21 Parenting books you can trust
With Mother’s Day quickly approaching, I find myself pulling out parenting books and flipping through the pages.
Whoops, stopped doing that.
Yes, that’s my problem.
Crap, I do that all the time.
Oh, no wonder he’s acting like that.
I’m speaking to our church on Mother’s Day, so I’m longing to find nuggets of encouragement–golden truths that send everyone out exhilarated and appreciative for their priceless role as mothers. But as I look back through those parenting books I know I can trust, I am overwhelmed with my own inabilities. I can’t speak about this! I can’t even do it.
I wonder if this ever changes? I really should be a professional parent by now.
So in an attempt to stave my own paranoia and to be as helpful as I can to all you mothers who I suspect are as self-deprecating as I am in regards to parenting, here is a selection of great books you can read that will actually help you. Not all parenting books are equal.
In fact, most off-the-shelf parenting books give advice about how to curb behavior (through brides, incentives, and other manipulations), which in the end will produce entitled, self-absorbed adults who will struggle in marriage because they grew up believing that the world existed for their benefit (because it did). I have read a lot of good parenting books, but I have my favorites–anything by Kevin Leman, James Dobson, or Tedd Tripp is a must. Concerning my suggestions, keep in mind, many of the “boy” books also come in “girl” versions. Some books for moms also come in versions for dads (that’s another holiday). I don’t have girls, and I’m not a dad, so I can’t speak to the value of those, but I suspect they are equally good.
Enjoy! And please send in your comments and suggestions! There are hundreds more worth reading, I’m sure. These are just the ones on my shelf that I kept.
