These Are the Best Books for Parents
New parenting is equally exciting and overwhelming, joyful and intimidating. There is no shortage of advice: if you search Amazon for “books for parents” , there are over 60,000 results. On the one hand, it is pleasant to live in a time when information is so easily available. On the other hand, how could you know where to start?
There are books for moms, books for dads, books on pregnancy, childbirth, newborns, toddlers, child development, discipline, and a wide variety of “this is the best way to raise your baby without screwing up forever.” It’s a lot. So we ran a poll on our Offspring Facebook group , combined those responses with some of our personal favorites, and put together a list that has something for everyone.
For young parents who want one solid book
This classic “toddler’s guide” by Penelope Leach is a reliable and practical book to keep close at hand. Leach solves everything from the simplest things like teething and tantrums to complex things like talking to your child about a second child or an impending divorce. One parent in our group describes him as “impartial, informative, concise.”
For future dads
Father-to-be: The Complete Guide for Dads-to-be by Armin A. Brott and Jennifer Ash is a typical book for dads. The book has been published in its fourth edition for more than 20 years, and now it includes sections on adoptive paternity, multiple births, infertility and military paternity. Several fathers on our Facebook group read this book and then went on to read the sequels: A New Father: A Dad’s First Year’s Guide and Your Baby’s Fathering Guide: A Second and Third Years Guide .
Moms can read them too. One mom from the group suggested her own version:
He didn’t try to cover everything, but he took a much more restrained, positive, and interesting approach to new parenting. I feel it avoided many of the intimidation and guilt tactics used in many books for mothers. It suggests that you will try to do everything right, but it contains a very caring message that there are many ways to be good parents. I think because it is aimed at fathers, there is an acknowledgment of how high expectations can be.
For parents who like their partner (and want him to stay that way)
Don’t bring dinosaur overalls, soft blankets and bottle warmers with you, and bring THIS on the next baby shower you visit:
Journalist and writer Jhansi Dunn wrote ” How Not to Hate Your Husband After Children ” after her own family struggles after childbirth. Here’s what she told the Washington Post about her early parenting experience and how that experience pushed her to strive to bring her marriage back to the brink:
I remember one day we had a fight over emptying the Diaper Genie. Something as casual as this and the anger I felt towards him for not interfering – I was really smothered by the power of my anger because we really had a calm marriage before and I remember as I thought, “Wow, I could actually, possibly kill him.” I looked at my hands, they clenched. Rationally, I knew that I was reeling from hormones and lack of sleep, as well as from the fact that our life had turned upside down, but I could not control my anger, and I thought it was not good, I had never had such anger before.
For parents who want to understand their child’s brain
The article, “The Full Brain Baby: 12 Revolutionary Strategies for Nurturing Your Child’s Developing Mind, ” explains two important things:
1. What the hell is going on in your child’s developing brain that leads to all these tantrums and generally unreasonable character and
2. Strategies not only for survival, but for actually promoting healthy brain development.
The book’s authors, neuropsychiatrist Daniel J. Siegel and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson, also wrote the popular Discipline Without Drama: The Whole Brain Calms Chaos and Raises Your Child’s Developing Mind . One parent in our group prefers discipline without drama, saying that she “does a great job at summarizing information in Whole Brain Child and also draws on it for more practical information.”
For parents of a full-fledged baby
Surviving pregnancy, infancy and younger years is no easy feat. On the other hand, there is no equal to sibling quarrels, homework battles, discipline, and endless exercise. As my own son got older, I realized that parenting doesn’t necessarily get easier , it just changes .
Book by K.J. Dell’Anthonia’s How to Be a Happier Parent: Raising a Family, Having a Life, and Love (Nearly) Every Minute , came out last year and is the book we need to educate our children as they grow up through their teens and teens. …
For parents of “perky” kids
I can’t write a list of parenting books with a clear conscience without mentioning the one that helped me get through a couple of stressful years.
Raising an Energetic Child: A guide for parents whose child is more active, sensitive, receptive, persistent and energetic is a book I always recommend when a parent is looking for help in raising a child who is generally a little bigger.
It provides practical parenting strategies and helps parents understand both our temperaments and theirs , and how this combination affects the way you raise your children. It is also full of positive language. (He’s not stubborn … he’s tenacious. )
For parents who need to cheer up
If all of this was mind-boggling, check out Biz Ellis and Theresa Thorne’s book You Do a Great Job! 100 Ways to Succeed in Parenting ”. Ellis and Thorne host the popular One Bad Mother podcast for parents , which I also recommend, and their style is geared towards raising other moms (and dads), even when we feel like we are failing. Buy this to pair with the ” How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids ” baby shower gift.