Our Favorite Books About Parenting

Here are some of our favorite books about parenting, perfect for gifting to yourself or parents-to-be.

The Conscious Parent: Transforming Ourselves, Empowering Our Children by Dr. Shefali Tsabary

In Tsabary’s conscious approach to parenting children serve as mirrors of their parents’ forgotten self. Those willing to look in the mirror have an opportunity to establish a relationship with their own inner state of wholeness. Once they find their way back to their essence, parents enter into communion with their children, shifting away from the traditional parent-to-child “know it all” approach and more towards a mutual parent-with-child relationship.

Growing Feelings: A Kids’ Guide to Dealing with Emotions About Friends and Other Kids by Eileen Kennedy-Moore, PhD

Caring friendships are a protective factor for children’s mental health. Giving kids the tools they need to deal with the feelings about friends is a powerful step toward protecting and improving their well-being. This entertaining and empowering book addresses a wide range of feelings children have about friends and other kids, including worry, guilt, jealousy, compassion, and gratitude. Through relatable cartoon stories, kids get a hands-on approach that they can put into practice.

Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic—And What We Can Do About It by Jennifer Breheny Wallace

An investigation into the deep roots of toxic achievement culture that draws on interviews with families, educators, and an original survey of nearly 6,000 parents. Wallace exposes how the pressure to perform is not a matter of parental choice but baked in to our larger society. As a result, children are increasingly absorbing the message that they have no value outside of their accomplishments, a message that is reinforced by the media and greater culture at large. Wallace shows what kids need from the adults in the room is not more pressure, but to feel like they matter, and have intrinsic self-worth not contingent upon external achievements.

Social Justice Parenting: How to Raise Compassionate, Anti-Racist, Justice-Minded Kids in an Unjust World by Dr. Traci Baxley

Dr. Baxley, a mother of five herself, suggests that parenting is a form of activism, and encourages parents to acknowledge their influence in developing compassionate, socially-conscious kids. Importantly, Dr. Baxley also guides parents to do the work of recognizing and reconciling their own biases.

The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. and Tina Payne Bryson, M.D.

The authors of this pioneering, practical book offer a revolutionary approach to child rearing with twelve key strategies that foster healthy brain development, leading to calmer, happier children. The authors explain the new science of how a child’s brain is wired and how it matures.