Seven Booklets for the First Steps - Maldives Project

The seven booklets include:

• Discipline your child with love
• Everybody loves me: Yaish's Story
• Massage for babies
• Everybody loves me: Hazko's story
• Look how terrific I am (3-5 years)
• Look how terrific I am (0-3 years)
• Keep your children safe

These booklets comprise the series called First Steps-Maldives, an information campaign and set of materials for Maldivian children between the ages of 0-5 years and their caregivers. The books highlight the first years of a child's life and emphasise the importance of these years to the development of a child.

For example, the two Look how terrific I am booklets are designed to help build the self-esteem of all children. They include photos showing Maldivian children between the ages of 0 and 3 or 3 and 5 years playing and feeling confident. While playing, the children are learning and achieving more.

Keep your child safe focusses on the simple and practical things a parent can do to make the home and nearby environment safe and clean for infants and young children.

Everybody loves me, Hazko's story is a book about love and family and the meaningful relationships between children and family members.

Massage for babies explores how massage can benefit an infant.

Everybody loves me, Yaish's story emphasises love and family life, pointing out that every child is unique and special. The young boy in the book has Down's Syndrome. The book shows that despite his disability, he is a child who has the same rights as any child.

Discipline your child with love is a book about the most important gifts parents can give to their child - the gift of not only knowing what is right but also doing what is right. But before a child learns this, there are many steps that must be taken.