Family Resources and Support

Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline by Becky Bailey
This book was a godsend to us years ago when we first started negotiating how to raise our two boys. This book is a "must have" for your family resources and support library. Becky Bailey nails it on the head when she asserts that one needs to have discipline within one's self before one can teach others to do the same.
She outlines seven basic discipline skills and seven "powers for self-control" that includes tons of examples of how to implement these things. One of our favorite parts is the power of intention which says that conflict is an opportunity to teach. We like how Bailey gives practical, down-to-earth and effective ways to implement the ideas in this book.

The Primal Teen by Barbara Strauch
An interesting read all about teen brain research. The truth is that there is still a lot of research being done on the teenage brain, and the researchers certainly admit that they don't have all the answers yet. The main concepts I walked away with were: 1) that the teen brain is still forming and changing in many ways (so be gentle with those ever changing teens), 2) sleep is essential for the teen brain to develop fully and 3) yes, you guessed this one, drugs, alcohol and nicotine are not so great for the teen brain. (Of course that last one was a no-brainer now wasn't it?)

Siblings without Rivalry by Faber and Mazlish
If you are looking for more strategies to put in your "parenting guidebook", this book is a good place to start. It is somewhat problem focused but still contains a wealth of techniques that can help you get more grounded in your parenting. As the name suggests, you can imagine that comparisons between children will often cause problems between them. What we like about this book is that the authors also understand that equality can be just as detrimental to a child's feelings. Faber and Mazlish give a lot of different ways to enjoy each child's uniqueness without lumping them into the "sameness" of equality. Great for building stable family relationships.