I’m a clinical psychologist with fifteen years of experience and seven kids. Needless to say, I have a massive amount of experience dealing with children!! All of my education, training and real-life experience as a parent makes me the best person to guide others on better ways to manage their children and manage their stress.
As a clinical psychologist, I always like being able to recommend books to my patients. Books allow them to be able to learn important information at their own pace and in their own time. They can reread the information as needed and have the books as resource guides for weeks, months, or years to come.
Below are some of the books I regularly recommend, as well as links to purchase those books if you believe they would benefit you and your current life situation.
All of the books I recommend provide good, useful information on the various topics listed below—parenting, educational books for parents and kids, books for young teens, books for older teens and young adults, and books about relationships, as well as books about various mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and attention disorders.
Some books are placed in more than one category because they are helpful for individuals who may benefit from that category of information. However, the following books are in no particular order.
Parenting books
My Favorite Parenting Book
My favorite parenting book is, of course, my book! How Many Times Do I Have To Repeat Myself? Simple Steps to Stress-Free Parenting and Better Family Relationships by Melissa A. Jones, Ph.D. I wrote this book with the idea of getting a great deal of practical and useful information to parents in an easy-to-read format. The book focuses on realistic strategies that work for real families to help improve family relationships and decrease child behavior problems. It discussed consequences, ways to decrease the chances of behavioral problems reoccurring, and ways to improve family time and family communication.
Educational books for parents and kids to read together
My Favorite Educational Book to read together
Choosing my favorite book in this section is difficult for me, but I would have to say it would be the two What’s Happening to My Body books: What Happens to My Body Book for Boys and What Happens to My Body Book for Girls. These books are a great way to introduce the concepts of puberty, body changes, and sex with children and adolescents. These books give good, factual information in a way that is educational and not pornographic. With my own children, I have always found it useful to discuss the topics from the book with them while they are looking at the book that corresponds with their gender and I’m looking at the book that corresponds with the opposite gender. Since both books have similar information it allows me to see what information they are referring to in the book without looking over their shoulders.
Books for and about Young Teens
My Favorite Book for Young Teens
My favorite book in this section would have to be The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens. Sean Covey’s various Seven Habits books teach good life skills for children, teens, and adults. The books focus on learning skills such as independence, teamwork, collaboration, and communication skills.
Books for older teens and young adults about growing up, growing older, and making good life choices
My Favorite Book for Older Teens and Young Adults
My favorite book in this section would be Adulting! It is an easy to read book with hundreds of simple tokens of useful information for young adults (and older adults too)! The blips of information are approximately one paragraph long and address various topics that are necessary to learn a productive and average adult life, but they are many things that young adults are never actually taught. For example, the book has a section on basic finances, as well as learning important bits of knowledge such as why it is important to water your plants and how to cook a chicken breast. It has a great variety of information that can benefit just about anyone!
Books for healthy adult relationships
My Favorite book for Health Adult Relationships
It’s difficult to choose just one of the books in this section, but I think I will have to choose Please Understand Me II. This book allows people to answer questions about themselves and their answers place them in categories describing how they are likely to interact with others and generally describe their communication styles. This is great information to share with one’s partner or significant other (when both participate in answering questions about themselves) to spark discussion and better understand the other’s communication style.
My Favorite Books about various mental health issues
Books about attention disorders
Books about Autism Spectrum issues
Books about depression
Books about Anxiety
Focusing on the Positives
Journaling is another great way to practice self-care! Here is my favorite journal and, of course, it’s the one I developed! This is the journal I created with self-care in mind! There are journal prompts, spaces for self-exploration, and more! Be sure to check it out!
There are many more books available that give great information, these are just a few of my favorites!! Enjoy!!
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