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Parenting journeys and adventures

Generally, I don't like to read parenting books. I often find that the authors get so caught up in telling you that their way is the one and only right way that it stresses me out even if I find some of the ideas helpful. However, I have found a few books to be particularly interesting/helpful and thought I would pass them on.   Usually, I like books that are based on good solid research (I am not a developmental psychologist but had to take enough developmental classes in grad school that I can tell which authors seem to know what they are talking about) and that present ideas and information in ways that are easy to read, practical and, most importantly, don't make you feel that you are doing everything wrong as a parent.

I just finished reading Red Flags or Red Herrings: Predicting who your child will become by Susan Engel, which was fascinating.  From Amazon:

"Offering an intriguing new way of thinking about child development, she uses both personal and professional research to identify problematic behaviors that require intervention and gives reassurance about those that don’t...Engel provides straightforward guidance about issues of major concern for parents—happiness, intelligence, love, and morality—while blending stories about real children with relevant and up-to-the-minute social and clinical research. This absorbing narrative is an indispensable tool that will restore your sanity, help you sleep better, and put the joy back in child-raising."

Another one that I have greatly enjoyed in the past is Nurture Shock: New thinking about children by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. From the Nurture Shock website:

"The central premise of this book is that many of modern society’s strategies for nurturing children are in fact backfiring – because key twists in the science have been overlooked."  As a parent and a psychologist, I found it great to read about a lot of different areas where things that *everyone* knows to be true are, in fact, dead wrong and doing the opposite of what you intend. It covers a wide range of topics including lying and deception, self-control, social skills, language development etc.

Last, but certainly not least, is the book that I relied upon when my older son was little. It's called Becoming the Parent You Want to Be: A sourcebook of strategies for the first 5 years by Laura Davis and Janis Keyser.  Out of all of these, this is the closest to a traditional parenting book in that it offers specific tips and suggestions for a variety of problems. However, they are always presented as ideas rather than the gospel truth. What I like best about the book is that it also has discussion questions and topics that helped my husband and I to define what kind of parents we wanted to be:  How did we feel about celebrating holidays? What was important to use about how we spend meals together? What did we think about bedtime routines?  Great book that I highly reccomend to parents of young children. In fact, I need to dig out my old copy as we prepare for baby #2 in a few  short weeks!