10 New York Times Best Parenting Books
Updated on: September 2023
New York Times Best Parenting Books in 2023
The New York Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children: 3rd Edition Revised and Updated
Untamed
Big Russ and Me, Father and Son: Lessons of Life
Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A true (as told to me) story
The Jetsetters: A Novel
Women's Work: A Personal Reckoning with Labor, Motherhood, and Privilege
The Numbers Game: A Novel
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
What The Bible Says About Parenting Biblical Principle For Raising Godly Children
Say Bonjour to the Lady: Parenting from Paris to New York
Do Parenting Books Really Help You with Your Children?
What is it about parenting books that has parents running to the nearest book store and buying up books and magazines? Do these really help with parenting?
With my house cluttered with books and magazines on parenting and baby tips, I started asking myself if they really helped me the way that I was hoping it would. The answer to this was, yes it did and yes it can.
I had a friend come over to my house once when my oldest child was around six months old. I had a parenting book laying on the coffee table beside the couch. He looked down and picked up the book, the next thing that flew out of his mouth was, 'oh, so they do come with manuals. I was shocked and yet puzzled. Was I taking someone else's advice over my own and what kind of damaging could this do to me and my child?
Rest assured that these books are meant to help you. I did not take the advice from these books to heart. Most of these parenting books did not have advice in them, they had tips and tools that other parents have used to help them with their parenting.
The tips that came in these so called manuals were tips like teaching your child to crawl or when is the right time to feed your child. I learned a lot from these books and would recommend them to anyone who asked me about them. My oldest daughter is six years old and she was born with a speech impediment. I would have not known this if it weren't for these books. I seen the warning signs and took her to a speech specialist who said that she had a speech impediment. I got her the right type of help that she needed and she is progressing wonderfully.
I am a mother of five with two step children and I still read these books occasionally. Not because I think that I am a bad parent, but because the laws are changing and so are the regulations. For instance, when I was a child I don't recall being put in a booster seat. This was because it was not required back then. The regulations on cribs and toys are also changing and these are often put into these books so that parents can be warned.
Do I think that it is worth the money that I have spent? Maybe not as much as I have spent but I do recommend that you speak to a pediatrician for recommendations on a book or two that will help you. You can also subscribe to a few baby magazines that you can get from your pediatricians office, so that you can keep updated on a monthly basis on rules and regulations.
What do you do with these books once you have read them? Read them again and if the author has not come out with a newer addition, give them to a new or expectant mother. The reason I said to make sure that the author has not come out with a new addition before giving it away is because new additions in books, usually means that the laws have changed and they have updated their book to keep up with these changes or they have come up with new skills that might be better than what was in their older book.
