by Brianna In pursuit of making great book club kits and generally improving ourselves, we read a LOT of books! We believe that you can get at least a little bit better at just about anything, as long as you keep learning about it and practicing proven techniques. We extend this philosophy to our journeys as parents, too. What if all parents took their parenting as seriously as their career or favorite hobby? To progress at work, people read books, take classes, and seek mentorships. We aren't too proud or self-assured to try these techniques to become better parents, as well.
While we're certainly not perfect, we're definitely seeing results from these efforts. One of our biggest lessons has been that we're constantly planting the seeds for future progress; real changes are rarely immediate, but they're lasting and buildable. That and, parenting is hard! Even when you're doing it right, your kid will still get mad at you. Saying "no" in the cereal aisle when your kid is two might result in a tantrum that makes you wish you'd just ordered everything online. But sticking to your "no" and enduring the tw0-year-old's rage will result in a much more subtle, but accepting, form of dissatisfaction to your "no" in the same scenario a year or two later. All of this is to say, you've got this! And when you feel like you don't, we have books that can help. Read on for our list of our ten favorite parenting books (in no particular order). These are all of our go-to's when friends ask how we handle things. Use the links in the article to order your own copy from Amazon (we'll get a small referral payout if you do, at no additional cost to you). Bonus: we have a printable pamphlet of all ten titles that you can take with you to the bookstore or library!
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By Brianna
This post contains affiliate links. If you buy anything using the links in this article, Busy Nest News will get a small portion of the sale at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support! Expecting Better, by Emily Oster
It’s been a while since Ariel and I came across a parenting book that we just had to read. When we heard the premise of Expecting Better, by Emily Oster, we knew it bore checking out.
Summary: Emily Oster is an economist (as is her husband). In a nutshell, what economists are pros at is analyzing information, evaluating the quality, and synthesizing it into reports to help people in key positions make decisions. In Expecting Better, Oster aims to use her economist skills to breakdown the data around the most common, thorny issues encountered in pregnancy, to help you decide what's best for your family. Some of the topics tackled include the risks around foods (caffeine, alcohol, lunch meat, sushi), medicines (birth control, pain killers, antidepressants), and exercise. Oster also details risks of and protocols around genetic testing, common pregnancy conditions (such as pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes), bedrest, and the options available during birth.
by Brianna
Join Brianna and Ariel as they review and discuss the parenting book, Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child Is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, and Energetic. When you use the affiliate links in this article, you're helping to keep Busy Nest News running. Thanks for your continued support. Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, and Energetic, by Dr. Mary Sheedy KurcinkaSummary:
For July’s parenting book, we read Raising Your Spirited Child, by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka, Ed. D.. Through her study of spirited children Dr. Kurcinka has developed a program to help parents manage the challenges that come with raising a spirited child. In this book, she offers concrete tips for identifying and handling situations that are likely to be met with resistance by spirited children, whether it’s an unexpected change in schedule, less than sympathetic teachers, or working through overwhelming emotions.
by Brianna Recently, Brianna and Ariel reviewed Raising Men by Eric Davis and Dina Santorelli. Being women and mothers of daughters, not sons, they wanted a little backup for this apparently testosterone-fueled book. Read on to find out what their Marine husbands made of a parenting book written by a former SEAL. Here at Busy Nest News, we try to evaluate a variety of parenting books for our readers. Ariel and I take turns selecting the book that we’ll both read, and then we discuss it as our own, little, two-person book club. Our latest book, Raising Men by Eric Davis, points out that there can be no growth without getting outside of the comfort zone at least a little bit. Reading this book, that’s exactly where we initially found ourselves- about a yard outside of our comfort zone.
