There’s a writer out there named Po Bronson who wrote a book called, “NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children,” and I’m thinking I need it — you might, too. It apparently reveals some surprising mistakes good parents make, and I’m all about being a good momma who makes minimal mistakes.

Ladies Home Journal shared some of Bronson’s wisdom in the October 2009 issue — check out this good stuff: Bronson says kids nowadays are getting a whole hour less sleep per night than their parents got (think too many activities, TVs, computers in bedrooms), which really can have serious academic consequences. Seems every 15 minutes less sleep is correlated with a drop in grade point average. That means A students get 15 more minutes of sleep than B students, who get 15 more minutes than C students. A sixth-grader who is robbed of one hour’s sleep performs like a fourth-grader. Compelling, isn’t it?

Got any fixes for common parenting mistakes? Please share!

Photo: cotaro70s, Flickr

There are thousands of things to learn about the skin you’re in, says the American Academy of Dermatology, and their Kids Skin Health website is geared toward helping youngsters get a grip on all of it. On the site, Sammy the Skin Cell talks to kids about their skin, hair and nails and points them to games, facts, a dictionary and more. Here’s a fun tidbit: It’s normal to lose 50 to 100 hairs a day, but anyone shedding a lot of hair should see a dermatologist. Also, about 85 percent of people battle acne at some time in their lives. Want more? Head over here.

Logo: kidsskinhealth.org

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Chances are, you have a kid, who has a back pack, which ends up stuffed full of books, folders, papers, lunches, snacks and more. Clearly, the backpack load can get pretty heavy, but the folks at Woman’s Day magazine (September 1, 2009) can help you lighten things up to minimize the aches and pains your little ones might experience.

• Before you buy (or after you realize the pack you purchased isn’t the right one), shop for wide shoulder straps, a padded back, a waist strap and side pockets. And use both shoulder straps and the waist strap.
• Find a size that fits snugly on your child’s back and at least two inches above the waist.
• Put heavier items in the bottom and closer to the center of the back.
• Make sure the bag doesn’t weigh more than 10 to 20 percent of your child’s body weight.
• Teach kids to squat and use their legs to pick up the pack.
• Encourage kiddos to use their lockers and not carry around books all day.
• If your child complains of back, neck or shoulder pain, or tingling or numbness in the arms, rethink the backpack, and pay a visit to the doc, too.

Photo: M.Lubinski, Flickr

Bev over at That’s Fit wants you to think twice about how you pack lunches for your kids. Scrap the plastic baggies, she says, and the individual servings of yogurt and applesauce, too. There’s a new game in town, and it’s easier on your wallet (Ziplock no more), the environment (no phthalates, BPA or lead) and your kids’ health (no need for packaged foods, just go fresh).

Check out the Laptop Lunchbox, where you can compartmentaliize the nuggets of goodness you send to school with your little — and big — ones. Buy the bulk size yogurt and pour some in one section of the box, toss some carrots in another and place a nutritious sandwich is a separate one. Throw the whole thing in some soapy water (or the dishwasher) after your kid totes it home, and pack it up again for the next day.

The Laptop Lunchbox website is filled with informational gems, like a lunch blog for creative lunch-packing ideas and a photo gallery of yummy-looking packed lunches.

Photo: www.laptoplunches.com

You’ve heard about the whole sympathy weight thing, right? You know, when a man starts packing on the pounds during his partner’s pregnancy. Seems there’s some science to the phenomenon — a new study, cited in Redbook magazine (August 2009) shows that fathers-to-be gain an average of 14 pounds during the nine (or more like 10) months it takes to grow a baby. It might be the extra snacks around the house that are to blame, but WOW, to strap on an extra 14 means a whole lot of snacking! Redbook suggests if your man is morphing into more that you have him show sympathy by rubbing your feet, not stuffing down the Oreos.

Photo: sxc.hu

Got any great How-To tips for us? Please share in comments.

Tomorrow: How to Run in Hot Weather

My oldest boy asked me recently, “How do we get freckles?” Somewhere buried in my head was the answer to this question — you know, something about skin pigment, melanin, the sun — but I wasn’t quite sure how to explain for an 8-year-old brain. My trusty laptop was nearby, though, so I did a quick search for, well, “How do we get freckles?” Some of what I found was heavy on the scientific, medical jargon — melanocortin-1 receptor MC1R gene variant, melanocytes, blah, blah, blah — and since I didn’t really understand it, I was pretty sure my second-grader wouldn’t either. So I kept searching, and I found this: “Freckling is caused by the uneven distribution of the melanin pigment in the skin. A freckle is essentially nothing more than an unusually heavy deposit of melanin at one spot in the skin.”

Now, that I understand. And so does my kid.

How would you explain freckles to your young ones?

photo by: fotologic on flickr

Baby Center recently polled 2,400 parents and came up with a list of the top 5 parenting fears, plus some guidance for what you can do about them. If you’re wondering how to manage your worries about expectations, stranger danger, accidents and injuries, bullying and eating issues (obesity, anorexia, etc.), then click here and get the full scoop. You’ll learn stuff like this: Bullying mostly affects kids ages 10-14, most traumatic kid accidents are preventable and the overall mistreatment of children is dropping nationwide.

What’s your biggest parenting worry?

Photo by: Leonid Mamchenkov on flickr