1. The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two by Dr. William Sears, Martha Sears, Robert Sears and James Sears

The Baby Book is a guide to attachment parenting and provides a unique look into the first two years of your baby’s life and their needs. Dr. Sears teaches you to understand your baby’s needs and how to respond to them, as well as provides useful medical information to help you know what to look for before calling the doctor. Dr. Sears also teaches new parents how to manage the pitfalls of toddlerhood, such as toilet training techniques, moving from a crib to a toddler bed, and how to handle picky eaters. The Baby Book is a great guide that you will turn to again and again when you need help.

2. What to Expect the First Year by Heidi Murkoff

Just like The Baby Book, this guide takes you through the beginning stages of your baby’s life. It’s the differences between the two that make them both a valuable aid on your Super Mom journey. What to Expect the First Year takes you through every stage of your baby’s development month by month. Each month and stage is broken down into where your baby should be, where your baby probably is, and where your baby could be developmentally. There is a lot of emphasis placed on things like understanding how babies develop differently and the importance of vaccinating on time. What to Expect the First Year will give you a step-by-step piece of mind that your baby is growing just as they should.

3. Touchpoint – Birth to Three by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton

Dr. Brazelton focuses on the emotional side of parenting, diving into the physical, behavioral, and emotional developmental stages of your baby. These stages can effect sleep patterns, communication, and potty training. He even goes so far as to address the overlooked topic of a father’s role, as well as the role of caregivers. Dr. Brazelton offers reassurance and wisdom through his unique view of parenting and will surely be an encouragement to you.

4. Touchpoint – Three to Six by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton

Dr. Brazelton is back to walk you through years three to six in this continuation of his first guide to parenting. In this book, Dr. Brazelton brings together his knowledge of childhood development, with the knowledge of a child psychiatrist, to give parents a unique look into the emotional and behavioral development of the preschool age through the first grade years. If you appreciated the empathetic views and insights Dr. Brazelton wrote about in Touchpoint – Birth to Three, you will love Touchpoint – Three to Six.

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5. Einstein Never Used Flash Cards by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D. and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph.D.

Before you get too bogged down in preschool applications, read this book. There is a science to how children learn and to be the Super Mom you want to be, you really need to understand how it works. In this book, Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff explain how play is essential for a child to develop in reading, communication and social skills, science, and math. Learn some secret skills to learning you never knew and how to apply it with your children!

6. Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs by Ellen Galinsky

This book focuses on the skills your child needs to be an exceptional person. Galinsky explains each of these seven skills and how to install them in your child:

1. Focus and Self Control

2. Perspective Taking

3. Communicating

4. Making Connections

5. Critical Thinking

6. Taking on Challenges

7. Self-Directed Engaged Learning

With Galinsky’s book, you will learn how to deal with these seven skills and how to cater to the needs of your child. So have no fear kids, Super Mom is here!

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7. Raising Boys by Steve Biddulph

Boys and girls have different brains and obviously develop differently as well. In Raising Boys, Biddulph discusses the unique needs that boys have and uses humor to shed light on how to raise happy and healthy boys. If you are a mother struggling with your sons, then this book may be just what you need in learning how to wrangle the kiddos!

8. Raising Girls by Steve Biddulph
When Biddulph wrote Raising Boys, there was a crisis in the world prohibiting boys from growing into upstanding young men. With Raising Girls, Biddulph addresses the crisis he sees with young girls and women in today’s society. In this book, Biddulph outlines these five stages of girlhood and the challenges faced at each stage:

1. Security

2. Exploration

3. Getting Along with Others

4. Achieving Their Passions

5. Preparing for Adulthood

9. Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn
Unconditional Parenting takes a different approach when trying to figure out how to get kids to do as they are told and instead asks the question: What do they need and how can we provide it to them? Kohn’s ideas are supported by research that show the damage discipline can to do kids as opposed to the unconditional support kids need to become caring and responsible adults.

10. Siblings Without Rivalry by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
Faber and Mazlish, the authors of How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk, decided to address the issue of sibling rivalry head on in response to their own children and their struggle to help them get along. This parenting guide unravels the mystery of channeling children’s hostility towards each other into better outlets, as well as explaining how and when to intervene in their fights. With a humorous perspective only parents could understand, Faber and Mazlish provide the tips you will need to help your children appreciate the special bond they share.

Being a parent is the most amazing job you will ever have. With the tips and guidance found in these books, you will be well on your way to earning that Super Mom cape!