“Common sense is not so common.”  - Voltaire

We know what we should and shouldn’t do, both for ourselves and for our children.  That doesn’t mean we always do it, but I’d bet that most of us make the effort most of the time.

Good Kids Bad Habits is about making the effort.  It’s not about achieving perfection, nor is it intended to tear down or guilt-trip parents whose habits - and by extension, their kids’ habits - need improvement.  There’s no “supersecret way…to get [kids] to eat a bite of fruits and vegetables now and again” and “nothing in [the book] is rocket science, but that’s okay. I don’t need to know how to build a rocket; I just want a healthy kid.”

While most of us are making the effort, we may not know exactly how well we’re doing - how healthy (or not) our kids truly are.  Good Kids Bad Habits begins with “a test to help you determine what you can and should do to have healthier children.”  Based on the results, you can see not only where you’re doing well, but also where you might have ”some room for improvement in some important areas” - areas that you may not have realized were quite so important.

What really struck me as I read the blogger reviews was that each one took away different lessons - different areas for improvement that reflected each individual blogger’s personal situation.  Some had a toddler, others had a pre-schooler, some had a child in elementary school, and some had a combination of these ages.  Different concerns surfaced in different age ranges, which lends further support to the conclusion reached by many of our bloggers:  Good Kids Bad Habits is “a reference book that I will most likely go back to as my daughter’s life renders new chapters more and more relevant.”

Nutrition was a biggie across the board, regardless of age.  Toddler moms “liked the “Keep Your Family’s Diet Colorful” chart, which lists a variety of foods according to color and suggests that you buy at least two items from each color category on every shopping trip.”  Parents of older children were a bit more jaded (and as the parent of a picky eater, I understand why), commenting that setting a good example “sounds pretty easy, but we’ve been doing that pretty much for the last seven years, and there are few signs of it working.”  Doing the right thing doesn’t always bring short-term results, but in the long run, these kids are establishing good nutrition habits.

Safety was one of the surprises for a few bloggers - what children should know that they were never taught (”Sure, [she] wears a bike helmet, but did I ever teach her the Universal Choking Signal?”) and what parents should do to protect children even when it no longer seems necessary (”putting in a new medicine cabinet, cabinet locks and re-fitting the girls’ bike helmets“).

Another favorite section - one that’s often overlooked as we assume kids will just figure it out - is the one concerning self-esteem, stress, and relationships with parents and peers.  “This book has some good, solid reminders about getting down on their level, looking children in the eye, using their names to make sure they’re focusing and talking calmly” - strategies we know but sometimes forget to employ in the heat of the moment.  And when it comes to self-image and confidence, “we’d all like to be able to say that our kids are pillars of strength, molded in our image, but the truth is, many of us are walking around with insecurities and issues that began in childhood.”  Finally, this section also describes “how children show stress at different ages.  That is useful, unless your child always shows stress by piercing howls and the throwing of nutritious foods” (yep, I can relate to that too).

Good Kids Bad Habits is about much more than pushing the green vegetables and scaling back on TV time.  It covers a broad spectrum of challenges that parents and children will face throughout the course of childhood.  Obviously, parents with children at different stages will find different sections more relevant than others, but that’s what makes this book such an excellent reference tool for years to come.

For more information about Good Kids Bad Habits,please visit the RealAge Parenting Center.  And to win your own copy (we’ve got two), leave us a comment by March 16, 2007 and let us know why you need this book!