The 7 most recommended books on child psychology

Child psychology books help us understand children’s brains, their thoughts, actions and emotions through each stage. We show you several that will be very useful in raising your children.

Understanding our little ones better is the best gift we can give them as parents or educators. Child psychology is more complex than it seems. Therefore, it is essential to understand what needs are hidden behind certain behaviors, how their emotional world is governed and how their brains mature at each stage of their development.

Something that we all know is that the title of father, mother, guardian or educator does not necessarily grant automatic and permanent skills with which to guide and educate. Every little one is unique and every day a new challenge arises.a challenging behavior, an insecurity, a delay in learning or even that doubt that is sometimes constant, but always positive, that makes us ask ourselves what “Will I be doing it right?”

“Emotional intelligence begins to develop in the early years. “All the social exchanges that children have with their parents, teachers, and each other carry emotional messages.”

-Daniel Goleman-

Books are always there, within our reach, at our disposal. Whether we are parents or educators, the need to always be updated is almost vital.. Science advances, we know more and more about the child’s brain, about how we can promote comprehensive development in them, how to enhance their intelligence, how to offer them tools to better understand and manage their own emotions.

It should be said, however, that it will never be advisable to keep just one of those books on child psychology that the publishing market offers us to make it “our bible.” The ideal is that our curiosity draws from various sources and is sensitive to new discoveries that occur in the field of education.

Next, we suggest you discover seven books on child psychology that can help you do this.

1. Children’s and youth’s emotional intelligence: exercises to cultivate inner strength. (Linda Lantieri and Daniel Goleman)

Nowadays, most of us already know that emotional intelligence (EI) is key to enhancing our well-being. In turn, this type of intelligence offers an unparalleled framework to educate our children.

Integrating certain guidelines, learning and skills based on emotional understanding and management from an early age will allow them, in the present and in the future, to relate better to other people.

As Daniel Goleman himself tells us “Emotionally educating in the present means offering a better future to our children”. With this child psychology book we will learn how to achieve this. Also indicate that it has a practical guide and an audio disc (narrated by Elsa Punset) that undoubtedly make this resource aimed at children and adolescents much more complete.

2. The ugly ducklings: resilience. An unhappy childhood does not determine life. (Cyrulnik, Boris)

Boris Cyrulnik is a well-known French neurologist, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and ethologist. He is a reference in the field of the science of happiness and psychiatry, someone who, at the age of 11, was very clear about what he wanted to dedicate his life to.

At the age of 6, he managed to escape from a concentration camp, while the rest of his family, Russian Jewish emigrants, never returned. After that moment, his life went from shelter to shelter, from one family unit to another until finally, he arrived at the house of some humble farmers… A journey of anguish, uprooting and sadness that, far from turning him into a victim of trauma, made him a resilient child.
In this book Boris Cyrulnik offers us a very interesting vision of childhood trauma. In it, he teaches us that the weaving of emotional ties, and later through the expression of emotions, allows us to activate a kind of biopsychic “reserve” with which to move forward.

3. The child’s brain. (Daniel J. Siegel, Tina Payne Bryson)

A reference in the field of child neuropsychology. In this book by neuropsychiatrist Daniel J. Siegel and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson, they invite us on an exciting journey through the children’s brain. It is easy to read, it is entertaining, interesting and offers very practical and useful strategies to enhance the emotional and intellectual development of our little ones.

At the same time, something that also makes this book different as well as innovative is the fact that thanks to the illustrations included in its pages, we can teach certain concepts and ideas to our own children. It is a complete manual of child psychology with which to better understand certain reactions, behaviors and needs in the little ones.

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4. How to overcome fears and worries (James J. Crist)

James J. Crist is an American psychologist specializing in trauma, depression, and psychological disorders in children.. The reason we include this book on our list is simple: it is aimed at both adults and children and allows us to understand and rationalize the world of fears.

Above all, it aims to be a bedside book for our children: It addresses all the most common fears, worries and anxieties in the child’s mind.from darkness to loneliness, clowns, the most recurring nightmares until we reach a reality that is evident today: terrorism.

As a psychologist who has seen and helped many scared and worried children, Dr. Crist offers simple explanations and strategies so that both children and parents know how to act.

5. How to talk so that your children listen to you and how to listen so that your children talk to you. (Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish)

A best-seller on child psychology since it was published at the end of the 90s. A lot has happened since then, however, the truths that this book gives us do not go out of style because they are key aspects in parenting and education. of every child and adolescent.

Through a practical and respectful approach, we are taught different communication methodsinnovative strategies to solve problems, to facilitate cooperation, as well as appropriate techniques to establish limits, manage emotions and how to use more useful and respectful alternatives to punishment.

6. Far from the tree: stories of parents and children who have learned to love each other (Andrew Solomon)

Inspiring, magical and a must read for fathers, mothers, teachers, psychologists and people who want to reconsider what makes us different from each other, what unites us, what defines us and what, in essence, makes us human.

Although many of us are proud of how different we are from our parents, we are saddened by how different our children are from us.

-Far from the tree: stories of parents and children who have learned to love each other, Andrew Solomon-

It is a different book that has captivated half the world for its content, delving into the relationship of those parents who have children with different disabilities such as Down syndrome or autism spectrum disorders. In its pages we will read the testimony of more than 300 families, where no one, absolutely no one, can remain indifferent.

7. Child psychology, Jean Piaget

We could not finish our list of the most recommended child psychology books without referring to Jean Piaget.. Not only was he one of the most relevant psychologists of the 20th century, but his contributions to the field of human development and child psychology continue to be of great epistemological, logical, biological and sociological interest.

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He laid the foundations for multiple concepts that we handle today, and we thank him for all his extensive work, his articles and empirical research that serve us for reflection and continuous interpretation.

Every few years new editions come onto the market where you can once again enjoy the work of Piaget and his faithful collaborator, Inhelder. Although it is not exactly a pleasant reading book, it is essential to delve into those first studies on intelligence, the construction of reality, the categories of thought, representation capacities, concrete operations, formal operations, moral judgment, as well as the emotional and social aspects of child development.

To conclude, we know without a doubt that This list is left out of many wonderful child psychology books that are currently on the market.. We have only tried to offer a proposal for each area in that vast universe of the children’s world, where emotions, fears, brain development, resilience or psychological or intellectual deficiencies are pillars on which to continue working daily.

Our curiosity, affection and persistent need to understand and offer the best to our children must, without a doubt, be the driving force that guides us every day.