Whether you’re living abroad without a big network of extended family or if you’ve always called Luxembourg home, these books (and podcasts and newsletters) provide practical advice and thought-provoking perspectives.
We’d love to hear readers’ thoughts and feedback on the selection, along with any recommendations you think we’ve missed – feel free to comment below or write to us directly at contenttoday@rtl.lu.
If you’ve ever wondered what the concept of reparenting is all about, UK-based psychologist Philippa Perry is here to walk you through exactly why certain aspects of parenthood (and marriage after kids) can be triggering, exhausting, and emotional. There’s nothing heavy handed or accusatory happening in this book and you’ll find yourself reading anecdotes about other parents who have, well, messed up (what Perry calls a ‘rupture’) and how they repaired their relationships after the fact – through contemplation of their own patterns and personal history.
These scenarios run the gamut from getting shouty at the playground to finding yourself unable to connect with a child due to any number of factors. She illustrates ways to be kinder, and more thoughtful, while also, of course, evaluating how you were raised yourself and what role this plays in your own relationships. Our copy is bedraggled from use and it’s the book that I return to over and over again throughout every stage of parenthood and ‘marriage-hood’.
Similar, recommended reads:
This is technically not a parenting book; it’s a pregnancy-and-trying-to-conceive book. However, it is the gateway drug to Emily Oster – patron saint of parents who love statistics – and her resources touch most any topic from baby years to menopause. Oster’s entry into the parenting discourse came about after she found herself pregnant, and, as a statistician, wanted to know exactly what studies laid the basis for pregnancy’s generally universal to-do’s and not-to-do’s. Her assessments can be freeing in either their specificity, or in the knowledge that the studies behind certain rules or schools of thought are sometimes inconclusive.
Oster is famous for never telling her audience what they should do, while also providing an even-handed analysis of what is known or not known about any given situation – whether it’s the question of eating sushi while pregnant or which sleep locations are statistically safest to prevent SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Some of her resources exist behind a paywall, but a lot of her ‘stuff’ is readily available through the ParentData substack, newsletter, and podcast.
Other Oster-eque books of note:
As much as we wish we lived in a world of reading nooks and ample free time on a terrace at dusk, it’s sometimes more realistic to delve into podcasts or online resources. Similar to Emily Oster, parents seem to come for Janet Lansbury‘s books (No Bad Kids is her most well-known and it’s a gem for those who are uninitiated to the developmentally essential but tyrannical whims of this age group) and stay for her perennially helpful podcast Unruffled. Through personalised, measured responses to parents’ most common questions, Lansbury uses the podcast to advocate for ‘Respectful Parenting’, a concept built on her work with Hungarian-American childhood educator Magda Gerber, and one that essentially helps parents improve their communication with their kids.
Featured books similar to No Bad Kids and Unruffled:
You can find many of these titles here in Luxembourg through special order via bookstores like Ernster and Librairie Alinea – or via Amazon’s UK or German stores.
