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What are your favorite parenting books?


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I have a confession to make. Up until now, I haven't read any books on parenting, except for books about taking care of babies. I don't know why! I am now kicking myself very hard. My dd7 is beginning to display a pretty rebellious attitude, so I have just started reading 'Shepherding a Child's Heart.' Do you have any suggestions for books on parenting and discipline that have really helped you? Thanks!

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I'm not at all fond of Tripp, Dobson or most of the popular Christian authors.

 

I've like:

 

Faber and Mazlish

Mary Sheedy Kurcinka

Clay and Sally Clarkson

Jeff Van Vonderan (Families Where Grace is in Place)

Jane Nelsen

Dr. Willaim Sears

Barbara Coloroso

Crystal Lutton

Dr. Becky Bailey

 

And mine, when I finally get it published.

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Sue G, that sounds like a good book, I will have to look for it.

 

I've read several parenting books, with bunches of different styles. They sometimes end up making me feel like I haven't been doing ANYTHING right as a parent, so I always kick myself in the head when I find myself reading another one. :glare:

 

But some have been pretty helpful.

 

The Love and Logic books are pretty good, and there's something called Get Off Your Butt Parenting. You can google both of those to find out more if you're interested. Those are the two I've read recently.

 

Good luck, and I have a 7 yr old ds who's getting an attitude too, so I do relate. Although his isn't so much rebellion as it is pure obnoxiousness. Ack.

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Dr. Dobson's book Raising Boys was fabulous. (if you are raising boys).

 

I also hearing or reading:

 

Tedd Tripp

Mark Hamby

Shelly Hendry

James Dobson - I like the Focus on the Family newsletter a lot

I also like the Discipline Book by Dr. Sears and wife.

 

Hendry and Hamby were tapes, not books. They are both hs parents who give wonderful speeches about raising your children for the Lord. Mark Hamby, I think speaks more about discipline than Shelly Hendry. If you can get to a convention or borrow some tapes on these 2 I highly recommend them. For me they were life changing. Mark Hamby runs Lamplighter publishing.

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I'm reading one now, Laying Down the Rails by Sonya Shafer, that's about consistently helping your children build good habits. It's based on Charlotte Mason's writings and I like it very much so far. Very practical.

 

I like reading Above Rubies Magazine and Bible studies by Nancy Campbell because she reminds me that motherhood is a precious gift. If I look at my children in that light, I tend to be much more gentle and nurturing toward them, and they respond very well to that approach. Unfortunately, that's not my nature and I have to fight constantly against my red hair and inherited impatience, so it's good for me to read as much of her gentle counsel as possible as often as possible.

 

The Pearls have some good thoughts about spending lots of time with children and "tying strings," but their methods of discipline just seemed too harsh to me. I tried some of their methods early on but it just felt like I was bullying my children. Though, that would be books I don't like rather than books I do. :)

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We have Making Children Mind without losing Yours, Bringing Kids up without tearing them down and What a Difference a Daddy Makes

I also have Creative Correction and have gotten some wonderful ideas. There is also some good stuff at Doorpost publishing. One is titled For Instruction in Righteousness.

 

HTH

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Favorites of mine:

 

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

Heartfelt Discipline by the Clarksons

Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka (If you have an "intense" child in any way, this book is great)

Boundaries with Kids and Boundaries with Teens by John Townsend

Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours by Kevin Leman (He has a newer book out called Have a New Kid by Friday that I'd like to check out.

 

Also, the Parenting With Love and Logic books and a new one we liked called Scream-Free Parenting.

 

My shelves are quite full. LOL

 

*Edited to add Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes...in You and Your Kids by Turansky and Miller and also their Good and Angry : Exchanging Frustration for Character... in You and Your Kids!

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If I had to recommend one book, it would be Parent Effectiveness Training.

 

These are also very good:

Hold on to Your Kids

Easy To Love, Difficult to Discipline (ignore the horrible cover)

Playful Parenting

The Secret of Parenting

 

Not strictly parenting, but this made a huge difference in our family:

Mindset

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I really like Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel.

 

Me too! This is my all-time favorite parenting book. It's not so much a "how-to" as a vision for the kind of parent I want to be.

 

Not exactly a parenting book, but I also really enjoyed The Myth of the Perfect Mother by Carla Barnhill. http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Perfect-Mother-Rethinking-Spirituality/dp/080106466X. It's not for everyone but I found it really thought provoking as a Christian woman and mother.

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Though I absolutely cringed at some of the suggestions given, most of what I would suggest has been said already. The only one I would add is Raising a Thinking Child by Myrna Shure. It's a bit different as it's actually a curriculum to help you proactively give your children problem solving skills and then also to help them think through the issue if they make a mistake so they can do better next time.

 

And I will definitely be touting Joanne's book when she gets it out. I trust, after years of posting with her on a few boards, that it will be great. I only hope people will read it and use it and drop the junk parenting.

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Though I absolutely cringed at some of the suggestions given, most of what I would suggest has been said already. The only one I would add is Raising a Thinking Child by Myrna Shure. It's a bit different as it's actually a curriculum to help you proactively give your children problem solving skills and then also to help them think through the issue if they make a mistake so they can do better next time.
This is a good book. I recently recommended it on another thread about problem solving. It's funny that I don't really that I don't really think of it as a parenting book (which in many ways it is), so much as a life skills book.
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