Parents give their kids a lot of advice. A lot of it, kids gradually realize as they grow older, is pretty much useless.

In her engaging new book, Toronto writer Catherine Rondina sorts out the sense from the nonsense in parental admonitions. Readers wanting the skinny on such possibly dubious advice as “if you go outside, you will get a cold,” “bubble gum takes seven years to digest in your stomach,” or “carrots will improve your eyesight,” will not be disappointed.

As in her Deal With It series, Rondina tackles her subject with matter-of-fact language that speaks directly and without pretension to her younger audience. Her explanations of why (most of) these sayings are false are easy to understand, the science behind their claims straighforwardly broken down. Rondina advocates for children, and does not hesitate to say that parents are sometimes completely mistaken.

Rondina’s text does have one annoying tic: having explained the reality behind each myth, she will hedge her bets slightly with a “but” clause – as in, no, it’s not so easy to get a cold, “but you might want to dry your hair before you go outside.” This tends to undercut her perfectly valid explanations.