Best Parenting Books

Get Advice From Birth to Teens

Looking for a little insight into parenting? Expecting your first child and want to go beyond What To Expect When You’re Expecting? Whether you need a little help with sibling rivalry or want some ideas of how not to lose your mind during the baby years, these books can help you on your parenting journey.

Children: The Challenge: First published several decades ago, this book helps parents treat kids as equals. Despite the sometimes dated language, the hints and advice can help improve household harmony regardless of the size of your family or age of your kids.

How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids: Still struggling to keep parenting fair? Want to have less resentment and more fun? This delightful read tackles subjects both big and small, and works to improve your relationship along the way. With a fair dose of humor, this book offers the rare combination of entertainment and education we all need.

Catastrophic Happiness: This hilarious book comes filled with anecdotes from the author’s life that will ring true with parents everywhere. While you might not find all the answers to life’s problems here, after reading any one of the brief chapters you will feel less alone with your parenting struggles.

And Baby Makes Three: Dr. John Gottman tackles the biggest relationship game changer in his seminal book on parenting. Think you’re ready for your new addition? If you haven’t read this book, you could be surprised by how much your relationship changes after your delivery date. Filled with practical advice and how to navigate both disagreements and life changes like lack of sleep, this book can help ease the transition to parenthood for everyone.

Someone Could Get Hurt: This memoir of modern-day parenting challenges brings Drew Magary’s custom humor to the world of raising kids. Join him for the parenting roller coaster complete with big emotions and even bigger stakes. But don’t sweat the little things that the author also addresses. From cover to cover, you can enjoy this wild romp through parenthood’s ups and downs.

Achtung Baby: Want to raise capable kids? Or perhaps you just need a slightly different perspective on parenting. Either way, this book from author Sara Zaske captures what she learned about parenting in foreign countries, as well as how it helped her become a better parent. Choose any of the ideas that resonate with you, or try them all and see how much more resilient your kids become.

The Rookie Mom’s Handbook: Still in the postpartum period? This book is for you. If you’re struggling to come up with ideas to entertain yourself during maternity leave, this book comes filled with lots of tiny little tips made easy to implement. Even better, the book is arranged for sleep-deprived parents, so you can read as much or as little as you want at a time.