The Only Parenting Books You’ll Ever Need to Read

by The Cut
|
21 books
The very best parenting books are better than the intentions we bring to them. The good ones are both consoling and challenging, reminding us that to be a parent who is present, and forgiving, and kind, you must first be all of these things to yourself. (Harder than you’d think.) The parenting books listed here are some of the best of the best.
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See the source list and commentary at www.thecut.com

Your Two-Year-Old

Terrible or Tender
Louise Bates Ames, 2012

Becoming Attached

First Relationships and how They Shape Our Capacity to Love
Robert Karen, 1998

All Joy and No Fun

The Paradox of Modern Parenthood
Jennifer Senior, 2014

When Partners Become Parents

The Big Life Change for Couples
Carolyn Pape Cowan, Philip A. Cowan, 1992

Simplicity Parenting

Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids
Kim John Payne, Lisa M. Ross, 2010

The Child, The Family And The Outside World

D. W. Winnicott, 1992

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk

Adele Faber, Elaine Mazlish, 1999

The Whole-Brain Child

12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind
Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D., 2012

No Bad Kids: Toddler Discipline Without Shame

Janet Lansbury, 2013

The Second Shift

Working Families and the Revolution at Home
Arlie Hochschild, Anne Machung, 2012

Siblings Without Rivalry

How to Help Your Children Live Together So You Can Live Too
Adele Faber, Elaine Mazlish, 2012

The Drama of the Gifted Child

The Search for the True Self, Third Edition
Alice Miller, 2008

Queen Bees & Wannabes

Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boys, and the New Realities of Girl World
Rosalind Wiseman, 2016

How to Hug a Porcupine: Negotiating the Prickly Points of the Tween Years

Julie Ross, 2008

NurtureShock

New Thinking About Children
Po Bronson, Ashley Merryman, 2009

Unequal Childhoods

Class, Race, and Family Life, Second Edition with an Update a Decade Later
Annette Lareau, 2011

Supernormal

The Untold Story of Adversity and Resilience
Meg Jay, 2017

The Body Keeps the Score

Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
Bessel A. Van der Kolk, 2015

The Gardener and the Carpenter

What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children
Alison Gopnik, 2016

The Philosophical Baby

What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life
Alison Gopnik, 2009

Like a Mother

A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy
Angela Garbes, 2018