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If you are a single parent and wish to be better prepared to take care of your child, we have created a list of the best single parenting books to help you out. These tried-and-tested books are well-researched and suitable for those single parents who are worried about the challenges they might face while parenting. They cover various helpful information you might require, regardless of your child’s age and the diverse situations you might face. Elisabeth Daly, a book reviewer and teacher, says, “Reading informative and well-researched books on parenting can be a great support for single parents. These books can guide you and offer advice specific to your experience and needs. They might help you feel a little less overwhelmed on this new journey.”
If you are looking for advice but don’t know who to approach, these parenting advice books can help you out. So, go through the best-selling options listed below and choose the perfect book according to your preferences.
Top Picks
Top 10 Books On Single Parenting
1. Best For Single Mothers: The Single Mother’s Guide To Raising Remarkable Boys By Gina Panettieri And Philip S Hall
Raising kids alone can be quite a challenge at times. Books about single parents help you learn how you can juggle various roles for your growing son on your own.
- It does a critical evaluation of the various roles you have as a mother, homemaker, guide, teacher, chef, friend, disciplinarian and more.
- The book talks about how you can help your son at school with his academics and on the field with his sports.
- As a mother, you may feel your son does not have a good male role model. The book helps you find an appropriate male role model. It also helps you talk about various social and growing up issues like sex and drugs.
- The book comes with specific phase-wise recommendations that will help you care for your growing son through different stages.
2. Best For Separated Parents: Single Parenting That Works By Dr. Kevin Leman
The author is an American parenting expert and the co-parenting handbook showcases how to hold a mature and positive relationship with your ex for the benefit of your child.
- The book is an expert commentary on why it is important to have a mature relationship with your ex and how you can use it to set a co-parenting standard to help your child grow.
- It provides multiple solo parenting tips that can help your child feel loved and cared for even in a single parent environment.
- The book details ways in which you can connect to your child while also focusing on your personal life.
Quick tip3. Best For Personal Growth: Surviving Single Parenting By Dawn Isenhart
These single parent books first helps you grow as an individual before applying those principles to your child.
- It tells you how you can overcome grief and guilt and deal with your emotions.
- It offers parenting strategies for single parents to help them tide through real life problems, both as a parent and as an individual.
- It teaches you how to understand your child’s emotions and feelings and cater to them in the best possible way.
4. Best For Single Fathers: A Complete Guide For Single Dads By Craig Baird
The parenting books for single dads is a must-have for all single dads, whether you have a daughter or a son.
- The helpful book does an in-depth examination of all stages of your growing child.
- It covers topics that are relevant from infancy through adolescence to help you overcome single parenting challenges.
- The book aims at making you a happy adult and in the process sharing that happiness with your child.
Quick tip5. Best Overall For Parenting: A Complete Guide For Single Moms By Janis Adams
Parenting books for single moms are also listed here. The single-parent self-help book is a must-have for all single mums, whether you have a daughter or a son.
- The book takes you through all stages of your growing child.
- It covers topics that are relevant from infancy through adolescence.
- The book aims at making you a happy adult and in the process sharing that happiness with your child.
6. Best For Dads With Daughters: But Dad! A Survival Guide For Single Fathers Of Tween And Teen Daughters By Gretchen Gross & Patricia Livingston
If you have a tween or teen girl at home, your single dad status needs this book.
- The book helps you deal with your daughters whether they live with you permanently or you meet occasionally.
- It helps you understand what they are going through in these growing up years and acts as a coping tool that helps address single parenting challenges.
- The book tells you how you can discuss sensitive and important topics like sex, puberty, drugs, personal hygiene and more.
Quick tip7. Best Practical: Choosing Single Motherhood: The Thinking Woman’s Guide By Mikki Morrissette
If you are planning to have a baby and be a single mother, this is the book you want to read.
- The book tells you about practical tips and tools that will help you be a happy single mom.
- It does a critical evaluation of scenarios like adoption, conception, fertility and more.
- The expert-approved book can help you cope with single parenting dilemmas that come with being a single mom.
8. Best For Dads With Toddlers: The Complete Single Father: Reassuring Answers To Your Most Challenging Situations by Elaine Fantle Shimberg & Michael Shimberg
Whether you have a toddler or a tween, this book will help solve your queries and embrace single parenthood.
- The book aims to make single parenting seem like second nature to you.
- It helps you provide a happy and stable environment at home for your kids.
- It tells you how you can manage their overall development, including the physical and social aspects.
9. Best For Single-Parent Kids: Do I Have A Daddy? A Story About A Single-Parent Child By Jeanne Warren Lindsay
This helpful book looks at the single parent and child relationship from the child’s viewpoint.
- The book helps you speak to your child as a mother about the absence of a father in the house.
- It tells you how you can make your child realize that even though the father may not be there, you are always around to take care and help.
10. Best For Conflict Resolution: The Guide For Separated Parents: Putting Your Children First By Karen & Nick Woodall
This single-parent guidebook tells you how you can overcome your conflicts with your ex-spouse and mutually work toward your child’s future.
- It helps you deal with the after effects of separation and provides pointers on how to parent after a divorce.
- The tried-and-trusted book tells you practical ways to include both parents in a setting that also involves the child.
- The co-parenting handbook helps create situations like meet-ups and phone calls with the non-present parent.
Single parenting can be a difficult situation, but some practical advice and assistance can always help. Believe in yourself and always show your child how much you care and value the relationship.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are the four types of single parents?
Widowed parents, unmarried and separated parents, divorced parents, and single parents by choice are the four types of single parents.
2. What do single parents struggle with the most?
Single parents may go through a lot of struggles in their parenting journey. Most single parents may struggle with financial burdens or feeling lonely for not having a partner to share the burden.
3. What do single parents need most?
Emotional support is what single parents need the most as they often don’t have a support system to share their feelings.
Why Trust MomJunction?
Single parenting can be challenging and rewarding at the same time. In this post, Wedetso Chirhah, an experienced writer and reviewer, has compiled a list of the best single parenting books to help you in your journey. He has conducted an in-depth examination of several family books’ content, reviews, and testimonials before coming up with this list. Furthermore, he has summarized the content of each book in the list to help you decide what best answers your queries to foster positive relationships with your children. Additionally, the included buying guide will help you procure the perfect book among dozens of parenting book options.
The Bottom Line
Parenting is hard enough, let alone when you have to do it alone. Thankfully, you can find many tried-and-trusted books on single parent empowerment that help ease the stress and give you much-needed comfort and assistance. For instance, The Guide For Separated Parents: Putting Your Children First” By Karen & Nick Woodall can help you maintain a more mature and positive relationship with your ex-partner when co-parenting, while others can help you communicate more efficiently with your child. These single parenting books cover various aspects, including ways to create a stable and enriching environment for your little one and manage their overall development. Furthermore, easy-to-understand and simple language books like Choosing Single Motherhood: The Thinking Woman’s Guide By Mikki Morrissette make it easy to build a strong single-parent family.
Infographic: Tips For Successful Single Parenting
Being a single parent is challenging but also potentially rewarding. With the right mentality, single parents may raise happy, healthy children and thrive as a family unit. Explore this infographic for more helpful suggestions on strategies to be a thriving single parent.
Illustration: Momjunction Design Team
References
- Single Parenting
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/single-parenting#you%E2%80%99re-not-alone-%E2%80%93-single-parenting-statistics - Single parents and positive parenting
https://raisingchildren.net.au/grown-ups/family-diversity/parenting-after-separation-divorce/single-parenting
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