teachers of children ages two through five years.
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Boredom is not empty. It is the space where attention resets, creativity gathers, and ordinary life becomes vivid again. The goal is not to escape it faster but to stay long enough to receive what it offers. The empty moment was never the problem. It was always the opening.
“Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience.”
— Walter Benjamin
Boredom has developed a worse reputation than it deserves. For most of human history it was simply the quiet background of a life, the unremarkable space between one thing and the next. Now it appears and vanishes within a second, erased by a screen before it can settle, and something valuable has been quietly lost in that trade.
This report is not about doing more with your time or filling it more wisely. It is about the opposite: learning to sit inside empty time without flinching and to stop treating every idle moment as a gap that must be closed. What follows are nine practical ways to become comfortable with boredom again, so that your focus steadies, your creativity returns, and your ordinary days start to feel like enough.
Tip 1: Rename the Feeling
Boredom is not an emergency, and treating it like one keeps you reaching for the nearest escape. It is closer to a signal that your attention is momentarily unoccupied and simply waiting for direction. The next time it arrives, name it plainly as ordinary boredom rather than something wrong to be fixed, and let it stay a passing state you can leave alone.
Tip 2: Leave the Small Gaps Empty
The habit of filling every spare second is built one tiny gap at a time, in the seconds spent waiting in line, riding an elevator, or pausing between tasks. Each of those gaps is short and low in stakes, which makes them the ideal training ground for a larger tolerance. Choose a few of them each day and deliberately leave them empty, letting yourself simply stand there and wait.
Tip 3: Let the Restlessness Rise and Pass
When you stop filling a moment, a wave of restlessness usually follows, and it can feel surprisingly physical. That feeling is not a sign that anything is wrong; it is a nervous system used to constant stimulation meeting a moment without any. Rather than acting on it, watch it the way you watch weather, and notice how it crests within a minute or two and fades on its own.
Tip 4: Do One Thing at a Time
Much of what we call boredom is the quiet letdown of an activity that offers only one stream of input at a time. Single-tasking feels slow at first because you have trained yourself to expect several things at once. Pick one ordinary activity each day, whether eating, walking, or washing dishes, and do only that with nothing playing in the background.
Tip 5: Put Empty Time on the Calendar
Unstructured time rarely happens by accident anymore, so it helps to plan for it on purpose. Set aside a short window, even fifteen minutes, with no task, no screen, and no goal beyond letting the time stay open. Sit on a step, look out a window, or wander the block with no destination, and let the emptiness be the point rather than a problem.
Tip 6: Stay With the Boring Task
Dull, repetitive chores are usually treated as things to rush through or distract yourself away from, yet they are a reliable way to practice staying present when nothing exciting is happening. The next time you fold laundry or tidy a room, do it without a podcast or video filling the silence, and give the task your full attention. You will feel the pull toward escape, and each time you stay with it instead, that pull grows a little weaker.
Tip 7: Let Your Mind Wander
An unoccupied mind is not an idle one, because left alone it drifts, connects, and quietly works on problems in the background. This wandering is where a great deal of creativity and insight comes from, which is why answers so often arrive in the shower or on a walk. Give yourself regular stretches with no input, let your thoughts go wherever they like, and treat the drifting as useful rather than wasted.
Tip 8: Turn Down the Stimulation
When your baseline is set by fast, intense, endlessly novel input, ordinary life begins to feel flat and boredom arrives much faster. Lowering that baseline lets the quieter pleasures of an ordinary day register again. For a week, reduce your most stimulating inputs and let your senses recalibrate, and notice how moments that once felt boring begin to feel simply calm.
Tip 9: Give Boredom a Long Enough Runway
The first stretch of any empty moment is almost always the hardest part, and most people give up right there. If you can stay past that initial discomfort, boredom often softens into something closer to rest, reflection, or unexpected interest. Give the feeling more time than you think it needs, and treat the early restlessness as the toll for entry rather than a reason to turn back.
💡 Key Insight Boredom is not empty. It is the space where attention resets, creativity gathers, and ordinary life becomes vivid again. The goal is not to escape it faster but to stay long enough to receive what it offers. The empty moment was never the problem. It was always the opening.
Fast Action Steps
Comfort with boredom grows through small, repeated practice rather than a single decision. These two steps give you a simple place to begin this week.
Action 1: Sit With One Empty Moment
Choose one moment today when you would normally reach for a distraction, and let it stay empty instead. Notice what the restlessness feels like and how long it actually lasts. The aim is not to enjoy the moment but to prove to yourself that you can stay in it.
Which everyday moment will you leave empty, and what did you notice when you did?
Action 2: Reclaim One Single-Tasked Activity
Pick one routine activity and commit to doing it with no background input for the next several days. Let it be as slow and unremarkable as it wants to be. Over a few repetitions, watch whether the urge to fill the silence begins to loosen its grip.
What activity will you single-task, and what pulls at you when the background noise is gone?
Recommended Reading
These books explore boredom, stillness, and the quiet value of unstructured time.
Recommended reading:
Bored and Brilliant by Manoush Zomorodi
How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
The Art of Stillness by Pico Iyer
Rest by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
Do Nothing by Celeste Headlee
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
Solitude by Anthony Storr
Next Step Pick one empty moment tomorrow and let it stay empty. That single unfilled pause is the whole practice in miniature, and every calm, unhurried moment you allow makes the next one easier to meet.
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12 Sleeps ’til Christmas (The Countdown Collection)
Illustrated by I. Bunet
An adorable rhyming book that celebrates the joys of counting down to Christmas.
The author employs a novel approach to the countdown, using the word sleeps instead of days. Siblings begin twelve days before Christmas and count down time by reflecting in rhyme about the activities that families perform during the preparation for Christmas Day.
The rhymes are crisp and simple to read, and the multicultural illustrations are a delight for the eyes. This book is a good choice for an addition to family library read-alouds. It is appropriate for preschool and elementary-age readers.
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The heartwarming tale of a family exhibiting true Christmas spirit.
Doodle lives with her grandparents on a farm. Her grandfather is creative and inventive, spending much of his time creating toys and inventions for his granddaughter and her friends. When Doodle and her friends discover an old tractor on the farm, they plead with their grandfather to allow them to fix it up. Soon the entire family is involved in transforming the old tractor into a beautiful Christmas float for the town’s Christmas parade. Doodle and her friends plan to ride on it and distribute candy and Christmas cheer to their community.
This warm, holiday tale exemplifies families who work together and share love and kindness throughout the community.
I highly recommend it for parents and teachers of school-age children.
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This book is written from the perspective of a dog named Oreo.
Children are brought through the activities of Oreo’s family as they prepare for the Christmas season and hope for snow. The rhyming text consists of a few lines that are written in large print that is easy to read. Illustrations are large and expressive, matching the mood and building the anticipation of the story.
Recommended for families with children aged one and older.
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A book that celebrates a tradition that many families share: visiting a Christmas tree farm to find and cut the perfect Christmas tree.
One unusual Christmas tree has been passed over by visitors for many years, but when a boy and his family enter the farm this year, the ugly tree finally gets a chance to shine. This particular boy is attracted to the misshapen tree because he has also experienced gossip and mistreatment due to a scar on his face. When the boy spies the tree, he is immediately drawn to it. He convinces his family that this is the perfect tree for them. After bringing it home and decorating it, the ugly tree becomes a thing of beauty.
This book is perfect for families and teaches children that beauty comes from the goodness within, not physical, outward appearances.
An appropriate choice for children of any age.
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September 23, 2026
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