I think William B. Irvine's book 'A Guide to the Good Life' helped put life in general into perspective and make me more appreciative of the time I have with my kids right now, because these moments won't last forever.
Hold On To Your Kids by Gabor Maté and Gordon Neufeld is the book that has most influenced the way I think about my child, parenting, and even my own parents.
Bit late to the party, but Janet Lansbury's Elevating Childcare and No Bad Kids CHANGED MY LIFE, not just my parenting. I am on a totally different trajectory to what I would have been.
Alfie Kohn's Unconditional Parenting was another one that was hugely influential to me, but I was already heading down that road because of Janet. It gave me a huge boost.
Had I not already been on the bandwagon, Mona Delahooke's Brain Body Parenting might have done the same thing. Not sure.
Dan Siegel and Tina Bryson are solid go-tos for me. All of them.
Not a parenting book per se but The Chimp Paradox helped me understand how the brain's limbic system controls kids' thinking, and also occasionally my own - ever since reading it I've become more aware of my own emotional thinking and have been more patient with my kids as a result, while understanding what's driving their reactions and feelings.
Emily Oster's first two books are great even as a dad to understand and demystify much of the early days. Agree with the Skenazy recommendation below also. Honestly, the book I most model my parenting on - and much of my career and life - is the classic "7 Habits" by Covey. He writes about his children several times in the book, and so many of the principles apply both in how to approach parenting and how to teach children to approach the world. I'm a huge fan.
Free Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy was definitely helpful and a quick read. Also like How to Raise Kids Who Aren't A**holes by Melinda Wenner Moyer is also worth the time.
I have up until recently read voraciously during most of my available waking hours, but for some reason books on parenting were rare. For me and for my spouse. A few made their way through our house, but nothing became The Source of Truth. Online communities filled that space I guess.
That being said, we gave You Are Your Child's First Teacher by Rahima Baldwin Dancy an obligatory read as it's considered The Book on being a parent in some of the (Waldorf) social circles we turn in. It didn't become hyper-influential as a recipe book on how to be a parent, but it did show us where and how we were able to disagree with parenting ideas and take what was helpful in order to write our own parenting recipes. I'm grateful for that insight and reinforcement of my own parenting instincts (which aren't perfect by any means, but I'm always growing and fine-tuning).
Lots of wonderful recommendations here, so I'll add a funny one that provided a bit of welcome comic relief for us among all the serious books we were reading when our firstborn was on the way. "Babies and Other Hazards of Sex: How to Make a Tiny Person in Only 9 Months, with Tools You Probably Have around the Home" by Dave Barry.
Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child by John Gottman. Older book but ahead of it’s time. Positive Discipline by Jane Nelsen was another one - there were some outdated parts in there but nonetheless, offered some good practical guidance.
I think William B. Irvine's book 'A Guide to the Good Life' helped put life in general into perspective and make me more appreciative of the time I have with my kids right now, because these moments won't last forever.
Hold On To Your Kids by Gabor Maté and Gordon Neufeld is the book that has most influenced the way I think about my child, parenting, and even my own parents.
Bit late to the party, but Janet Lansbury's Elevating Childcare and No Bad Kids CHANGED MY LIFE, not just my parenting. I am on a totally different trajectory to what I would have been.
Alfie Kohn's Unconditional Parenting was another one that was hugely influential to me, but I was already heading down that road because of Janet. It gave me a huge boost.
Had I not already been on the bandwagon, Mona Delahooke's Brain Body Parenting might have done the same thing. Not sure.
Dan Siegel and Tina Bryson are solid go-tos for me. All of them.
I was just looking through lists of published parenting books and we definitely need more books for dads written by dads!
For Girl-Dads - “She Calls Me Daddy” (Wolgemuth) is priceless. A dads role in his little girl’s life makes a world of difference!
Seeing Like a State
Not a parenting book per se but The Chimp Paradox helped me understand how the brain's limbic system controls kids' thinking, and also occasionally my own - ever since reading it I've become more aware of my own emotional thinking and have been more patient with my kids as a result, while understanding what's driving their reactions and feelings.
Emily Oster's first two books are great even as a dad to understand and demystify much of the early days. Agree with the Skenazy recommendation below also. Honestly, the book I most model my parenting on - and much of my career and life - is the classic "7 Habits" by Covey. He writes about his children several times in the book, and so many of the principles apply both in how to approach parenting and how to teach children to approach the world. I'm a huge fan.
Free Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy was definitely helpful and a quick read. Also like How to Raise Kids Who Aren't A**holes by Melinda Wenner Moyer is also worth the time.
I have up until recently read voraciously during most of my available waking hours, but for some reason books on parenting were rare. For me and for my spouse. A few made their way through our house, but nothing became The Source of Truth. Online communities filled that space I guess.
That being said, we gave You Are Your Child's First Teacher by Rahima Baldwin Dancy an obligatory read as it's considered The Book on being a parent in some of the (Waldorf) social circles we turn in. It didn't become hyper-influential as a recipe book on how to be a parent, but it did show us where and how we were able to disagree with parenting ideas and take what was helpful in order to write our own parenting recipes. I'm grateful for that insight and reinforcement of my own parenting instincts (which aren't perfect by any means, but I'm always growing and fine-tuning).
Lots of wonderful recommendations here, so I'll add a funny one that provided a bit of welcome comic relief for us among all the serious books we were reading when our firstborn was on the way. "Babies and Other Hazards of Sex: How to Make a Tiny Person in Only 9 Months, with Tools You Probably Have around the Home" by Dave Barry.
For my third kid, I re-read Sun Tzu's "Art of War" and that helped me figure out why they are hitting each other all the time.
Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child by John Gottman. Older book but ahead of it’s time. Positive Discipline by Jane Nelsen was another one - there were some outdated parts in there but nonetheless, offered some good practical guidance.
All Joy and No Fun. Helped us laugh and feel schadenfreude when we had our twins.
I started ‘How to Talk So your Child will listen’ but gave up midway.
I realised the best parenting books are the ones that help me change myself. The kids are fine; I am the bottleneck.
I’m so glad I had a kid post oster books. Even our doctor had read them haha
The Expectant Father. The only book I read cover to cover and revisited a few times.