Families are made up in many different ways.
There are mums, dads and children. There are children with just a mum, or a dad, or even grandparents. Sometimes a parent can be replaced with an aunt or uncle coming to stay, or sometimes families blend together.
Some families have two dads. Some have two mums. Some have uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, step siblings, sisters and brothers all together!
No matter how BIG the family, or how small, they are still a family. It doesn’t matter if they go out to work or work from home, or stay home to do all the jobs to be done. It doesn’t matter if families live far apart – seeing each other on a screen until they can be together again. Or if a parent leaves to live somewhere else – they are all still families.
This can be confusing when a child’s world changes, even if family members explain what is happening. Emotions can run wild through family members, but one thing stays true. Everyone’s family is different, and no matter what happens, there are members of every family who still love their children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins and siblings.
Illustrated in soft colours and with gentle expressions on the folk within its pages, Some Families Change is a wonderful way to explain to small children that change is normal and they will be okay.
It travels through the plethora of changes that can happen within families and all the different scenarios a child may be facing. It is also great for children to recognise other people’s family make-ups and see that is also okay.
The rhyming text flows beautifully and is clear on the page. I can imagine a child reading this through with a loved one at bedtime and learning the rhyme themselves as a balm for any worries before sleep.
Gorgeous.
Author – Jess Galatola
Illustrator – Jenni Barraund
Picture Book
For more books about Change in children’s lives look here
(2024, EK Books, Exisle Publishing, Families, Family, Whanau, Changes at home, Two Dads, Two Mums, Difference, Different families, Love, Belonging, Diverse families, Step brothers, Step sisters, Split families, Single Parents, Raised by grandparents, Emotions, Feelings)