Meet the Parents – Peter Bently and Sara Ogilvie

I was actually strangely excited when I opened the envelope from Simon and Schuster containing a copy of Meet the Parents to review. We've been going through a bit of a difficult patch with Little Miss C of late where she quiet simply won't listen when we tell her to do things and she's very much of the attitude that her parents are only there to make life difficult for her. You'd think she was 13 rather than three at times!

This beautifully illustrated book sets out to show pre-schoolers that their mums and dads do a huge number of things that they may not realise or appreciate. When we read this for the first time they look of realisation on LMC's face when she started to relate to all the things that the mums and dads in the book do was quite something. They're busy mending toys and other household objects that get broken in the line of play. They're busy helping to build dens and play cowboys and indians. They're busy providing cuddles and wiping tears away. They're busy reading stories and making meals, whilst also trying to find all the things that children have managed to lose.

Admittedly the effect didn't last long on her, but as I sit here in the middle of yet another "debate" about how we're horrible for asking her to eat her lunch that Mr C has lovingly prepared it might be time to get it out and read it again.

Much as Claire from Being a Mummy says in her review I think I enjoyed the book a bit more than LMC did – possibly due to the guilt factor(!) but I think it's a lovely book for children and for parents to help gently remind them that their role isn't jut to give out orders.

I thought the illustartions in this book were particularly good – each picture has so much to look at in it and they really caught LMC's attention. I knew I'd seen the style before, but it took me a moment to realise that Sara Ogilvie also illustrated The Worst Princess which we hugely enjoyed reading last year.

I'm again joining in with #KidsBookAWeek over on Damson Lane. If you want to see what Kirsty and her son are reading and their related activities then please pop over.

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of Meet the Parents for the purposes of this review. This post contains affiliate links.