Raising Good Humans

Raising Good Humans: A Mindful Guide to Breaking the Cycle of Reactive Parenting and Raising Kind, Confident Kids 

by Hunter Clarke Fields 

New Harbinger Publications, 2019. 169 pages. Nonfiction 

As a parent, you strive to model kindness, compassion, and patience when interacting with your children. But no parent is perfect, and in difficult or stressful moments, you may react to your kids in ways that don't exactly fit your ideal model of parenting -- for example, yelling. You aren't alone. Parental reactions are often deeply ingrained, and you likely learned them from your parents. So how can you break this cycle and be the kind of parent you want to be? With this book, you’ll find powerful mindfulness skills for calming your own stress response when difficult emotions arise. You’ll also discover strategies for cultivating respectful communication, effective conflict resolution, and reflective listening. 

Raising Good Humans differs from many parenting books by spending the first half focused on the parents’ relationship with themselves, rather than their interactions with their children. The author emphasizes that unless parents learn first to regulate their own nervous systems, in moments of stress they’ll find themselves going into fight, flight, or freeze during tough interactions with their kids and struggling to behave and communicate the way they intend. After offering strategies for parents to develop those skills, she then describes techniques for connecting with children and helping them learn to self-regulate in times of stress. While this book won’t teach every skill parents need for success, it’s a good reminder of the importance of mindfulness, meditation, and self-compassion for parents and kids alike. 

The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind 

by Daniel J Siegel 

Delacorte Press, 2011. 176 pages. Nonfiction 

In this pioneering, practical book, Daniel J. Siegel, neuropsychiatrist and author of the bestselling Mindsight, and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson demystify the meltdowns and aggravation, explaining the new science of how a child’s brain is wired and how it matures. The “upstairs brain,” which makes decisions and balances emotions, is under construction until the mid-twenties. And especially in young children, the right brain and its emotions tend to rule over the logic of the left brain. No wonder kids can seem—and feel—so out of control. By applying these discoveries to everyday parenting, you can turn any outburst, argument, or fear into a chance to integrate your child’s brain and foster vital growth. 

Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be 

by Becky Kennedy 

Harper Wave, 2022. 315 pages. Nonfiction 

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. Offering perspective-shifting parenting principles and troubleshooting for specific scenarios―including sibling rivalry, separation anxiety, tantrums, and more―Good Inside is a comprehensive resource for a generation of parents looking for a new way to raise their kids while still setting them up for a lifetime of self-regulation, confidence, and resilience.

SGR

Hello, Cruel World!

Hello, Cruel World! : Science-Based Strategies for Raising Terrific Kids in Terrifying Times 

by Melinda Wenner Moyer 

G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2025. 299 pages. Nonfiction. 

In the blink of an eye, our kids will be adults facing countless serious threats--climate change, gun violence, political polarization, and disinformation, to name but a few. We're not going to be able to solve all these intractable problems before our kids grow up--so how are we to prepare them for an impossibly complex and scary future? Plagued by this question, award-winning science journalist Melinda Wenner Moyer interviewed parenting experts and researchers across multiple fields--psychology, education, information literacy, technology, business, and even addiction. What she discovered: even in these uncertain times, we can still teach our kids how to take care of themselves, fight for what they believe in, and bridge divides in ways most adults aren't equipped to do. In Hello, Cruel World!, Moyer provides practical, comprehensive, science-backed tools to help our children handle the world they will inherit. By being activists in our parenting, we can set our kids up to not just survive, but also build a better world for themselves and future generations. 

I’ve read a few parenting books in my time as a parent and this book stands out to me. I appreciate the author's approach. She presents the findings of many different scientific studies. Rather than making sweeping conclusions or using fear tactics to sway the reader to her agenda, her writing is nuanced and even keeled. The author has no agenda except support for parents. As parents, we want to raise children who will become adults that can take care of themselves as well as others. This book is a hopeful read and offers simple recommendations that I found very helpful as a parent trying to do her best.

