It is not too challenging to spend 20 – 30 minutes every night reading to your children. Some might say that it is easier than resolving to lose 10 kilograms from around the belly area!

But how does one begin? Your neighbourhood library has a selection of books for every age group. Just pick a few up on the way home from work, and supplement these new stories to the ones that are your children’s favourites. You then get to read to them the books they most enjoy, as well as provide them with a taste for varied forms of writing.

Here are a few value-centric books to get you started (these selections are from the Junior section).

Title: Calm-Down Time

Author: Elizabeth Verdick ; illustrated by Marieka Heinlen

Publisher: Minneapolis, Minn. : Free Spirit Pub., c2010

Location: J P

Call Number: English 152.4 VER

Description: Books are more fun when kids get to handle and turn the pages themselves, and this board book is the perfect size for little toddler hands to manoeuvre.

The pictures are in soft, warm colours, and the words are poetic, making for an easy, enjoyable experience.

The story helps children learn about emotions that sometimes burst out from them, and teaches easy strategies to manage themselves during those moments of crankiness and frustration. Read this to impart fun lessons that are meant to be remembered and applied during times of stormy emotions.

Bonus: On the final pages, the author provides 8 tips on what you can do to calm yourself down, when your child throws a tantrum!

Title: Lucky Wish Mouse Starting School

Author: Clara Vulliamy

Publisher: London : Orchard, 2011

Location: J P

Call Number: English VUL

Description: Lucky Wish Mouse depicts 10 children (Tinies) preparing for their first day of school, and your children will get to learn to count and identify them by their colours as you share the story.

Your children may find their excitement rising, when during their preparations for school, the poor Tiny Twins could not be found!

Eventually, the Twins do appear and learn that school is filled with art and craft, music and movement, story time, and play time, which they love.

They will learn that it is worth stepping out, being brave, and making their Lucky Wish Mouse really proud. As you read this to your children, we hope they will learn the same values.

Title: The Watchtower Warrior

Author: Shekinah Linn ; illustrated by Seow Wei

Publisher: Singapore : Straits Times Press, c2008

Location: J SING

Call Number: English LIN

Description: Local author Shekinah Lim takes us down the paths that our ancestors had trodden as she traces back more than a hundred years to life in 19th Century Guangdong, China.

Little Bud’s Dad has travelled to a land far away to try make a living. While away, he mails her postcards with tales of wise survival strategies in his treacherous new environment.

When Little Bud’s village is targeted by nasty bandits, Little Bud learns from the stories that Dad had told to devise a clever strategy to save his village.

As you read this story, you too may want to regale your children with real-life stories of your own, as Little Bud’s Dad did. Give your children a reason to be proud of their grandparents or great-grandparents who’d boldly travelled here, unafraid facing a life of long, hard work and the unknown.

Title: I Don’t Want to Go

Author: Addie Meyer Sanders ; illustrated by Andrew Rowland

Publisher: Montreal : Lobster Press, c2008

Location: J P

Call Number: English SAN

Description: The book opens with a picture of a little boy clutching onto his teddy bear. Any child can surely identify with that – not wanting to part from something they treasure, the comfortable and familiar.

As Joey’s Mum invites him to spend the weekend with his grandparents, Joey turns her invitation down.

The story is repetitive, which children will love, as we see Joey being progressively invited for more and more adventures, each time turning down the invitation.

Yet, at the end of each of Joey’s objections, we turn the page to see Joey going along with the adults’ plans, and enjoying himself immensely.

By the end of the book, you witness a victory in Joey’s life as after the latest weekend is over, his grandparents invite him to return home to his comfortable and familiar surroundings, and Joey turns them down so that he can stay on for more exciting adventures!

As you read this to your children, talk to them about how they too, might develop that sense of adventure, especially when a trusted adult is with them through the event.

In the year 2012, The Dads for Life Resource Team hopes that you and your children will be gifted with the most invaluable gift of all – a love of spending time with each other, and of reading books that encourage and build strong character.

About the Author: The Dads for Life Resource Team comprises local content writers and experts, including psychologists, counsellors, educators and social service professionals, dedicated to developing useful resources for dads.