Parenting Books

Parentberries
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Does anyone have any good ones? Preferably free e-books that you could link me, such as PDFs, for example.

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I prefer physical books, but public libraries are also a good source for ebooks as well! Most free ebooks from other sources are likely pirated or not well researched.

[name_f]Emily[/name_f] Oster’s books are excellent! Expecting Better is about pregnancy, and Cribsheet is about parenting in the first couple years. I also like the [name_m]Mayo[/name_m] Clinic’s Guide to Your Child’s First Years as a resource for medical/developmental things.

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Me too but how sus would it be if a teenager asked their parents for a parenting book or brought one home from the library- :joy: :sweat_smile:

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Haha true! But I would seriously check your library’s e-book collection! [name_m]Even[/name_m] if you’re in a small town they probably have access to a quite a few through an app like [name_f]Libby[/name_f].

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What aspects of parenting are you interested in? [name_m]Just[/name_m] kind of what it’s like day-to-day looking after a child, or more of a “how to” of parenting ideals or dealing with behaviour? For understanding toddler behaviour and development I love the facebook pages “gentle parents unite” (there are units you can read with loads of great ideas, which IMO are far more useful than reading the posts in the group) and [name_f]Janet[/name_f] Lansbury.

I haven’t read enough books myself but [name_u]Alfie[/name_u] Kohn’s “Unconditional Parenting” really resonated with me. You could tell your parents you’re interested in different parenting ideas through time and how they might influence culture and society?

“Magic trees of the mind” also seems interesting but I’m not sure how up to date and I haven’t read much of it.

Don’t touch “toddler taming” with a ten foot pole unless your pole is on fire and you’re intending to burn it. I’ve had aunts and colleagues pass it on to me like it’s helpful. It advocates for leaving your toddler crying in their room for ages at night, checking on them if you must, leaving them to cry some more, yelling at them if they come out their room, and even sedating them to achieve the goal of getting them to stay in their own beds. Conpletely ignoring the fact that children are PEOPLE, to begin with, and that your relationship with them is important… let alone vulnerable beautiful little people with their own fears and anxieties and desperate need for security and love. We cuddle ours. Probably completely unrelated but our eldest is a beautiful kind wee thing with lovely manners and taught herself the upper and lower case alphabet and counting to 20 before the age of 2, so despite the disapproving looks of some of our neighbours about how ‘coddled’ our kids are, I definitely don’t feel like we’re failing!

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And parenting tactics/styles.

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That sounds… Awful. I’d talk to your toddlers & gently tell them they have to sleep in their own bed, but to come get you if they need you or are scared. I’ve seen articles about making special flashlights for fears of the dark/monsters & stuff like that. Would never to that to my kid.

Who is it by? They’re may be multiple books with the same name, I want to avoid that specific one and not other (potentially helpful) ones.

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I tend to stay away from parenting books, as there are many, many problematic child-rearing philosophies out there. Not many align with what our goals as parents are, especially ones written a long time ago. Another user pointed out a good example of that.

However, one I did like was called the 5 [name_u]Love[/name_u] Languages of Children by [name_u]Gary[/name_u] Chapman. I know it sounds creepy but it really isn’t. It is based on his concepts of there being 5 main categories that people show and receive love. For instance, gifts or quality time. This books shows how that may apply to your child. Like, my son isn’t huge on physical touch but he seems to feel especially loved and safe when we spend quality time with him, no electronics or distractions.

Another one I started reading was Safe House by [name_m]Joshua[/name_m] Straub. It is sort of religiously-based but it focuses on how our childhoods effect our parenting styles…that kind of thing. I’m not too far into that one though. I have that one on my iBook app thing…

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If you’re a teenager interested in learning about parenting, and you are interested/able to go to college, I strongly suggest checking out a major called Family and Consumer [name_u]Science[/name_u]. I literally had classes and text books on parenting and absolutely loved it. Very fascinating to learn about research behind child development and child rearing.

Unfortunately, I don’t know what’s available online, but some of my favorites were:

  • The Whole [name_m]Brain[/name_m] Child (or anything by this author/researcher/professor, [name_u]Daniel[/name_u] Seigel)
  • Nuture Shock by [name_m]Bronson[/name_m] & Merryman

I feel like there’s more, but I don’t remember them off the top of my head. I would have to dig through my books :rofl:

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