I had a conversation yesterday, and we got to talking about how to raise healthy kids. So, having written up the recommendations for one, I share it with the world. If you are a reader, here are a handful I recommend:

Dr. Jordan Peterson's
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos: Prof. Peterson is just an amazing intellect, and a great read. He's a clinical psychologist and an amazing teacher. This book has turned a lot of people's lives in the right direction. It's not particularly about raising kids, but it's help a lot of older people get out of their own ways.

Alfie Kohn's
Unconditional Parenting: Alfie leans annoyingly to the left, but that only shows up a little. Where he is brilliant is in reviewing the research and addressing how what we are doing might relate–or not–to what we actually want for our kids.

For instance, we want kids to stand up to peer pressure, but sometimes pressure them ourselves: Alfie notes that often when “good” kids go bad, it's because they stopped “listening” to their parents and started listening to their friends, whereas if we foster in them strong values and a belief in themselves, they'll live in alignment with those.

Now these I haven't yet read, but they are “on my list.”

Lenore Skenazy's
Free-Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry): The woman allowed her nine year old to ride the New York City subway alone, and got hell for it. Mine are a little older and this is a more recent book, but it's been highly recommended by a psychologist friend of mine who deals with bullying, and suggests most approaches just makes the likelihood of bullying worse.

Nassim Taleb's
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder: Making the argument that certain things can only grow when they are challenged.

If you had time for only one book on this list, go with Alfie's. The first half had me saying “oops” a lot, but when I got past that, it made parenting a lot easier. I have four amazing boys, two still teenagers, and I've never had a “rebellious period” or rough patch. This book can take part of the credit, but then I absolutely adore my kids, and have no idea what it is to have a girl.

I hope it's useful.