Customer Reviews

My Daddy Is a Pretzel: Yoga for Parents and Kids

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised at how this book presented basic yoga poses to young children. My two-year-old son loved it since all the poses were related to types of jobs various parents had in the story. (I.E. "Niki says her mommy's a gardener. Sometimes, my daddy's a tree.") Then on the next page a great illustration of the pose and how to do it. Other poses include fish, dog, triangle, airplane, bridge, plow, lion, and of course a pretzel!
I cannot say enough about the great pictures in this book...brightly colored and very distinctive!
I think this book will have a wide range of readers...toddlers to elementary ages for sure.

I am a preschool yoga teacher and I have seen a few books, but this one is fabulous! My own 3 year old was glued to the book and after reading it she said "again". I definitely plan on using this book when I teach as a little story time. It also gives you step by step instructions on how to do the poses for any beginners.

LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!

Love the illustrations, love the text, love that my 5 yr old daughter is stretching and doing yoga, love love love this book! We got the bendo guy that matches it too! sooo cute!

This is a fun book for kids because it has a story. It gives some instruction. For children who have some yoga in their lives this is a good book.

It's a short and simple book. It's almost more about what different parents do than yoga. Good exposure to healthy diversity, careers and stretching.

I was introduced to this book by my daughter's preschool. We took it home and she refused to return it so we had to buy it. 2 years later she and her sister still take out my yoga mat and do the poses (and now her sister can read it to her!). It clearly explains how to do each pose and has a very clever way to intorduce each pose. "Samantha's mommy is a baker, sometimes my daddy is a pretzel". I found the pose descriptions and names interesting as well. Wonderful book. Apparently there are also cards that my yoga instuctor uses in her kids class.

this book was a hit in my preschool class! you can talk about different jobs that people may have in the community as well as learn some fun yoga poses. i love it!

I first saw this book when I was baby-sitting a 5 year-old girl and she picked this book for story time. It turned out to be less about the story and more about the yoga poses, but she loved it and so did I. As she had read the book with her parents many times before when I would come to each pose page she'd jump up and start trying to contort herself into whatever position it was. Currently I'm working as an Au Pair in the Czech Republic and teach 5 year old twin girls English. I suggested we order this book, knowing how much the last little girl had liked it and once again it was a hit. It's a good way to introduce children to Yoga. I guess I would say my only complaint is that the reading on the pose pages is much more advanced than that on the "story" pages. It would be nice if the poses were so simply described as the "story" part.

Bapiste thoughtfully combines several components of the same product to meet the learning style of the audience--DVD, children's interactive book and exercise cards. Twenty-first families may appreciate seeing the "experts" demonstrate the qualities of aid in the sustaining of the various skills of practicing yoga in the DVD. The book pulls in readers of all ages to comtemplate the in's and out's of yoga--some need to "soak" in the challenging movement or breathing suggestions prior to engagement. Speaking of engagment...the set of 50 cards is a must as it include breathing, standing, bending, twisting, strething, as well as individual creativity and working with a partner. Childrn feel ownership when choosing cards on which to consentrate for the day. Let's face it, there is more of a commitment to healthy activities when it is validated in the home.

My Daddy Is a Pretzel: Yoga for Parents and Kids
"Today in class, we're going to say what jobs our parents do each day." Some children have parents who are gardeners, or builders, or even marine biologists. But one little child has a daddy who is sometimes a tree, sometimes a bridge, and sometimes a fish. He can even be a pretzel! My Daddy is a Pretzel is a wonderful book for teaching children about yoga, and gives instructions for nine different postures that they can try. Each is illustrated clearly and accompanied by a short text that explains the deeper lessons - such as believing in ourselves or being both strong and flexible - that underlie each pose. The illustrations of wide-eyed, smiling characters give a welcoming feel to the book and enhance its playful message, helping to encourage children to try some of the poses for themselves.

In these times of rising childhood obesity and increasingly sedentary lifestyles, it's more important than ever for fathers to model good habits of physical fitness and exercise for our children. It does little good to complain about modern trends that have decreased our daily physical activity, or to nostalgically insist that things were somehow better in "the good old days". Over half the population of the planet lives in cities now, and forms of entertainment like television and the computer are here to stay. Our challenge now as fathers is to teach our children how to incorporate physical fitness into their daily lives, even if they grow up to drive to work and then sit at a desk all day like so many of us. Yoga can be great for both fitness and as a means of relieving the stress of our fast-paced lives, and teaching even basic yoga techniques to children can help them greatly both now and in their later lives, Unfortunately, our children have their own ideas of what they want to learn, and are often especially resistant to things that are "good for them." My Daddy is a Pretzel, with its warm tone and child-friendly format, is a valuable resource for introducing yoga to children in a way that they will find both educational and fun.