Top 5 Parenting Books for Finding Simple, Timeless Truths that Increase Peace and Strengthen Your Skills

Parenting is tough. As soon as we get one stage figured out, it’s onto the next stage. Or onto the next child who has a different personality and stretches us in new ways. However, there are some truths that apply to human development in general, and when we understand them, it helps us parent with more peace and confidence. These truths help us understand our kids and better meet their needs for health and happiness. One of the best ways to learn these truths faster is reading. With that in mind, here are five of the best parenting books I recommend that teach timeless truths and apply across a spectrum of parenting experience.

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Recommended Reading for Parents

I’m the kind of person with a reading list as long as Santa’s nice list. It’s a list I’m always adding to and always wishing I could check off faster. There are so many good books!

My reading list is always growing because one of my favorite things to do is ask other people for their book recommendations. I do this with friends, family, people I connect with online, and even strangers.

I write down the title of the book in a note on my phone with the person’s name. When I read that book, I think of the person. I love how this helps me get to know people in a different way, often leads to meaningful conversations, and helps me learn from authors I might not have heard of otherwise.

In fact, many of these best parenting books that I now highly recommend came as recommendations from other people. Thank you! So, if you too appreciate getting recommendations from others, here are some of mine.

5 of the Best Parenting Books

There are countless great parenting books. I’m sharing this limited list to keep things simple, not because the options are limited. These are five of the best parenting books that I find myself recommending over and over as a parenting coach and thinking of repeatedly as I raise my own five children.

Be sure to share your recommendations for your favorite parenting books in the comments too.

1. The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind
By Dr. Daniel Siegel and Dr. Tina Payne-Bryson

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This book explains brain development in a way that’s simple to understand and applicable to daily parenting. It has helped me understand my kids’ emotional moments (including massive meltdowns) and connect with my kids in meaningful ways, even during tantrums.

The purpose of The Whole-Brain Child is to help parents cultivate healthy intellectual and emotional development in their kids, and I think it succeeds. The book also includes suggestions for how to teach your child about some of these big ideas, and the refrigerator sheets are perfect reminders in a busy day (or if you’re like me and don’t remember everything you read😉).

2. Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids
By Kim John Payne

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Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff that comes along with having kids? Well, too much stuff is overwhelming for our kids too. And not just the physical stuff like toys and books and drawers so full of clothes we can’t close them.

In Simplicity Parenting, Kim John Payne draws from his research and experience as a school counselor, consultant, and family counselor to show how we bless our kids’ lives when we choose to simplify. He shares practical ideas for simplifying different aspects of our lives from the media and information we bring into childhood to schedules and, of course, all the clutter.

Want more about decluttering? Check out the Quick Cleaning Toolkit that helps you keep a clean home faster, so you have more time for the things that matter most.

3. Peace amidst the Mayhem: You Can Be Calm, Confident, and Compassionate in Any Circumstance
By Marielle Melling

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I couldn’t write a list of my favorites without including one of the messages that’s closest to my heart. We do our kids a great service when we start with ourselves. When we feel calm, happy, and confident, we show up better for our kids. We set the example for how we hope they live and how we want them to feel. We’re worth doing the work to get there, and our kids are worth us doing the work to get there.

So, while Peace amidst the Mayhem isn’t strictly a parenting book, it definitely helps parents.

In our crazy world, it’s a boon to know that peace has very little to do with what’s going on outside of us and everything to do with what’s going on inside us. Through insights, inspiring true stories, relatable research, and practical tips in this book, you can make your own transformation from inner chaos, uncertainty, or upset to calm, confidence, and compassion.

There’s also a free guide to help parents apply the principles from the book to parenting and teach kids peace promoting principles. Grab the Free Guide here: A Parent’s Guide to Peace amidst the Mayhem.

4. Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood
By Lisa Damour

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Our oldest happens to be a girl, so when she was a pre-teen, I picked this up from the library. While I don’t agree with everything Dr. Damour writes, this book provided an incredibly helpful way to see the developmental tasks of the teenage years. While it’s geared towards girls, it’s been helpful with my sons too.

Untangled helps us understand our teens better. When we understand them better, it’s easier to send them the all-important message, “I’m on your side.”

5. Hold On To Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers
By Gordon Neufeld, Ph.D. and Gabor Maté, M.D.

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While at times the authors paint a pretty bleak picture that doesn’t align with all the good I also see happening in the younger generations, the take-aways about relationship with our kids are huge. As one reviewer wrote, “Our society values peer influence so highly and at such a superficial level that we are losing our kids to isolation and hopelessness disguised by technology and unhealthy friendships.” In this deeply researched book, Dr. Neufeld and Dr. Maté lead us into a healthy parent-child attachment that helps our kids thrive from their toddler steps to teenage years.

How to Find Time to Read as a Busy Parent

I remember how busy I felt with my first child. I was a full-time parent. When my second was born, it was a huge transition for me to figure out how to parent two kids with two schedules and two sets of needs. One by one, we’ve grown our family.

As our family has expanded and I’ve held other responsibilities, I’ve learned a powerful truth: our activities expand to fill the time we give them. What we prioritize first in our day happens. If I want to have quality time with my kids more than I want clean dishes and I spend that quality time together first, I’ll either find a way to do the dishes quicker or be okay with leaving them in the sink.

So, as we talk about fitting anything into our schedule as busy parents, the first question is always, “Is this important to me?” If reading is not important to you in this season of life, move on, without guilt. If it is, here are some ideas for how to make time to read, even as a busy parent.

Ideas for How to Make Time for Reading

• Read while you brush your teeth (this gives you at least two minutes every night, and many nights you’ll keep reading a little longer).

• Listen to books. Try Audible Plus with a free trial and access thousands of titles, including a vast array of audiobooks, podcasts and originals that span genres, lengths, and formats. You can listen to audiobooks while you drive carpool, fold laundry, or go for a walk.

• Join a book club. Whether it’s a local, online, or Zoom club with family or friends in far-away places, sometimes a little motivation is all we need to make the reading happen.

• Keep a book in the car. There are often random minutes waiting in the carpool line or at an appointment when we could squeeze in a few pages.

• Refuse to feel guilty for reading. I know many moms who feel guilty, especially if the book is a novel or something “just for fun.” Reading sets a good example for your kids. Plus, if it brings you knowledge OR joy, you’re worth it. If feeling guilty is a struggle, check out these Top 3 Self-Care Myths Debunked [How to Prioritize Self-Care for Busy Moms].

• Get your “need to do’s” done faster. You can have a clean home, fed children, and time for other things that are important to you. And to get there, home systems that work are a game changer. When we find efficient ways to get stuff done, we have more time for the things we want to do, like reading a good book. Get started with the Simple Systems Starter Guide…it’s free.

Want more time in your day? Get started with this free guide.

I hope these quick tips help you figure out how to find time to read as a busy parent, and I hope you enjoy reading some of these, my favorite parenting books. I know my parenting life has been blessed by the knowledge others are willing to share in their writing, and if you’re anything like me, we can use all the help we can get. 😉

Has one of these books already made a difference for your parenting? What other books do you recommend? Please share in the comments.

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