The Power of Showing Up

TLDR: this is a must read for new parents. Parenting is an exercise in playing things by ear, but if you can ask questions about your upbringing and grasp the what and how of secure attachment, you'll be starting on a solid foundation.

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The Whole Brain Child is hands down my most recommended book for parents, but The Power of Showing Up might have just moved into first place. You can't go wrong reading any books by Siegel and Bryson though. What I love most about this one is the emphasis on parental upbringing and introspection as the foundation.

I see the Whole Brain child as useful beginning at about toddler ages, as we're talking about brain science/emotional regulation, and babies don't really do a whole lot. The Power of Showing up strikes me as a better earlier book (perhaps the ideal baby shower gift) because it addresses the fact that parents need to analyze their own childhood history in order to parent their children well. I'd already come to that conclusion personally, but I don't think I've ever read it in a book, and it's important.

This book discusses attachment styles, with questions about your own experience, and I can't emphasize how important that is. Like all their books, they provide illustrations, real world/practical examples, and are exceedingly gracious and nonjudgmental about the difficulties inherent in parenting tiny humans. They go above and beyond to make things memorable (4 S's) and there is a reference sheet in the back.