Book: Character is the Key

I hear it all of the time, “Your daughter is such a happy baby” and I’ve been thinking lately about the person she is now and the person she will be later.

Our daycare tells us that she is the friendliest one there and always has a smile for anyone who enters the room. She plays at the different stations with all of the kids in her group and when she gets bored, she closes with a smile then crawls over to the next spot. Papa Bird says she gets her social butterfly-ness from me as I am always chatty. This started me thinking, what else is she picking up from me? And what bad habits do I have to keep in check to allow her to be the best version of herself she can be?

I was sent a copy of the book Character is the Key: How to Unlock the Best In Our Children and Ourselves by Sara Dimerman. Sara is registered with the College of Psychologists of Ontario as an individual, couple and family therapist. She is also the Founder and Director of the Parent Education and Resource Centre in Thornhill, Ontario.

Sara reinforces the importance of leading by example and throws the “Do as I say, not as I do” line out the window. As parents, we can’t just tell our kids to be nice, compassionate, (insert all of the qualities you want your child to possess here). We have to walk the walk ourselves – every day!

I love the quotes that Sara chose to start off each chapter. They are very fitting and I am still absorbing some of them. “When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.” – The Talmud.

This book focuses on the following 10 great character traits and how to work together as a family to achieve them:

• Respect
• Responsibility
• Honesty
• Empathy
• Fairness
• Initiative
• Courage
• Perseverance
• Optimism
• Integrity

There are work sheets available in the book as well as online. Online, they are available in pdf form for you to print out so you can print them out and work on them a few times if needed without writing in your book. In the later chapters, Sara breaks down each trait in its own chapter, gives some examples and activities that you can do as a family to further develop that trait together.

As a parent of a one-year old, I really enjoyed this book and it will be one of my top resources as Baby Bird grows up. I will be rereading this book again and again in the coming years.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Character Is the Key: How to Unlock the Best in Our Children and Ourselves and received a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate. This does not affect my personal review of this book and my opinions are my own.

Sheri Landry

Sheri publishes, and writes at This Bird’s Day where she shares all of the thoughts in her head without the voices. Sticking mainly with content for Canadians, Sheri shares family stories, product information and anything that fits into her (and her family’s) daily activities.

www.thisbirdsday.com