The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups


Leonard Sax - 2015
    The result is children who have no standard of right and wrong, who lack discipline, and who look to their peers and the Internet for direction. Sax shows how parents must reassert their authority - by limiting time with screens, by encouraging better habits at the dinner table, and by teaching humility and perspective - to renew their relationships with their children. Drawing on nearly thirty years of experience as a family physician and psychologist, along with hundreds of interviews with children, parents, and teachers, Sax offers a blueprint parents can use to help their children thrive in an increasingly complicated world.

The Diaper-Free Baby: The Natural Toilet Training Alternative


Christine Gross-Loh - 2006
    Infants are born with the ability to communicate their need to "go," just as they communicate hunger or sleepiness. Gross-Loh, a mother of two children who were diaper-free at eighteen and fifteen months, uses the tenets of "elimination communication," or EC, to teach parents how to identify and respond to their baby or toddler's natural cues.Unlike the all-or-nothing approach of some parenting books, The Diaper-Free Baby addresses three categories of parents: full-time, part-time, and occasional EC'ers. Parents can practice EC as much or as little as fits their family and lifestyle. A support group within a book, The Diaper-Free Baby also includes inspiring testimonials throughout every chapter. Parents who have successfully practiced EC identify common struggles, share experiences and problem-solving tips, and provide encouragement for those new to the technique. Their motivational stories together with Gross-Loh's practical advice will appeal to all parents interested in a fresh alternative to traditional toilet training.

The Mommy Group: Freaking Out, Finding Friends, and Surviving the Happiest Time of Our Lives


Elizabeth Isadora Gold - 2016
    I did not mean for that to rhyme” —Adam Mansbach, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Go the F*ck to SleepIn 2010, seven women met in Brooklyn, New York, to form a Mommy Group. Over coffee, croissants, wine, and the occasional baby carrot, they commiserated about typical new-mother issues: difficult births, babies who slept in ten-minute increments, and breast pumps that talked back in the middle of the night. And then things got complicated. Elizabeth and Melissa suffered from postpartum depression and anxiety. Jane’s daughter was diagnosed with developmental delays. Anna’s husband left her when their baby was two weeks old. Through it all, the Mommy Group laughed, supported, and learned lessons from one another that the myriad “experts” hadn’t delivered. The journalist of the bunch—author Elizabeth Isadora Gold—reached out to other Mommy Groups around the country and found that similar bonds were forming far beyond brownstone Brooklyn. In fact, mothers across all class, geographic, and racial boundaries appear to be searching for the same thing: a way to be strong, loving, engaged parents “while retaining—or remaking—our Selves.” A witty, relatable, and honest look at the realities of parenthood today, The Mommy Group is a companion that will help any mom feel understood and empowered, and keep her laughing all the way.