Do Parenting Books Help Parents Get Better?

A lot has changed since we were children ourselves. At one point of time, bringing up children was considered to be a ‘natural' task that every parent did by themselves. New parents usually took help from their own parents or used tried and tested parenting styles that were handed down generations. But today, we have become more conscious and try to be ‘well versed' with parenting. The question we are asking is that do parenting books really help you become a better parent.

WAYS TO DEVELOP YOUR OWN PARENTING STYLE

Do parenting books really work in the real life situations? While we may enjoy reading parenting books we can relate to them, do they help us in any way to bring up our kids as better individuals? This debate is a very deep one. Many people believe that parenting books can help us understand our kid's psychology much better. And there are an equal number of parents who think that parenting books are lot of ‘gyaan' that is unnecessary.

Do Parenting Books Work?

Yes!

Parenting books are well researched and often written by experts. And we would rather rely on experts than try out our own ways to deal with children.

Kids these days are evolved; they are much smarter than we used to be at their age. That is why; it has become very difficult to handle kids without the help of parenting techniques that are explained in books about parenting.

It is much better to have the guidelines from a parenting book to deal with kids. It is a readymade formula and any way who has the time to formulate parenting strategies on their own these days. It is much better to get it from a book.

No!

Parenting books do not work in real life situations. Every child is unique and a book cannot tell you how to handle your child in the best possible way. The only think it can give you are some clichéd generalisations.

Parenting is about instinct. You have to develop your own parenting style by trial and error. A book cannot tell how to bring up your own children in a better way. It is much better to make mistakes as a parent and learn from those mistakes.

Parenting books are only bookish knowledge and too much ‘gyaan'. Besides, after becoming parents, we hardly have time to read anything at all!

Both these points of view are flawed in their own ways. You can read parenting books for guidelines but to improvise on them is your skill. Use your instinct as a parent and do not judge every situation with bookish knowledge. Do you think parenting books work in real life? Share your views with us.