Books are a great way to learn about almost anything, and to help you do better as parents, here are the best parenting books worth adding to your reading list.
The best books on parenting including a wide variety of topics
NATIONAL BESTSELLER From a leading child psychologist comes this groundbreaking new understanding of children’s behavior, offering insight and strategies to support both parents and children. Nominated for Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Adam Grant, and Daniel H. Pink's Next Big Idea Club Over her decades as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Mona Delahooke has routinely counseled distraught parents who struggle to manage their children’s challenging, sometimes oppositional behaviors. These families are understandably focused on correcting or improving a child’s lack of compliance, emotional outbursts, tantrums, and other “out of control” behavior. But, as she has shared with these families, a perspective shift is needed. Behavior, no matter how challenging, is not the problem but a symptom; a clue about what is happening in a child’s unique physiologic makeup. In Brain-Body Parenting, Dr. Delahooke offers a radical new approach to parenting based on her clinical experience as well as the most recent research in neuroscience and child psychology. Instead of a “top-down” approach to behavior that focuses on the thinking brain, she calls for a “bottom-up” approach that considers the essential role of the entire nervous system, which produces children’s feelings and behaviors. When we begin to understand the biology beneath the behavior, suggests Dr. Delahooke, we give our children the resources they need to grow and thrive—and we give ourselves the gift of a happier, more connected relationship with them. Brain-Body Parenting empowers parents with tools to help their children develop self-regulation skills while also encouraging parental self-care, which is crucial for parents to have the capacity to provide the essential “co-regulation” children need. When parents shift from trying to secure compliance to supporting connection and balance in the body and mind, they unlock a deeper understanding of their child, encouraging calmer behavior, more harmonious family dynamics, and increased resilience. Product DetailsISBN-13: 9780063061316 Media Type: Hardcover Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Publication Date: 03-15-2022 Pages: 352 Product Dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)About the Author Mona Delahooke, PHD. is a licensed clinical psychologist with more than thirty years of experience caring for children and their families. She is a senior faculty member of the Profectum Foundation and a member of the American Psychological Association. She is the author of Beyond Behaviors: Using Brain Science and Compassion to Understand and Solve Children’s Behavioral Challenges, and is a frequent speaker, trainer, and consultant to parents, organizations, schools, and public agencies. She lives and works in the Los Angeles area.Table of Contents Table of Contents Introduction: Personalizing Your Parenting 1 Part I Understanding Brain-Body Parenting 1 How to Understand Your Child's Physiology-and Why It's Important 15 2 Neuroception and the Quest to Feel Safe and Loved 33 3 The Three Pathways and the Check-In: How Understanding the Brain and Body Can Help Us Respond to Our Children 57 Part II Solutions 4 Nurturing Children's Ability to Self-Regulate 93 5 Taking Care of Yourself 123 6 Making Sense of the Senses: How Emotions Arise from the Body's Experience of the World 155 7 The First Year 189 8 Tantrums Throw Toddlers: Putting Toddlerhood in Context 213 9 Elementary School-Age Kids: Flexibility and Creating a Big Tool Chest 245 10 Flourishing 279 Acknowledgments 291 Glossary 295 Notes 297 Bibliography 321 Index 337
In the 9+ years that I've been a mother, I've read many parenting books. Among the parenting books I've read in the last few years, one stands out far above the others: The Child Whisper: The Ultimate Handbook For Raising Happy, Successful, Cooperative Children by Carol Tuttle. Over the last two years since I read this book, it has really improved my life and my relationships with my children. What Is Unique About This Parenting Book? Most parenting books provide one-size-fits-all guidance for raising children. The Child Whisperer is different. Instead of giving guidance that can be applied to all children, it seeks to give parents an understanding of different types of children. By focusing more on understanding each of the different types of children, this book lays a strong foundation that can be used for parenting children who are very different from each other. One of the things that really surprised me as a parent was how different my son and daughter are. They move through life differently, they need different things, and they react to corrections differently. Techniques that work for one of them often do not work for the other. The Child Whisperer has finally given me the framework to understanding my children, and how they are different from each other as well as myself. By knowing more about who they are as individuals, I am able to parent them each uniquely, and am better able to meet their needs. The Different Types of Children (and Adults, Too) The Child Whisperer describes four energy types that apply to children as well as adults. For children, the four types