Curious about how a teen’s faith needs differ from a younger child’s? Looking for ways to navigate through tough spots with your teen while boosting his faith life? In this book, I explain why faith drift is not inevitable: parents are the most powerful influence on their teens’ faith lives, and this is GOOD NEWS! I offer parents tips for guiding teens in discovering their mission, deepening their faith, and discerning the truth about their identity and purpose.

Here are more of my favorite parenting resources, broken down into the 7 Building Blocks categories.

*Books marked with an asterisk are what I consider ESSENTIAL READS for every Catholic parent. I don’t recommend books that I have not read myself.

Love

*The Science of Parenting by Margot Sunderland. A must-read for any parent interested in the latest brain research and how it can help us understand our children better. Not too technical.

*Parenting with Grace by Greg and Lisa Popcak. The Popcaks’ engaging, thorough guide is my personal parenting bible. This was the first book that helped me see the connection between my Catholic faith and the science behind raising healthy, whole, and holy children. The Popcaks address social & emotional developmental stages in separate chapters, then they provide tips on gentle discipline. They also offer tips for keeping your marriage vibrant while parenting responsively.

Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers by Gordon Neufeld. A ground-breaking book explaining why parents shouldn’t back out of relationship with their children too soon. Peer relationships are normal and healthy, but when peers replace parents as a child’s source of identity and emotional safety, the child suffers in many ways.

Empathy

Born for Love: Why Empathy Is Essential and Endangered by Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz. This is THE book on empathy and why responsive love is so important for children and the well-being of our whole society. Fascinating but a little technical.

The Emotionally Healthy Child by Maureen Healy. Through emotion coaching, we can raise kids who are resilient, happy, and emotionally healthy.

Parenting from the Inside Out by Daniel Siegel. Helps parents understand how their own histories can impact how they parent.

For parents of “spirited” and sensitive children:

The Orchid and the Dandelion: Why Some Children Struggle and How All Can thrive by W. Thomas Boyce

The Highly Sensitive Child by Elaine Aron

Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy

Radiant Faith

The Catholic Catalogue: A Field Guide to the Daily Acts That Make Up a Catholic Life by Melissa Musick and Anna Keating. Everything you wanted to know about why Catholics do what we do and how to pass on a love for the Faith to your kids.

The Catholic Home: Celebrations and Traditions by Meredith Gould. This was the first book I ever owned on how to bring the faith joyfully into my own home. Gould follow the liturgical calendar, offering refreshing ideas for celebrating holy days and saints days.

Six Sacred Rules for Families by Tim and Sue Muldoon. Their message (that I need to hear regularly): Family faith is not a to-do list! “This basic guide to family spirituality not only provides parents with the practical tools they need but also offers the refreshing perspective that faith is not about adding to our to-do lists. Rather, it means doing what we already do with a new attentiveness.”

A Continual Feast: A Cookbook to Celebrate the Joys of Family and Faith Throughout the Christian Year by Evelyn Birge Vitz. Recipes for dishes and desserts traditionally served for liturgical feasts and Christian celebrations. Sometimes I use this resource to get ideas, then I find ways to adapt them for my family, but I find myself turning to it frequently.

Gentle Discipline

*Parenting with Grace by Greg and Lisa Popcak. See description above.

*Rest, Play, Grow by Deborah Macnamara. Applying the relational developmental model of Gordon Neufeld, Macnamara helps parents understand how children mature through play and a sense of emotional security. She has chapters on many discipline issues including tantrums and defiant behavior.

*Gentle Discipline by Sarah Ockwell-Smith. A clearly written book that explains the problem with behaviorist approaches to discipline and offers straightforward tips for creating boundaries with children while protecting connection.

How to Talk So Your Kids Will Listen & Listen So Your Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. A classic parenting guide for fostering good communication between parents and kids. They have a separate book for parenting teens.

Positive Discipline by Jane Nelsen. Discipline that focuses on mutual respect rather than punishment. Nelsen has published several of these Positive Discipline books for different stages: preschoolers, school age, and teens.

Play

*Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown. Why everyone needs to play – even grown-ups! Thank God for children who remind us to play.

Playful Parenting: An Exciting New Approach to Raising Children That Will Help You Nurture Close Connections, Solve Problem Behavior, and Encourage Confidence by Lawrence Cohen. The sub-title says it all. Play is a child’s way to work through their fears and build connection with us. Playing with your child isn’t wasting time! I hope Dr. Cohen updates this book eventually.

The Power of Play and The Hurried Child by David Elkind. Elkind resists the notion that our children will somehow suffer if every moment of their day isn’t scheduled doing something educational. Kids need lots of free time to allow their imaginations to flourish.

Balance

*Simplicity Parenting: Using the Power of Less to Raise Calm, Happier, and More Secure Kids by Kim John Payne and Lisa Ross. A lovely book arguing for simpler, less cluttered lives for our children. While the author of this book was a Waldorf teacher (some parents feel that Waldorf is not compatible with our Catholic faith), he bases his points on research outside of Waldorf pedagogy.

The Power of Play and The Hurried Child by David Elkind. Elkind resists the notion that our children will somehow suffer if every moment of their day isn’t scheduled doing something educational. Kids need lots of free time to allow their imaginations to flourish.

For frazzled moms of faith!

Holiness for Housewives and Other Working Women by Hubert Van Heller. Embracing the dignity of the mothering vocation and finding God in ordinary household tasks.

A Mother’s Rule of Life: How to Bring Order to Your Home and Peace to Your Soul by Holly Pierlot. I confess that I never really got Holly’s “Order” down very well, but this book did help me recognize some of my lopsided priorities so that I could find greater joy in my mothering vocation.

A Strong Marriage

*For Better, Forever: A Catholic Guide to Lifelong Marriage by Greg and Lisa Popcak. This book is a must-read for every Catholic couple! They also wrote a highly-regarded book for newly married Catholic couples: Just Married: The Catholic Guide to Surviving and Thriving in the First Five Years of Marriage.

Natural Family Planning: A Complete Approach by John and Sheila Kippley. A Catholic guide to natural family planning. Practical and inspiring.