image credit: Bed Book (via Spain Dad)

In keeping with the recent father’s day motif, we’ve discovered a fun blog called Spain Dad, about an American father raising his beautiful daughter, Alleke, in Madrid. Spain Dad Kelly writes about everything from parenting to baby names to natural birth options in Madrid, but what really grabbed my attention was a post he wrote about a photobook he made for his daughter. You can read the entire post on Spain Dad, but here’s the description of how he went about making The Bed Book for his daughter:

How to write a book for your child:

1. April and I spent some time re-reading the sleep chapters in a few of our favorite parenting books as well as some advice from friends in emails and online forums.

2. After some discussion, we outlined Alleke’s new bedtime routine together.

3. Using the outline, I wrote the story for the book and got April’s approval.

4. I took digital photos of Alleke acting out each part of her new bedtime routine (which involved a lot of giggling).

5. I created a photo book in iPhoto (I inserted the photos in sequence and added the text), then ordered a copy online. It cost 25€ and took about a week to arrive. If you don’t have a Mac, do a Google search for “photo book,” and you’ll find all kinds of companies that make photo books, like blurb and Shutterfly.

What kid wouldn’t want to read a book about herself over and over again? What a great way to make shared parent-child reading special and help children adjust to new routines. I love this idea, which would work perfectly with bilingual text for OPOL families. If any of you decide to make your own bilingual photobooks, please send us a link so we can see how they turn out!