I came to parenting the way most of us do — knowing nothing and trying to learn everything.
We’re all learning, all of the time. Here are our picks of the latest parenting books to arrive on our shelves – have a browse! First up is the latest from Pōneke parent, Emily Writes.
Needs adult supervision : lessons in growing up / Emily
“Needs Adult Supervision is Emily Writes’ take on growing up and feeling like a real adult. This book looks at the growing pains of kids and their parents and their attempts to navigate a world that’s changing by the minute. Emily paints a vivid picture of all the feelings, fortunes and failures that come with trying to parent when you don’t always feel up for the task. What it feels like to be learning at the same time your kids are. What happens when we get radically honest about the challenges parents are facing. In Emily’s inimitable way it’s incredibly insightful and hilarious, and leads to the odd tear being shed along the way.” (Catalogue)
How to cope when your child can’t : comfort, help and hope for parents / Shafran, Roz
“Parenting and caring for a child who is struggling to cope can be painful and stressful, and can make it very hard to enjoy life yourself. Feelings of blame, guilt, sorrow, despair, fear and frustration may be swirling around alongside a desperate desire to cure their pain. Although parenting a child who is experiencing difficulties is a common problem, we can feel desperately alone when it is happening to us. When someone we love is struggling for whatever reason we may become unhappy too. […] This book is packed with stories from real parents, combined with information from psychological research. It will show you how you can manage to obtain comfort from knowing you are not alone, get help from resources and techniques that really work, and find hope that things can and do change for the better” (Catalogue)
Good inside : a guide to becoming the parent you want to be / Kennedy, Rebecca
“Dr. Becky Kennedy, wildly popular parenting expert and creator of @drbeckyatgoodinside, shares her groundbreaking approach to raising kids and offers practical strategies for parenting in a way that feels good. Over the past several years, Dr. Becky Kennedy — known to her followers as “Dr. Becky” — has been sparking a parenting revolution. Millions of parents, tired of following advice that either doesn’t work or simply doesn’t feel good, have embraced Dr. Becky’s empowering and effective approach, a model that prioritizes connecting with our kids over correcting them. […] In Good Inside, Dr. Becky shares her parenting philosophy, complete with actionable strategies, that will help parents move from uncertainty and self-blame to confidence and sturdy leadership.” (Catalogue)
How to raise an antiracist / Kendi, Ibram X
“How do we talk to our children about racism? How do we teach children to be antiracist? How are kids at different ages experiencing race? How are racist structures impacting children? How can we inspire our children to avoid our mistakes, to be better, to make the world better? These are the questions Ibram X. Kendi found himself avoiding as he anticipated the birth of his first child. Like most parents or parents-to-be, he felt the reflex to not talk to his child about racism, which he feared would stain her innocence and steal away her joy. But research into the scientific literature, his experiences as a father and reflections on his own difficult experiences as a student ultimately changed his mind. In How to Raise an Antiracist he shows that we must all participate in the effort to raise young people as antiracists.” (Catalogue)
‘Mum, what’s wrong with you?’ : 101 things only mothers of teenage girls know / Candy, Lorraine
“One minute you are sniffing the top of your baby’s delicious new born head, lost in a soft velvety world of endless love and the next you are receiving the full force of a self-righteous teenage meltdown. There are 101 things you don’t know about teenage girls until you live them. We are all familiar with the hormones, the illogical rage, the awful time keeping, and the daily dramarama. However, you don’t know that they will steal your stuff (and claim you never had it in the first place), bruise your self-esteem just as you hit your melancholy midlife, and love/hate you all day long with exhausting regularity seconds after turning 13. […] Enter Lorraine Candy […] She lights the way for other mums facing life with teenage girls, other mums caught in the perfect storm of parenting tomorrow’s bright and brilliant women just as they go through their own midlife unravelling.” (Catalogue)
Outdoor kids in an inside world : getting your family out of the house and radically engaged with nature / Rinella, Steven
“Today, kids can spend up to seven hours per day looking at screens. Not only does this phenomenon have consequences for our kids’ physical and mental health, it calls into question their ability to understand and engage with anything beyond the built environment. We can talk about environmental stewardship, but until more people make meaningful contact with nature, the welfare of our planet is in jeopardy. Now, outdoors expert Steven Rinella shares the parenting wisdom he has garnered as a father whose family has lived amid the biggest cities and wildest corners of America. Throughout, he offers practical advice for getting your kids radically engaged with nature in a muddy, thrilling, hands-on way, guided by black-and-white illustrations throughout-with the ultimate goal of helping them see their own place within the natural ecosystem.” (Catalogue)