are summarized as follows: image from http://thechildwhisperer.com/getting-started/ One thing I love about using Carol Tuttle's four energy type system is that it is much bigger than just a personality profiling system. When determining a person's energy type, a person's body language and facial features are actually used in addition to personality and tendencies. This method seems to really capture the essence of each person, and that allows for a much greater understanding of each other. Practical Tips for Each Type Once the foundation of each energy type is laid out, The Child Whisperer includes tips for parents in supporting their children by gender and at different ages (Baby, Toddler, Pre-schooler, School Age, and High Schooler). The Child Whisperer provides insights into the learning and developmental tendencies of each type, and provides guidance on how to help each type develop their own unique gifts. One of my favorite sections in the book is the list of the Top 10 Things each type needs from their parents. Understanding My Children Understanding my children's dominant and secondary energy types has allowed me to finally understand them at a much deeper level so that I can support them as individuals. Previously, I would often get frustrated at certain aspects of both of their personalities, mostly because they were different from myself and the way I do things. Now I am able to look at them from a perspective of understanding who they are and how they move through life, and that makes such a huge difference in having a happy, well-functioning household. Here are some examples of how The Child Whisperer has made me a better parent: I am a Type 3 with a secondary Type 2 energy. With my dominant Type 3 nature, I tend to move through life with swift determination, and love getting things done. With my secondary Type 2 nature, though, I am emotionally sensitive and love connecting with family and friends. My daughter is a Type 1 with a secondary Type 2 energy. I used to get frustrated with the fact that she would start a gazillion different projects, but finish hardly any of them. I would often tell her that she wasn't allowed to start anything else new until she finished her other projects. Well, it turns out that Type 1's have a gift for ideas. Ideas are the Type 1's gift to the world! I was imposing my own nature (that naturally wants to finish things) onto her; in doing so, I was stifling her own gift for having many new ideas. Now, I allow her to start as many different projects as she'd like, and instead of trying to make her finish them all, I help her learn to determine which projects are important enough to her that she would like to finish them. My son is a Type 2 with a secondary Type 4 energy. Before learning about the energy types, I would very often tell him to hurry up, and would get frustrated that he seemed to take so long with tasks such as getting dressed, eating, getting buckled into the car, and many others. After learning about the energy types, I realized that my son naturally has a much slower movement than I do. That doesn't mean that either of us is "wrong"; we're just different. Now I make sure to give him plenty of time for tasks, and I make sure to find other things to do while I am waiting for him so I don't get impatient and keep hurrying him. With her fun-loving Type 1 nature, my daughter likes to turn everything into a game. With my own get-it-done mentality, I was often frustrated by this aspect of her personality, and would tell her to stop messing around. Now that I know about the energy types, I try to give her more freedom to find her own fun ways to accomplish things. I definitely still have some room for improvement with this, but I'm trying to support her nature. With his Type 2 nature, my son naturally plans things out in advance. His plans are very important to him, and with his Type 4, more serious secondary nature, he does not take it lightly when his plans are interrupted. Obstructed plans were the main cause of many of my son's emotional upsets, but I didn't quite understand that until I read The Child Whisperer. Now I can respect his plans, and let him take part when those plans need to change (often after giving him some alone time to process that there needs to be a change). This has made a tremendous difference in the number of emotional meltdowns. These are just a few examples of how The Child Whisperer has helped us. It has been a real game-changer. Our relationships are better and I am now able to help my children overcome the challenges unique to each of their types, instead of trying to mold them to be more like myself. I can't recommend this book enough! Have you read The Child Whisperer? What is your favorite parenting book? Links to Amazon are affiliate links. If you use these links, your price remains the same, but I earn a small commission. Thanks for supporting this site!
Psychotherapist Creates Hilariously Honest Self Help Books Based On His Observations At The Clinic - We share because we care. A resource for sharing the latest memes, jokes and real stuff about parenting, relationships, food, and recipes
Read about the effects of helicopter parenting on kids, and get tips on when to avoid helicopter parenting and allow kids to be independent.
To raise spiritually awakened children, we must unlearn many age-old beliefs regarding parenting and see children as the purest form of energy on earth.