By Ariel In which Ariel and Brianna discuss Raising Men: Lessons Navy SEALs Learned from Their Training and Taught to Their Sons by Eric Davis and Dina Santorelli. As parents can we learn something from the way the military shapes our men and women? Read on to find out. This post contains affiliate links. By using them you help keep Busy Nest News up and running. Thank you for your continued support. Raising Men By Eric Davis & Dina Santorelli Summary:Should we be tempering our sons in the crucible of extreme parenting before they set out on their own path? Eric Davis thinks so. Raising Men: Lessons Navy SEALs Learned from Their Training and Taught to Their Sons by Eric Davis and Dina Santorelli takes the Navy SEALs philosophy and training techniques and applies them to raising “real men.”
by Brianna
A special book review for Mother's Day. Brianna and Ariel discuss a book just for moms. Not exactly a parenting book, so much as a book for parents. That will make them better parents. That has nothing to do with parenting. You'll see. This article has affiliate links in it. By using them to get the book, you're keeping Busy Nest News going. Thanks for your continued support! Summary of Run Like a Mother: How to Get Moving-- and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity, by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea
For May, the month of Mother’s Day, we decided to read a special sort of parenting book. Run Like a Mother, by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea, is a book for moms. In it, McDowell and Shea have a conversation with each other and the reader about what it takes to be a mother/runner. They detail their own struggles and triumphs with staying active after having kids, and offer readers solid advice on everything from just finding the time to preventing and rehabbing injuries (whether said injuries were brought on by running trails or slipping on toys). They cover selecting the right footwear, embarrassing playlists, setting reasonable goals, and how to stay relatively safe and comfortable on a run.
By Brianna and Ariel In which Brianna and Ariel discuss Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth. What is grit and how do we cultivate it in ourselves and in our children? Duckworth shows us how. This post contains affiliate links. By using them you help keep Busy Nest Nest up and running. Thank you for your continued support! Summary: Grit by Angela Duckworth Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth tackles the age-old question - why are some people more successful than others? Our natural tendency is to point out inborn talent as the deciding factor. Duckworth has her own theory. She believes success can be attributed to grit - a special blend of passion and persistence that allows us to improve exponentially.
By Ariel In which Ariel and Brianna discuss The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell - a book which outlines how to apply the five love languages philosophy to our relationships with children. This post contains affiliate links. By using them you help keep Busy Nest News up and running. Thank you for your continued support! The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman & Ross Campbell Summary: The 5 Love Languages of Children As a parent, caregiver or teacher we communicate love to our children the best ways we know how. But are they receiving it? The Five Love Languages of Children: The Secret to Loving Children Effectively, by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell, teaches us how to apply Chapman’s love language philosophy to our relationships with the school-aged children in our lives. In this book Drs. Chapman and Campbell help us to understand how to convey unconditional love, how to use all five of the love languages to communicate love and model best practices, and how to effectively discipline in harmony with the philosophy.
By Brianna Wherein Brianna addresses the perceptions around self-help books, how to pick the right books for you, and how to get the most out of them. This post contains affiliate links; part of the proceeds from purchases through these links comes back to us, which helps keep Busy Nest News going. Thanks! Personal DevelopmentIf you’ve been following us for any amount of time, you’ve probably learned that Ariel and I are a little hooked on self-help books. I used to think self-help books were for people who wanted something about their lives to change without actually doing anything differently. I pictured Bridget Jones, buying stacks of books about getting a man, changing her mind, and then buying stacks of books about being an independent woman. Did she read any of those books, or were they supposed to be motivating to look at?
By Brianna In which Brianna and Ariel discuss the pros and cons of the parenting book UnSelfie, which touts "9 Essential Habits that Provide the Empathy Advantage." Should you read this book? Could being kind really help your kid get ahead? Or is it so much touchy-feely fluff? Read on to find the answers. If you decide you'd like to purchase this book, the links in this article are affiliate links. Buying this book will result in a payout to us, which helps keep Busy Nest News going. Thanks! UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World, by Michel Borba, Ed. D. |
AuthorsAriel and Brianna are friends who met while working in a library. Now they collaborate to develop life-enhancing book club experiences. Archives
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