Tam & family - Mums on the Border - Life with the Lamsays

On today’s takeover of our Mums on the Border series, we have Tam from Snuggle Bunny Sleep School, and mum of 3 kiddos, sharing her family’s favourite books!

 Hello everyone, thanks for stopping by. And Poppy - Thank you so much for inviting me to share something on your little space of the internet. 

I am Tam, a fellow Local Mama on the Border. I have a 9 year old boy and two girls who are 7 and 2. I also run my own Baby Sleep business called “Snuggle Bunny Sleep School” which recently turned 1 – It’s something I am absolutely obsessed with. You can check me out on Instagram if you are ever in need of some supportive sleep help.    

I was super excited when Poppy asked if I would like to create a post for her blog as she has created such an amazing little space for children’s adventures, activities and more. 

I thought a great way to tie in my expertise (baby/toddler sleep) would be to centre my post around Our Favourite Books. We have definitely collected quiet a few over the years…

I have been a Mum for almost 10 years, so I feel like our book collection is pretty extensive. BUT we always tend to gravitate toward reading the same books often… AND I know that you will notice a “trend” with these books because I am definitely about finding ways to open up the conversations (have D&M’s) with my children – about lots of different topics but mostly around things like emotional wellbeing etc. 

I believe that adding in books to every wind down ritual / bedtime is a beautiful foundation to create a calm mind for our baby’s, toddlers and children when heading into bed for the night, but it’s also a beautiful time (most of the time) if this becomes a habit – Something you both look forward to doing every night. A nice way to be still… And connect with your child at the end of a busy day. 

I found it so hard to pick just a few books to share with you all, But this is my top 6:

1.  When I’m feeling collection
I brought this set when my first was around 2 years old. He was and always has been a very deep thinker, with lots of BIG feelings. He also LOVES to hash things out in the car or over dinner. And I guess he is my main man when it comes to getting into those big deep and meaningfuls…. That’s where it all started. We would love to read through these books and then chat about examples of the times we felt happy, loved, scared or angry. 

This collection has made its way down the chain and both girls have now loved reading these books too. A personal favourite of mine is the “When I’m feeling loved” book and a lil fun fact: My business was kind of named after this one.

2.      The bucket book
I actually brought this book around the time my son was starting kinder and heading into care for the first time. We were struggling a lot with being kind to his little sister (because let’s face it, little sisters can be absolute pests) and I thought it would be a really good way to visually represent the way you make people feel when you’re being unkind and vice versa. 

It has been another book that made its way into every child’s bedroom. And we often refer to this book when their buckets may be feeling a little empty or when they do something that would be an absolute bucket filler. 

3.      In my heart
This is my 7 year old daughters’ all-time favourite book. In fact, she has dressed up in 2021 AND 2023 as the girl in this book for book week. It’s definitely a winner in our house, not only because it is talking about a range of different feelings, but it’s also very cleverly engaging with its love heart cut outs and rainbow colours. 

4.      Red, the crayon
This book lives in my son’s room but it’s been shared around the family. I brought it because I thought it’s important for them ALL to know that there is more to someone then what we see on the outside… 
This book will often pop up in our conversations, especially when we are talking about identity and those invisible expectations from the world around us. 

5.      Body book
This one is very much the same as the Crayon book, but it lives in my daughter’s room. And it stands for all the same things. Celebrating everyone’s differences and uniqueness in the inside and out. 

6.      Breathe like a bear
So I saved my absolute favourite for last… I remember super vividly, soon after I’d had my third baby – when she was boob-feeding machine and by bedtime with the older kids, I had NOTHING left in the tank but as always, I’d tuck her under my wing and I’d go and read the kids their bedtime book. This specific night Indi picked Breathe like a Bear and in the middle of a mindful exercise, I actually stopped for a moment and wondered who actually NEEDED this book more. 
As much as I know she needed this calm after recently becoming a big sister and being a busy little 6 year old. I could see that; I really needed this book too. Here I was, exhausted, running on empty at the end of a LONG day and most nights, the last thing I wanted to do was the bedtime routines with the older kids. 
But here I was anyway, and finding that this book was my absolute favourite, because not only did the kids need to stop and “breathe like a bear” but I did too… 

AND because I can’t help myself, here are three other absolute WINNERS in our house too. The books that get the kids YELLING, LAUGHING and taking back a little bit of CONTROL at bedtime which sometimes is all everyone needs to bring back the JOY in bedtime.

If you’re after some help with your kiddos sleep, make sure you check out @snugglebunnysleepschool over on Instagram and send Tam a message! 

Happy reading everyone - until next time!