The Story Behind Baby Rabbit Builds a Habit

Goodnight Grandpa Bear – an Accidental Bedtime Routine  

Before my daughter was born, my
mother – an artist and elementary school library aide – flew out to visit my
wife and I in Colorado. I had asked if she wanted to give our daughter a gift,
something special and handmade. I envisioned a mural in our nursery but left
the creativity up to her. She quickly accepted the invitation and got to work.
She didn’t tell us what it was and asked us to trust her. I have seen her work
and knew she would make something personal, unique, and beautiful. 

She spent a few days in the
nursery creating the perfect gift for my little girl. When she was done, I was
blown away. On the nursery wall was a grove of aspen trees from floor to
ceiling. 

To the right, near the corner
where we were to spend many late nights in a yellow wing chair comforting our
newborn, was a bear snoozing away on a branch. Down and to the left was a wolf,
upright but asleep in a patch of flowers and ferns. Next, on another branch
came a raccoon – resting peacefully in a mirror image of the bear. And,
finally, above the crib was a dozing owl – asleep but watching over the forest
and crib.

I loved the artwork. It was the
perfect mix. It brought together our love of nature with a cute set of
characters to engage childhood wonder. Those animals would watch over our
soon-to-be daughter for many years to come. 

But it got even better. My mom
then told us that each animal represented one of her four grandparents. She had
asked each grandparent what animal best represented them. Grandpa Bear was my
dad. Mimi Wolf was my mother-in-law. Pepe Raccoon was my father-in-law. And
Grandma Owl was my mom herself. Each was sleeping softly to encourage a good
night’s rest. They were there to calm and comfort her. They were also there to
watch out for her if she got scared and needed company. Perfection. 

One of my favorite bedtime
routines with my now two-year-old daughter developed naturally from that mural.
At 6 months old she moved from the bassinet by our bed into her own big girl’s
room. It was tougher on mom and dad than her of course. 

On the first night in that room
we said goodnight to the animals before lying down. It hasn’t stopped. I’d pick
her up and bring her over to Grandpa Bear. She’d reach out and touch his head,
and I’d said “good night grandpa bear.” 

From there we’d moved down the
line, repeating that pattern, until we got to Grandma Owl. Then I’d give her a
big hug, a kiss, some goodnight praise, and put her gently in her crib. My wife
and I switch who puts her down every night and they do the same routine on her
nights. 

Some nights are easy; some
require extra love and backrubs to settle down. But, in the year and a half
since that night, I can probably count on one hand the nights we have been at home and have not done that routine before bed. 

As she’s grown older the routine
has evolved. She began to do it on her own. I’d put her down and she would step
up on her tippy toes to scratch Grandpa Bear’s leg, again continuing down the
line until I picked her up to finally say goodnight to Grandma Owl. 

Eventually she added a kiss for
each animal. As her speech has developed, she now says “night night” on her own. Most nights we need to go back to
Grandpa Bear and do it again. It’s evolving but still going strong. 

The point is every night she not
only wants to do it – it’s something she truly looks forward to. It’s fun. It’s
predictable. She loves the comfort of it. It’s a consistent activity that
started on the first night in her room and has become a nightly routine. She
naturally engages in it when the lights go out and it’s time for bed.

That right there is behavioral
design at its core – albeit initially unintentional. Set the environment to
encourage the outcomes you seek. Focus on progress over perfection. Be
consistent. Shape the experiences that encourage positive behaviors. One might
even go so far as to argue that this comforting routine provides a positive
feedback loop and a form of gamification. 

Building an ecosystem for positive behavior change 

Kurt Nelson, PhD and I started
Behavior Shift with a simple belief: when people understand a little more about
how humans behave, positive change becomes a little easier. 

Since then, we've spent countless
hours turning behavioral science into practical tools that help people live
healthier, happier, more intentional lives. We’ve built and published the
Brain/Shift Journal series – a tool for creating better goals and building a
plan to make them happen. Our team has launched Goal and Decision modules,
daily planners, training courses, and custom programs for businesses to work on
team and personal goals. 

We’ve also adapted the Brain
Shift journal into a College Success Edition to help higher education students
navigate the challenges of change, the constant onslaught of digital
distractions, and the overwhelm of pursuing a degree.

It is now being used in
approximately a dozen college programs across the country. It’s in first-year
experience classes, mentoring and advising programs, and student-success
initiatives. We are in the process of integrating it into more colleges and universities,
scholarship programs, first-gen student initiatives, and non-profit student
development organizations.  

Our goal is to create a suite of
products that expand across the full life spectrum. From higher education to
career development to retirement and legacy building and everything in between.
Each of these stages of life has something in common. We are experiencing
change and change is hard. Science-backed tools that help set and achieve
goals, build habits and routines, design our environments, and make more
informed decisions make that change easier. 

Kurt is always encouraging our
team to push the envelope, pursue passion projects, and come up with new –
often outside the box ideas. Well, as a new dad – it seemed to me that
something was missing in our product line. We needed to start earlier. 

As that new parent, I started
wondering: how could we bring those same intentions to children earlier in
life? Could we create a resource that helps caretakers build the foundations of
healthy behavior during the early developmental stages? The answer became clear
– let’s create a fun children’s story grounded in science that teaches valuable
behavioral insights without feeling like a lesson.

Baby rabbit builds a habit.