If you like Hello, Cruel World! you might also like:

Thrivers: The Surprising Reason Why Some Kids Struggle and Others Shine 

by Michele Borba 

G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2021. 306 pages. Nonfiction 

The difference between those who struggle and those who succeed comes down not to grades or test scores, but to seven character traits -- confidence, empathy, self-control, integrity, curiosity, perseverance, and optimism. These traits will allow kids to roll with the punches and succeed in life and they can be taught to children at any age. In Thrivers, Dr. Borba offers practical, actionable ways to develop these traits in children from preschool through high school, showing how to teach kids how to cope today so they can thrive tomorrow. 

Fourteen Talks by Age Fourteen 

by Michelle Icard 

Harmony/Random House, 2020. 300 pages. Nonfiction. 

The fourteen essential conversations to have with your tween and early teenager to prepare them for the emotional, physical, and social challenges ahead, including scripts and advice to keep the communication going and stay connected during this critical developmental window. 

JK

BoyMom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity

BoyMom

By Ruth Whippman

New York: Harmony, 2024. 290 pages. Nonfiction

 

Combining painfully honest memoir, cultural analysis, and reporting, BoyMom is a humorous and heartbreaking deep dive into the complexities of raising boys in our fraught political moment. As the culture wars rage, and masculinity has been politicized from all sides, feminist writer and mother of three boys Ruth Whippman finds herself conflicted and scared. With young men in the grip of a loneliness epidemic and dying by suicide at a rate of nearly four times their female peers, Whippman asks, how do we raise our sons to have a healthy sense of self without turning them into privileged jerks? How can we find a feminism that holds boys to a higher standard but still treats them with empathy? And what do we do when our boys won’t cooperate with our plans? With wit, honesty, and a refusal to settle for easy answers, BoyMom charts a new path to give boys a healthier, more expansive, and fulfilling story about their own lives.

Do you ever read a book and think it was written especially for you? As a mother of boys, this book piqued my interest right away. How do you raise boys into men that are capable of emotional connection and are able to avoid the loneliness that seems to plague todays men? The author uses her own experience of raising 3 young boys to fuel her deep dive research. Because of the biographical details, the book almost feels like a conversation despite its presentation of research and statistics. Raising boys in today's culture is a complex issue and it was refreshing to read the research all the while the author is open about her viewpoints being challenged and states that there are no easy answers. 

How to Raise a Feminist Son: Motherhood, Masculinity, and the Making of My Family

By Sonora Jha

Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 2021. 265 Pages. Nonfiction.

This book is both an incredibly moving mother-son love story told in personal essays, and a parenting manual with concrete advice and actionable takeaways for feminists of all stripes hoping to dismantle toxic masculinity, one sweet boy at a time 

A Better Man: a (Mostly Serious) Letter to My Son

By Michael Ian Black 

Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2020. 291 pages. Nonfiction

 

Michael Ian Black takes a poignant look at manhood, written in the form of a heartfelt letter to his teenage son before he leaves for college. Black offers a radical plea for rethinking masculinity and teaching young men to give and receive love.

JK

Papá, ¡Tú Puedes!

Papá, ¡Tú Puedes!
por Javier Serrano Palacios
Brilliance Audio, 2019. 5 hr. 6 min. No Ficción

Ser padre es algo importantísimo. Y a la primera pregunta que surge inevitablemente, "¿Seré capaz?", responde este divertido audiolibro: claro que sí, hombre, podrás, con la ayuda del mejor manual de instrucciones, el que tienes en las manos. Y además no solo puedes, debes. "Reivindicar el derecho a encargarnos del niño, aunque seamos torpes al principio y nos dé pánico, es el primer paso para entrar en el apasionante mundo de la paternidad", dice su autor. ¡Adelante!

Este audiolibro es muy recomendable para madres primerizas, para que vean que bienintencionados son los hombres, y absolutamente imprescindible para padres primerizos. Consumir preferentemente antes de que nazca la criatura... y hacerlo con mucho humor.

