Elizabeth VerdickFeet Are Not for Kicking (Board Book) (Best Behavior Series)

Must buy if you’re teaching small humans! The whole series is excellent

This book has been a great addition to our parenting toolbox. My toddler loves to explore the power of their feet—whether it's kicking toys, furniture, or, occasionally, me. This book gently reminds them that feet are better suited for walking, jumping, and dancing, not for playing demolition derby.What I appreciate most is how positive the tone is. It focuses on what feet can do, which helps redirect their energy instead of just saying "no" all the time. The pictures are colorful and engaging, and my toddler enjoys pointing to the feet on each page and declaring, "Feet!"—a small win in itself.We now refer to this book whenever there’s an incident, and while it hasn’t completely stopped the random karate-kick attempts, it’s definitely reduced them. If you’ve got a little one who treats their feet like their personal wrecking balls, this book is a must-read. Bonus: it’s short enough to reread without losing your mind!

My 2 year old was acting out. She would hit and kick me if she didn't get her way. Someone in a mom group recommended "Feet are not for kicking" and "hands are not for hitting" to try to help my daughter understand.As soon as we read them for the first time, I noticed a difference. She really loves these books and the illustrations. Any time she does lift her hand or start to kick, I repeat the title and 9/10 times, she stops herself.I would 10/10 recommend these books to anyone struggling with the same issue!!

These books are great for toddlers because they give them examples of things to kick if you’re in the mood to kick and a repeated slogan (“Feet are not for kicking people- ouch, kicking hurts!”) that’s easy to remember. So far we have Hands are Not for Hitting and this one. Love them both!

Has prompted a lot of, "What are feet for?" conversations in my house and helped a bunch. Really well written and illustrated. Bought for my 2 and 4 year olds.

This series of books and particularly this one has been wonderful for my almost 2 year old who loves to kick everyone when he is getting changed. It is simple and my child loves reading it - actively choosing it as their bedtime book even!

One thing I can say about our little man is that generally, kicking isn't something he does often. Outside of members of this household, the only person he's ever actually tried to kick was an orthodontist we were seeing for our daughter shortly after his dental procedure. But he does from time to time try to use his feet to "push" people off the couch for example, if he wants it all to himself. It's not exactly a kicking motion, but because he's using his feet, we're labeling it as such. So I bought this book for kindle to support the push we're making to have him communicate these urges on his device, etc.I like that the illustrations in this book make it clear that the kicked person is hurt, because for our son, who has Autism among other things, he actually really doesn't want to hurt people, and unless the emotions are drawn very clearly, he doesn't always make that connection. And I really like that it emphasizes the why on it a couple of times, because again, for him, unless he understands the why, he's not so likely to cooperate with what you're asking him to do. He's a good little guy working through some big challenges, so while we in this household know he's doing the best he can, we're always on the journey to help him continue to move forward. This book does give a number of positive options for kicking, most of which to be honest aren't really things he enjoys doing, but again, for him, with the exception of the orthodontist, it's not true kicking he's doing by and large, we're just trying to support that you don't do any kind of harming with your feet period, and I think this book is good for that.If there was any one thing I would want to see would be an emphasis on communicating about the emotions rather then kicking, because in general, when a young child kicks, whether they have special needs or not, usually they are feeling some form of emotion that they are acting out upon and are struggling to express rather then simply trying to hurt someone. So I think an important piece to helping eliminate this behavior is targeting why the child is doing it, as in what they are trying to communicate, and give them less harmful strategies for meeting that need.For example for our son, he's feeling "I need my space and you're too close" or "I don't want you to come near me right now," and helping him to understand he can get the same results by using his computer to tell us without hurting anybody and it will be better received by those who he cares about is important, albeit challenging because the push with the feet I think feels much easier and quicker to him much of the time. I feel like this would have been a stronger book if it included a page or two about helping a child express the reason behind the kick more constructively. Because usually, I think, that kick is for a child an easier way of being "heard", so the trick is helping them find the way that gets them heard with the best results for them (heard and not punished for kicking) and whoever they're trying to kick (saved a bruised shin!).

this is wonderful to read and help teach my toddler!