The Prince’s Bedtime

ABOUT THE BOOK
FAMILY ACTIVITIES

Text: Joanne Oppenheim/Illustrations: Miriam Latimer / Publisher: Barefoot Books

Distribution: Febuary, 2019

Meet a young prince who refuses to go to sleep! The entire kingdom comes out to lend a hand in this rhyming bedtime adventure. There is a hullabaloo of activity—jugglers juggling, magicians hypnotizing, dancers dancing—but it is the wonder of a good story that finally does the trick.

Family Activities

Does the prince in our story remind us of another prince or princess in our family? Perhaps we are smiling or sighing as we recall our daily arduous journey of luring our child to sleep!

Video

Dear Parents,

Many children find it difficult to disconnect from their daytime activity and enter the world of sleep. And as we become tired and fatigued parents, we may sometimes try to use various methods to “persuade” our child to sleep, like the way the king and queen do humorously in the story, until an old woman comes carrying a book in her basket and offers them a strange and simple solution.

Some calming rituals may help many children cross the line between the active and playful world of the day and the still world of the night. Daily rituals, such as a warm bath, and sitting with our child in his bed accompanied by a fun book, give them a feeling of security, and help them relax and move into the world of sleep.

Family Activities

Together, we can recall the efforts made by the king, queen, and the other people of the palace to help the prince fall asleep. Which of these attempts does our child love? They may wish to suggest other methods to the people of the palace.
We can talk about the difficulty of sleeping that sometimes our child faces, and that we also face as adults. What causes it? Together, we can think of ways to help ourselves relax in bed, such as: diming the light in the room, sleeping in a quiet place, or reading a book together.
Why is it important for us to sleep? And what happens to us if we don't sleep enough? We can try to connect this with the child’s own life experiences.
Together, we can look at the bedtime rituals of each one of our family members, such as: drinking a hot beverage, watching TV, or reading a book.
The old woman asks the little prince to close his eyes, and to imagine the events of the story. It would be fun if we could read this story to our child with their eyes closed! Did they imagine different characters from the ones in the story’s drawings?
"How did s/he sleep...?" could be the title of a funny book written and drawn by our child, about a personal experience they had when they found it difficult to sleep one night.
Have an enjoyable reading and a good night's sleep!