Si le gusta « Papá, ¡tú puedes!» le recomendamos:

Guía Para Ser Buenos Padres De Hijos Adolescentes
por Fernando Alberca de Castro
Brilliance Audio, 2020. 5 hr. 42 min. No Ficción

En este audiolibro los padres encontrarán consejos prácticos y extremadamente útiles para ayudar a su hijo adolescente a sobrellevar la inseguridad que conlleva esa fase de la vida, a controlar la agresividad y canalizar la energía, a incentivar la voluntad y la capacidad de esfuerzo de modo que afiancen su autoestima y personalidad, a expresar adecuadamente las emociones, a madurar intelectual y emocionalmente y mejorar la conducta en la familia y en la escuela, entre otros. En treinta y ocho capítulos se repasan los aspectos más importantes de una etapa llena de encrucijadas.

Los padres tienen ante sí en esos pocos, pero cruciales años la valiosa oportunidad de transmitir las últimas grandes enseñanzas para sus hijos, las que les permitirán alcanzar una vida feliz, antes de que se alejen de casa para formar su propia familia. Los hijos, por su parte, están ante la última gran oportunidad de conocer de las personas más indicadas y próximas a ellos cómo es y cómo debería ser el camino a seguir. Ambos se distanciarán en mayor o menor medida tras la adolescencia, y lo que hagan durante ella y el modo en que la aprovechen, marcará la relación entre ellos para el resto de sus vidas.

En este audiolibro los padres de hijos adolescentes encontrar n consejos prácticos para ayudar a su hijo a sobrellevar la inseguridad, controlar la agresividad, aumentar la voluntad y la capacidad de esfuerzo, mejorar su autoestima y personalidad, expresar las emociones, madurar intelectual y emocionalmente, mejorar su conducta en la familia y en la escuela, aprendiendo a evitar los errores m s frecuentes de los padres de hoy y aprovechar esta etapa tan crucial en la vida de sus hijos.

Nuestros Hijos En La Red: 50 Cosas Que Debemos Saber Para Una Buena Prevención Digital
por Silvia Barrera
Brilliance Audio, 2020. 7 hr. 22 min. No Ficción

La creciente conectividad de los dispositivos móviles supone un riesgo para nuestros hijos. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook y WhatsApp son una realidad: los niños y las niñas se comunican a través de redes sociales, y cada vez desde edades más tempranas. Aunque se trata de un medio que no conocemos bien y que nos genera dudas y temores, no podemos vivir de espaldas a los avances tecnológicos. ¿A qué edad debemos comprar un móvil para nuestros hijos? ¿Es prudente publicar información sobre ellos en la red? ¿Debemos usar herramientas de control parental? ¿Son seguras las aplicaciones que descargan? Nuestros hijos en la red es una guía clara que nos enseña todo lo que los padres deben saber para ayudar a los hijos a navegar en la red con seguridad. Porque una buena prevención digital es una fuente de tranquilidad familiar.

Conoce los riesgos de Internet y enseña a tus hijos a evitarlos de la mano de una experta en ciberseguridad.

Inicios de sesión inesperados que te alertan de intentos de robo de cuenta de las redes sociales de tus hijos; mayores de edad y desconocidos que envían solicitudes de amistad a través de Facebook a las cuentas de los miembros más jóvenes de tu familia; cargos en tus tarjetas de crédito por compras de bienes o servicios que no has consumido provenientes de un juego online llamado Clash Royale... ¿Sabes cómo actuar ante estas situaciones?

MEB

Etiquetas: Español, MEB, No Ficción, Paternidad, Libros de Audio

Good Inside

Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be

By Becky Kennedy

Harper Wave, 2022. 315 pgs. Nonfiction

Dr. Becky Kennedy provides a groundbreaking guide for parents that offers a new approach to interacting with our children. It focuses more on our connections and the premise that we are all good inside, just sometimes we are a good person, having a hard time. 

