A Book List for Parenting Little Ones

I have found that there are two types of people: readers and nonreaders. I don’t mean “nonreader” in the sense that the person never reads. For instance, I consider my husband a nonreader, but he reads. He just reads a select few types of reading materials – mainly online sports magazines – and his purpose is solely for entertainment, not for answers.

The readers, on the other hand, may read some for entertainment, but books are the first place they go for answers. That’s me.

A Book List fo

Not too long ago a friend came over and commented on my makeup. “Yeah”, I told her, “I thought I need a refresher on putting on makeup, so I read online how I’m supposed to be doing it.” She just looked at me. “You researched how to put on makeup the correct way?” That’s right.

I research everything before doing it: how to decorate bookshelves, the right way to make a bed, what’s the best time to pray. It’s the perfectionist in me, which can be more debilitating than liberating, but that’s just where I am right now. And where’s I’ve been pretty much all of my life.

Becoming a parent is no different. My mind is reeling with all there is to learn, and I must learn it now before it’s upon me and I make a mistake. It’s o.k., go ahead and laugh. I’m laughing at me, too.

So far I’ve found that there are two sides of the camp in parenting when it comes to reading – just like there seems to be two sides of the camp in everything regarding parenting. And the two sides don’t seem to get along very well.

There’s the nonreaders – “I raised eight kids and never read one book. They turned out fine”, or “Oh, you’re a book reader?”

Then there’s the readers – “Well, the book said . . . ” and “Why is my child not following the book?”

For all of my reader friends out there, this post is for you. There are two topics that I am most anxious to start learning about – sleep and discipline, so I asked some experienced mommy friends to recommend their favorite parenting books on these issues.