And so, it began. My sincere
apologies to all authors for what I am about to say next. I actually said to
myself, “A children’s book? Can’t be that hard. This should only take a few
months.” Like I said, my apologies. I now see the error of
my way. Not only is that not true, but I was succumbing to the planning fallacy. We tend to
be overly optimistic when we start something, even if we have done it before.

It took far longer than a few
months. But today that vision has been brought to life as Baby Rabbit Builds a Habit. 

Baby Rabbit Builds a Habit is a fun, cuddly children’s book, grounded
in psychology, that teaches the power of positive habits to kiddos in a
developmental prime through a simple bedtime routine.

The story follows Remy Rabbit on
a playful bedtime adventure that turns nightly chaos into a calming routine
through consistency and intent. The narrative is built around a behavioral
science concept known as the habit loop.

Popularized by Charles Duhigg in
his book The Power of Habit and explored by James Clear in Atomic
Habits, the habit loop
is a simple psychological process where a trigger (cue) leads to an action,
which is reinforced by a reward. It is a powerful tool for building or changing
habits. 

Clear’s model includes a fourth
stage called craving that sits between the cue and routine. It is motivational
force or desire behind the cue. For the purposes of Baby Rabbit Builds a
Habit, and simplicity with young children though, we stuck with the
original 3-part model. 

The original Habit Loop model has
three components: 

1.       The cue. This
is a signal that initiates the habit.

2.       The routine. A predictable sequence of behaviors the cue
instigates.

3.       The reward. An outcome that triggers a good feeling. 

Remy’s journey begins with a bit
of chaos. They face a familiar bedtime challenge: when the day winds down,
getting ready for bed can feel overwhelming. Bath time, pajamas, brushing
teeth, choosing a book, and getting tucked in can become frustrating for both
children and caregivers. 

In toddlers within the book’s
target age (2-6), emotional regulation is still in development which can
exacerbate that stress. As Amy Webb, PhD explores on The Thoughtful Parent, “Self-regulation is a toddler’s developing
ability to manage emotions, behavior, and attention. It emerges gradually
between ages 1 and 5, not all at once”

For young kids, habits and
routines provide more than structure. They create a sense of safety,
predictability, and confidence. When children know what comes
next, they often feel more secure and are better able to regulate their
emotions and behaviors. 

By embedding healthy behaviors
into reliable routines, we can help children internalize self-care skills,
foster independence, build self-esteem, and develop lasting habits. 

Remy experiences this throughout
the story, creating an approachable and familiar character that kiddos can
connect with and emulate. Their mother explains to them that a routine is what
they need. Together they identify a cue, create a comforting nightly routine,
and Remy is rewarded with Mama’s praise and the comforting feeling of being
tucked in tight. 

The book then invites children to
work with their caregivers to create their own bedtime routine – just like Remy
- through an interactive sticker activity. Families can choose the steps that
work best for them to create a nightly plan. A downloadable habit tracker is
also available to reinforce the routine over time.

Don’t worry though, we don’t get
too sciencey in the book. It stays cute, and the lesson is embedded into the
narrative, so your little ones won’t even realize they’re developing their
behavior.

More than a cute story 

One of the most endearing parts
of this project was the team that made it happen. Being a self-published book,
there were a lot of moving parts that needed to come together, and our small
team needed to figure it all out.

First up, after drafting the
initial story, we needed to identify an illustrator. Who better to ask to than
my mom? The artist behind the highly successful “bedtime routine mural” my
daughter lovingly engages with every night.

Lynn Granlund studied art at
Regis College and spent more than two decades working at Sutton Elementary
School in Massachusetts, where she helped children discover a love of books
through story times, creative activities, and shared reading. She knows a thing
or two about what kids look for in a book. She hesitantly accepted. I knew it
was a dream of hers since college to illustrate a book, but she was nervous
having never done one before. I encouraged her to be creative and have fun. 

She sure did. She came back with
a cute bunny that could be simple enough for toddlers to recognize emotions but
interesting enough to keep them engaged. Hand drawn and expressive. 

To make it even more special,
earlier that year, when my daughter Willow was 11 months, we visited grandma
and grandpa. Willow had done some finger paintings with grandma. In an ode to
Eric Carle, Lynn decided to use those paintings as coloring for the characters.

She photographed the paintings
then zoomed in on them to soften the texture. After reprinting them, she cut
them into shapes to fill the pen drawings she created. This made not just a
Behavior Shift project, but a multi-generational creative endeavor for me. 

*Insert process sketches and drawings.*

And of course – a keen eye for
design is needed to make it all work. Cute pictures, a story, and a lesson only
become a true book when they come together on a page. Alex Belanger made that
happen. She is a multitalented Graphic Designer and Director of Design at
Behavior Shift and The Lantern Group. Inspired by human behavior, color, and
creativity, Alex brings warmth and personality to every project she touches.
She brought every page to life with creative font work, accents, and an
easy-to-follow layout. 

As with all of our products we
also needed to make sure the science was sound. That’s where Kurt’s background
came into play. 

He is a behavioral scientist with
a doctorate in Organizational Psychology, cofounder of Behavior Shift, and
founder of The Lantern Group, a behavioral design and communications agency.
Kurt is also the cohost of the award-winning podcast Behavioral Grooves, where
he explores the positive application of behavioral science in work and life. 

He acted as scientific editor and
reviewed the material to ensure it was appropriate, accurate, and behaviorally
informed.