This book is AMAZING! Let’s be honest, parenting is tough and we all mess up, a lot! The author talks about how important it is to realize we are all “good inside” (us and our children). We need to learn to look past the bad behaviors to what feelings are really going on when someone acts out. We also need to use this with ourselves and stop living in shame and regret. This book focuses on parents, but it works for all relationships. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy self-help, have been raised by parents, are a parent, or have any kind of relationship with another human being. 

If you like Good Inside, you might also like:

The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed

By Jessica Lahey

Harper, 2015. 272 pgs. Nonfiction

Parents have a natural and understandable desire to help and guide their children past the difficulties of growing up. But Lahey is convinced that these instincts need to be reined in to allow kids to learn about consequences. They need to learn that success comes from hard work and taking chances. Children should never lose their desire to try new things and stretch themselves to the point that they may fail. But that failure can lead them to rising back up with confidence and without fear.

The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the World Know About Raising Confident, Capable Kids

By Jessica Joelle Alexander & Iben Dissing Sandahl

TarcherPerigee, 2016. 208 pgs. Nonfiction

This practical book teaches six essential principles to raise happy, successful kids. The principles spell out P-A-R-E-N-T. They are Play, Authenticity, Reframing, Empanthy, No Ultimatums, and Togetherness. This book is not available as a physical book at the library but you can accessan eBook or eAudiobook through Overdrive. 

AL

Hunt, Gather, Parent

Hunt, Gather, Parent : What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans
by Michaeleen Doucleff

Avid Reader Press, 2021. 341 pages. Nonfiction

The oldest cultures in the world have mastered the art of raising happy, well-adjusted children, so why don't these cultures have the same problems with children that Western parents do? 

Michaeleen Doucleff, an NPR Science Desk correspondent and working mother, challenges the misleading child-rearing practices commonly recommended to parents in the United States by outlining alternatives grounded in international ancestral traditions that are being used effectively throughout the modern world. She finds that parents build a relationship with young children that is vastly different from the one many Western parents develop—it's built on cooperation instead of control, trust instead of fear, and personalized needs instead of standardized development milestones.

By breaking down the bias surrounding current "common sense" parenting practices in the United States, as well as the recent history of the majority of these suggestions, Hunt, Gather, Parent provides a wealth of perspectives and comprehensive research about how we relate to our children and actionable methods that can be applied immediately. Easy to read with a wealth of information, I definitely recommend this book for parents looking for more cross-cultural information, as well as readers of anthropology and family science.

If you liked Hunt, Gather, Parent, then you may also like:

The Working Parent's Survival Guide: How to Parent Smarter not Harder
by Anita Cleare

Rowman & Littlefield, 2021. 169 pages. Nonfiction

Most modern parents work. We are seldom at our best at the end of a long working day when the parenting shift kicks in. This book suggests ways to tune in to the needs of our children and families by focusing on the quality of time (not the quantity) needed to cultivate better family wellbeing. Written by an expert in child development, the book walks you through strategies for maximizing what time you have with your family to best meet your family's needs.

Do Parents Matter?: Why Japanese Babies Sleep Well, Mexican Siblings Don't Fight, and American Parents Should Just Relax
by Robert A. LeVine

Public Affairs, 2016. 238 pages. Nonfiction

When we're immersed in news articles and scientific findings proclaiming the importance of some factor or other, we often miss the bigger picture: that parents can only affect their children so much. Robert and Sarah LeVine, married anthropologists at Harvard University, have spent their lives researching parenting across the globe-starting with a trip to visit the Hausa people of Nigeria as newlyweds in 1969. Their decades of original research provide a new window onto the challenges of parenting and the ways that it is shaped by economic, cultural, and familial traditions. Their ability to put our modern struggles into global and historical perspective should calm many a nervous mother or father's nerves. 

It has become a truism to say that American parents are exhausted and overstressed about the health, intelligence, happiness, and success of their children. But as Robert and Sarah LeVine show, this is all part of our culture. And a look around the world may be just the thing to remind us that there are plenty of other choices to make

AS