1) "The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind, Survive Everyday Parenting Struggles, and Help Your Family Thrive" by Daniel J. Siegel
Siegel (Psychiatry/UCLA; Mindsight, 2010, etc.) and Bryson dissect the different sections of the brain and offer useful parental tools that can limit temper tantrums as well as ensure well-rounded development.
The authors, both of Los Angeles’ Mindsight Institute, reveal 12 “whole-brain” strategies the entire family should implement as part of a holistic approach to child development. They suggest that the more we know about how the human brain operates, the more we can do to control it in difficult times. Most readers are already aware, for example, that there is a “right brain” and a “left brain.” But what about the “upstairs” and the “downstairs?" When we’re at our best, all of these parts work together harmoniously. Tantrums and meltdowns occur when one part of the brain temporarily takes over, causing “dis-integration.” To remedy this, the authors suggest 12 strategies designed to “re-integrate” the brain. These suggestions can also benefit adults who are prone to “dis-integration” as well. The authors include a fair amount of brain science, but they present it for both adult and child audiences. To facilitate a greater understanding of the process for the entire family, the authors summarize each strategy into comics form at the end of each chapter for easy comprehension. The appendix includes a handy reference guide that provides a quick refresher course when needed.
Useful child-rearing resource for the entire family.
2) "Playful Parenting" by Lawrence J. Cohen
• Express and understand complex emotions
• Break through shyness, anger, and fear
• Empower themselves and respect diversity
• Play their way through sibling rivalry
• Cooperate without power struggles
From eliciting a giggle during baby’s first game of peekaboo to cracking jokes with a teenager while hanging out at the mall, Playful Parenting is a complete guide to using play to raise confident children. Written with love and humor, brimming with good advice and revealing anecdotes, and grounded in the latest research, this book will make you laugh even as it makes you wise in the ways of being an effective, enthusiastic parent.
3) "Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason" by Alfie Kohn
Most parenting guides begin with the question “How can we get kids to do what they're told?” and then proceed to offer various techniques for controlling them. In this truly groundbreaking book, nationally respected educator Alfie Kohn begins instead by asking, “What do kids need—and how can we meet those needs?” What follows from that question are ideas for working with children rather than doing things to them.
One basic need all children have, Kohn argues, is to be loved unconditionally, to know that they will be accepted even if they screw up or fall short. Yet conventional approaches to parenting such as punishments (including “time-outs”), rewards (including positive reinforcement), and other forms of control teach children that they are loved only when they please us or impress us. Kohn cites a body of powerful, and largely unknown, research detailing the damage caused by leading children to believe they must earn our approval. That's precisely the message children derive from common discipline techniques, even though it's not the message most parents intend to send.
More than just another book about discipline, though, Unconditional Parenting addresses the ways parents think about, feel about, and act with their children. It invites them to question their most basic assumptions about raising kids while offering a wealth of practical strategies for shifting from “doing to” to “working with” parenting—including how to replace praise with the unconditional support that children need to grow into healthy, caring, responsible people. This is an eye-opening, paradigm-shattering book that will reconnect readers to their own best instincts and inspire them to become better parents.
4) "The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two" by William Sears
The classic guide of the post-Dr. Spock generation has been revised to include the latest information on virtually every aspect of infant and baby care. THE BABY BOOK is unrivaled in its scope and authority, and presents a practical, contemporary approach to parenting that reflects the way we live today. Focusing on the essential needs of babies--eating, sleeping, development, health, and comfort--it addresses the questions of greatest concern to parents. The Searses acknowledge that there is no one way to parent a baby, and they offer the basic guidance and inspiration you need to develop the parenting style that best suits you and your child. THE BABY BOOK is a rich and invaluable resource that will help you get the most out of parenting--for your child, for yourself, and for your entire family.
5) "Parenting for the Digital Age" by Bill Ratner
Ratner look at issues regarding advertising and children in this memoir and parenting-advice book.
The author’s father, a Minneapolis marketing executive, brought home the family’s first television set when Ratner was in kindergarten. The young boy watched a variety of TV shows, includingDragnet and The Ernie Kovacs Show—and even sometimes watched test patterns. Ratner also consumed all sorts of other media, from magazines to radio, and even created his own block-wide radio broadcast as a kid. As an adult, he talked his way into a job selling radio advertising time and then voiced the ads and took on other on-air work. That led to his big break as the voice of Flint for the 1980s animated series G.I. Joe. But although Ratner was steeped in the world of media and messaging, he had a healthy distrust of it. He’d learned from his father how advertisers manipulate viewers, particularly children, so he went on to create an educational program for grade-schoolers about the effects of ads. The personal anecdotes that make up the bulk of this book are lively and warm. He includes tidbits about how he raised his own daughters with far stricter limits on media exposure than he had, as well as longer passages about the marketing efforts behind juggernauts such as the Barbie and G.I. Joe franchises. The best parts of Ratner’s story, however, are rooted in the past. The true complexity of today’s parenting, when TV is the least of one’s digital worries, never comes through. As a result, the promise of the book’s subtitle, “The Truth Behind the Media’s Effect on Children and What to Do About It,” is never fulfilled. This is too bad, as Ratner’s stories of his childhood and his later adult skepticism didn’t need to be wrapped up in a “digital-age parenting” package—they could have stood very well on their own.
A fine personal narrative, but readers will likely want more practical parenting tips.
6) "The Attachment Parenting Book: A Commonsense Guide to Understanding and Nurturing Your Baby" by William Sears
7) "Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids: How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting" by Laura Markham
Based on the latest research on brain development and extensive clinical experience with parents, Dr. Laura Markham’s approach is as simple as it is effective. Her message: Fostering emotional connection with your child creates real and lasting change. When you have that vital connection, you don’t need to threaten, nag, plead, bribe—or even punish.
This remarkable guide will help parents better understand their own emotions—and get them in check—so they can parent with healthy limits, empathy, and clear communication to raise a self-disciplined child. Step-by-step examples give solutions and kid-tested phrasing for parents of toddlers right through the elementary years.
If you’re tired of power struggles, tantrums, and searching for the right “consequence,” look no further. You’re about to discover the practical tools you need to transform your parenting in a positive, proven way.
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