My Favorite Parenting Books

Today, I am again linking up with Charity from The Wounded Dove for Confessions of a #GoodEnoughMom. Today, Charity has asked fellow bloggers to write about their favorite parenting books – How to choose???? I read so many of them!

Okay – time to scratch all that!!!

Charity said it’s time to get real and leave our perfect at the door. Smart advice!

Well, here’s my truth. I don’t have a lot of time to read anymore, and when I do it’s mostly work-related. When I couldn’t find a job I started a test prep business and now teach locally and online. That takes a lot of work um time um commitment um energy um a great, big sense of humor, so I read tons of test prep manuals, but I mean, really – What could be more exciting than thousands of pages of SAT prep?

I can’t think of anything.

Unless maybe it’s ACT prep!

But honestly, I don’t have a lot of time to read. The books below are books I’ve skimmed through or read several years ago. Most are on my list to read again (or someday!) Well, not the pregnancy books. I wasn’t planning on reading them as often as I already have!

Pregnancy Parenting Books

I vaguely remember having five minutes to myself waaaaaay back in my married, BC days – Before Children. What did I do with my free time? I read books on having children (I may have skimmed over some of the real technical scientific stuff in Life Before Birth, but I read most of these two.)

Your Pregnancy Week by Week by Glade B. Curtis – I love this book (possibly even more than the famous What to Expect… book because this gives so much detail about the baby’s development. I love the pictures it contains and just made everything so REAL to me. In the right margin I wrote the date and drew a line showing the baby’s approximate length each week. It’s amazing to see how quickly a baby grows and how it really is a BABY, not just a clump of cells!

Life Before Birth by Marjorie A. England – Ever wonder what your baby looks like – actually looks like before it is born? This was my Go To book for amazing actual photos (and a lot of science-y kinda stuff too! Great for grossing out older brothers! 😉 ) Here’s another link I found to similar books that I don’t have but just found and will have to go back and check out one day! Science for Unborn Human Life – looks like cool stuff here!

Silent Sorrow by Ingrid Kohn & Perry-Lynn Moffit – As you may know, my first pregnancy turned out to be an ectopic pregnancy, and the loss was devastating. This book is one of those I skimmed through to help understand what was going on physically and emotionally.

Kid Books

Why can’t I find more of these? <sigh>

The Kids Pick-A-Party Book by Penny Warner – actually any of the Penny Warner party books – great ideas for themes, games, snacks, you name it! With 5 boys, I’ve thrown a few kids’ parties and down time means trouble time. With these ideas, I was able to keep things moving and keep the kids laughing! – which reminds me, with three of my boys having birthdays at the end of the school year – I’ve got a few parties to catch up on!

The Explosive Child by Ross W. Greene – Another book I haven’t read, but I think knowing my kids don’t have to be perfect and we can still be normal! Thank God none of them are “explosive” any more – YAY! I <3 my boys! 😀

Pre-Teen/Teen Books

All of these books are on my “Someday List” – I’ll probably get to them when I have no more Teenagers!

Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado – We watched the movie Facing the Giants put out by Sherwood Baptist Church before we knew about this book (We were so impressed with Sherwood Baptist’s movies (Courageous, Fireproof, and Flywheel) that we visited Sherwood Baptist to help integrate faith into our vacation and were blessed to meet the wonderful Ken Bevel who took the time to gather us in his circle and pray with us and for us! What an impression he made on my young men – and on me!)

Back to the book though…Max Lucado uses quick, stories of other teens to show God working in this world.

In Pursuit of My Success for Teens by Katherine Berntzen – Great intro to the stock market, budgeting, resumes, networking, college applications, career choices, credit, and more. It’s not too in depth so it works great with teens who want an overview rater than in-depth study – or with teens who have ashore attention span. Isn’t that most of them???

Biblical Financial Study by Crown Financial – Crown has editions for all ages. They do a good job of tying the Bible to life today and showing the importance of giving, saving, and spending wisely.

I Kissed Dating Good-Bye by Joshua Harris – As Joshua Harris says, dating the way we do it today isn’t practice for marriage. It’s practice for divorce. Here, this young many has some advice on waiting to date – maybe some simple moms (AND DADS!) should check this out too!

The Right Path for SAT Success – Okay, I’m going to give my business a little plug here. I recommend using books from the actual test publishers whenever possible, but, because I didn’t find any strategy book that had ALL of the best content, I wrote my own SAT test prep manual using research of the big name test companies and smaller companies no one but a geek like me has ever heard of as well as my own experience and feedback from over 10 years of college test prep. The Right Path for SAT Success is available only through me for students I tutor in person or online.

PS – I wrote this book – and have read most of it. 😉

Adult Books

I know they’re not parenting books per se, and Charity may be doing a post asking for this next week, but I feel so strongly that to be a good parent you must take care of yourself and your marriage. The number one issue facing couples is financial struggles so I’m starting off with Dave Ramsey.

Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey – We had financial difficulties several years before my husband left. I read Dave’s books, and we climbed out of the hole and into the clear! If we were still in debt when my ex left, I don’t know where the boys and I would be now. Thankfully, Dave explains things easily and clearly and (almost) anyone can eliminate debt and accumulate wealth. I also use his stuff now to help me figure out our limited budget.

How to Clean Practically Anything by Consumer Reports – Okay, this is one I haven’t read but I know of all the books in the world, I really HAVE to read this one. Instead, it sits on my dusty bookshelf, hidden behind a stained tee shirt  and taunts me.

I also have a bunch of books I was going to include on marriage, abandonment, separation, and divorce which again, are not directly related to parenting, but they are! Marriage issues and the break up of the family take a HUGE toll on one’s ability to parent, and getting help in tough times is key to climbing the mountains that lurk in shadows.

Like I said, I was going to post them here, but I think Charity is really onto something about posting favorite books and this post is already (kinda) long so I’m going to include these in another post in the next week or two.

The Number One Parenting Book

The New American Bible inspired by God – If you notice, most of my books here are Christian rather than specifically Catholic. During my struggle with Catholicism, I found great Christian resources, many of which led me to understand how little I knew of the Bible and God’s word. I love studying the Saints and praying the Rosary and receiving the Eucharist and other Catholic-y things, but nothing beats “Coffee with Jesus” as my kids know it. My quiet time in the morning that I sit with a cup of coffee and read, reflect, take notes on, pray, and listen to the voice of God give me the lesson I need to hear that day. The Bible is the one parenting manual I could not do without and do read religiously 😉

What parenting guides do you recommend?

God Bless…

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