18 Fictional Self Help Book Titles That Might Be Better Than The Original - We share because we care. A resource for sharing the latest memes, jokes and real stuff about parenting, relationships, food, and recipes
I use the term ‘gentle parenting’ a lot when I write and a lot of people ask me what exactly I mean by it. “What is gentle parenting?” they say…… Often they conf…
My parents don’t know how to manage their strong emotions. Dealing with them is like riding a roller coaster; I never knew if they would get suddenly angry or yell. The topic of emotions and…
Learn the fundamentals of gentle parenting and how you can apply responsive and ethical parenting techniques for happy, confident children.
In the journey of raising children, it is vital to pay attention to their emotional well-being. Just like a cup that needs to be filled to quench our thirst, children have their own emotional cups that need nourishment. In this blog post, we will explore the concept of the emotional cup, its importance in a child's life, and effective strategies for cultivating their emotional well-being.
Use this free printable cheat sheet to remember everything you learned in the Love and Logic parenting class. Tape this one-pager of notes all around your house and start implementing Love & Logic now!
How to make a calm down kit or box for kids plus a free printable list of calming tools and things to put in your child's kit
From toddlers to teens, here are the key elements in getting your child to listen and follow through.
Strict parenting can result in “rebellious children” who are more effective liars and rule-breakers. Psychology Facts Quotes, Interesting Facts Quotes.
Help guide your child through an angry episode using one of the phrases here that resonates with you - there are 26 to choose from!
Raising resilient kids is actually easier than you think. These simple parenting adjustments will you raise kids who aren't afraid to fail.
It’s a struggle lately. 0 bubble baths.
Our mental health is paramount. However, this message can get lost in the storm of noise that surrounds our daily routines. Before we know it, we’ve put the things that should matter to us most on the backburner and we might feel like we’re overwhelmed by work, school, life. Everything.
2nd Grade English Worksheets are such a fantastic way for kids to learn their grammar. Worksheets are fun and your kids can have fun while learning better communication. Adjectives, antonyms, compound words, verbs, nouns and pronouns can all be more fun with worksheets. When they’re done, they’ll make sentences like nobody’s business. Print them all […]
Many of today’s young people don’t have the skills needed for success in everyday life. What are these life skills? Here’s a comprehensive list.
Studies show that children and teens are more stressed out today than ever before. Since stress is a natural part of life, your goal is to teach your child healthy strategies for coping with stress. You can start by following the five steps below.
Hilarious instructions for anyone who has no clue what to do with a baby.
From toddlers to teens, here are the key elements in getting your child to listen and follow through.
Mini Tumblr Thread About Sci-Fi Translation Has Got Us All Scratching Our Heads - We share because we care. A resource for sharing the latest memes, jokes and real stuff about parenting, relationships, food, and recipes
Here’s a free printable for teachers and parents. I drew this to teach kids how to help when they witness acts of bullying or exclusion. Parents, teachers, educators, you can download and print this for your classroom or your home. No commercial use […]
Transform letter sounds & phonics into child's play for English Language Learners in pre-k and kindergarten with phonics stories, songs, and dramatic play!
Help your students manage stress better by teaching kids about the stress response & their brains. Includes fun stress response lessons ideas.
When we were on on vacation last month, I read an eye-opening…
Hi parents, We are exciting to be working on a new Owlkids book that covers the topic of kids’ social-emotional learning. And since there’s no better time than the present to start giving kids the […]
Need a creative idea for teaching money to kids? The Money Game is a fun hands-on way! Inspired by the Beth Kobliner Book- Make Your Kids a Money Genius
This comic first appeared in The Nib Magazine. Get your copy of the Family issue!
Family rituals allow you to slow down and connect, and they’re associated with all sorts of powerful benefits. You probably have several family rituals and traditions of your own, perhaps without even realizing it. But if you don’t have rituals yet, or if you’d like to create some new ones, read on for inspiring examples of family traditions and rituals!
Wondering what skills you must teach your gifted child? Don't worry about reading or STEM as much as these lessons I learned growing up as a gifted kid.
You're welcome.
Have you heard of "That" Kid? I'm sure you have. In fact, you might even be the mom of that kid. But what does "that kid" even mean? Who are we really talking about?