Kindergarten Books > Duna Wants

Duna Wants

by Rana Mansour Odeh , illustrations by Nadine Sidani

Three-year-old Duna keeps saying “I don’t want,” until a book her father brings home makes a change. This book invites parents to understand and deal with children’s refusal behavior.

Family Activities

Duna invites us to her childish and curious world, by her usual sentence "I don't want".  But, like most 2-3 years old children, Duna goes through a period which is characterized by "stubbornness and rejection", declaring by that her need to examine the limits of the others and to expose her ...

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Duna invites us to her childish and curious world, by her usual sentence "I don't want".  But, like most 2-3 years old children, Duna goes through a period which is characterized by "stubbornness and rejection", declaring by that her need to examine the limits of the others and to expose her independent personality from parents.

Her will sometimes conflicts with others needs, and by the time she sees the new book, Duna gets more curious. Duna's curiosity and her parents’ teach us how to deal with children behavior at this age, and to support them to make the right decision at their own pace.

Dear parents, we share with you a few suggestions which you may do with your children regarding this book:

Family Activities

  • You can have a conversation with your child regarding Duna's behavior at home and at the kindergarten: Why does she refuse what is given to her? Or asked to do? You can also talk about Duna's feelings in these situations.
  • You can bring two cards, one with a smiling face and the other with sad face. You can ask your child to choose randomly one card and to ask him/her what he/she always wants or doesn't want. You can let your child ask you the same questions in order to make things clear about accepted behaviors in the family.
  • You may choose one issue or problematic aspect of your daily life with your child – something that he/she always refuses to do (such as, to arrange his stuff or to take a bath etc..) and act it out together, encouraging your child to express feelings about rejecting things and suggest alternative solutions to decrease the intensity of his rejection.
  • You can make a deal with your child, to let him do things which he likes, but on the other hand, to forbid him from doing harmful things such as playing on the street.

المربّية العزيزة،

يتميّز أطفال الثالثة والرّابعة بالعناد، فهم يصّرون على مطلبهم، ويبدو لنا- نحن الكبار- أحيانًا بأنّهم يتحدوننا. في الواقع ينشغل طفل هذا العمر بفحص الحدود التي يضعها الكبار، كجزء من مرحلة استقلاله عنهم، إن كان في قضاء حاجاته اليومية، وإن كان في تكوين ذوقه، وميوله واهتماماته. لا ننسى أيضًا أنّ طفل هذا العمر ما زال في مرحلة الأنويّة، فمن الصّعب عليه مشاركة الآخرين أغراضه، والتّعاون معهم لإنجاز عمل مشترك.

إنّ إدراكنا كمربّيات لهذه المرحلة النّمائية، واحتواء الطّفل ومساعدته على تجاوزها مهمّ جدًّا من أجل تنمية ثقته بنفسه وقدرته على التّواصل السّليم مع أقرانه.

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