13 Stay-at-Home Mom Books You Should Add To Your Reading List Today

I have put together some stay-at-home mom books that I believe every mom should read before taking on this role. Even if you’re already deep in your role, you can still benefit from the knowledge of these books.

A few years ago, I chose to become a stay-at-home mom because I wanted to raise my kids differently from how I was raised as a child. I didn’t have any SAHM in my family to give me guidance on how to be a stay-at-home mom.

I wanted to do a good job in my new role, so I took to the internet to do some research. I found a few books that I believed would provide me with a lot of knowledge I needed to raise my kids. I also spoke to some stay-at-home moms on Facebook who gave me some recommendations as well.

Now I haven’t read all the books on this list yet. When you become a parent of two kids, the time you have for leisure and relaxation will become very limited. I’m hoping to get through every book on this list by the end of the year. That is one way I’m prioritizing self-care this year.

Before we get to the list, let’s talk about some reasons why reading is so important for moms.

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Importance of Reading As A Mom

When we read in the home, we show an excellent example to our children to do the same. Seeing how much we enjoy books will also make them want to read.

Reading is a great habit that serves many purposes. According to Healthline, reading helps strengthen your brain. Research shows that when you read, the part of your brain that responds to movement and pain lights up with sensation.

Reading fictional stories also helps us become more empathetic to other human beings. This is something all kids should learn. It also sharpens our brain as we grow, and helps us build our vocabulary. Reading also helps you relieve stress, which is good for your mental health.

Now let’s jump right into the list of books you should be reading as a stay-at-home mom. I’ve divided my list into 5 categories to make things easier: stay-at-home mom books for self-care, stay-at-home mom books for parenting, books for budgeting & finance, books for organization, and books for meal-planning.

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Stay-at-home mom books for parenting

Raising Good Humans: A Mindful Guide to Breaking the Cycle of Reactive Parenting and Raising Kind, Confident Kids by Hunter Clarke-Fields

Ever wondered if it was possible to deal with tantrums without raising your voice or resorting to bribery to get your kids to corporate? If you answered yes, then this book is for you.

In this book, you will learn useful strategies to deal with tough behavioral situations regarding your children, without giving in to what is known as “reactive parenting”.

Reactive parenting involves acting on our emotions in response to our children’s behavior. For example, a parent sends a child to their room because they refuse to eat their dinner.

I believe every parent should read this book because the strategies you learn will help you become a more positive parent. You will learn to examine a particular behavior to determine what the child is really trying to communicate, instead of relying on your emotions all the time.

The Good Enough Parent: How to raise contented, interesting, and resilient children by The School of Life

As the name implies, this book reminds us that there is no perfect parent in the world. We will make mistakes and that’s okay. The book provides practical advice on how to deal with the many situations that will arise in your child’s life.

It teaches you how to deal with tantrums, how to say no, and how to find the root cause of “bad” behaviors in our kids.

I’m the type of person who strives to be the “perfect parent” because I’m trying to break harmful generational cycles in my family. Because of this desire, I tend to put so much pressure on myself as a parent.

This book really teaches you to do the best you can in different situations, without overdoing things in an attempt to be perfect.

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber

This book teaches parents how to become effective listeners and communicators. Sometimes as parents, we feel the need to fix every problem our kids may have. We offer solutions when solutions aren’t what they’re looking for.

We fail to acknowledge their feelings and jump right into solving their problems. Oftentimes we use those generic comforting phrases like “it’s okay” “calm down” “because I said so” etc. as a way to stop negative behavior.

There’s a better approach out there.

With this book, you will learn to become a more mindful parent who reacts calmly to your children’s behaviors. You will learn to give them room to express their feelings instead of shutting them down with generic statements.

This book comes with practical advice that is sure to help any parent.

Stay-at-home mom books for Self-care

Self-Care for Moms: 150+ Real Ways to Care for Yourself While Caring for Everyone Else by Sara Robinson

We all know how hard it is to take care of ourselves as mothers. We spend so much of our days fulfilling other people’s needs while putting our needs on the back burner. This book gives you practical tips on things you can do each day for self-care.

Some of the suggestions don’t take that long to do. There is a list of self-care tips that only take 5-10 minutes to do. Some tips include calling a friend, lighting a candle, etc.

I love this book because it’s written as a reference guide that you can easily scan through to choose one self-care activity for the day.

Do Less: A Revolutionary Approach to Time and Energy Management for Ambitious Women by Kate Northrup

Even though this book is geared towards the working mom, I added it to this list because I consider being a stay-at-home mom a full-time job.

Society has ingrained in us the idea that we must always stay busy in order to be successful. Mothers always feel the need to be on the go and get everything done.

We make never-ending to-do lists, and we fill our days with so much work, that we forget to pause and enjoy time with our families. We feel guilty when we’re not busy around the home because it makes us feel like we’re not fulfilling our duties as a stay-at-home mom

This book helps remind us that our self-worth does not come from how busy we are. We should not put so much attention on always doing stuff. Rather, our focus should be on spending time doing the things that really matter and letting the rest go.

This book provides a series of actionable steps you can take to Do Less and be happy in your everyday life.

Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life by John Townsend

Setting proper boundaries is one of the most difficult things for stay-at-home moms to do. Working inside the home makes it difficult to separate work time from relaxation time. This book promises to teach you how to set boundaries with your kids, your spouse, and other family members. It is written from a religious perspective, but even non-religious people will find great value in it.

Meal Prep & Meal Planning books for Stay-at-home moms

Meal Prep on a Budget: How to Prep Healthy Meals on $40 a Week

This meal planning book is great for those frugal stay-at-home moms who want to save on groceries each week. The book comes with many different recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that are simple to make. You get a grocery list to make shopping for each recipe easy, and everything you make costs approximately $40 a week.

Stress-Free Family Meal Planning: Easy, Healthy Recipes for Busy Homes

This cookbook is designed for the busy stay-at-home mom. Each recipe is made for a large family so you don’t have to worry about the serving size being too small. It gives you a month’s worth of meal plans and a grocery list for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Everything is designed to be affordable and healthy.

Batch Cooking Made Easy

Batch cooking has been my sanity-saver since I became a mom. I’m not a fan of cooking every day, so I make meals large enough to last 5 days in the fridge. That’s why I like this cookbook. It comes with more than 180 sugar-free and flour-free recipes that are easy to make. It’s a great time-saver. If you like to use flour in your meal, you can tweak it to your liking.

Budgeting books for Stay-at-home moms

The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

I’ll be completely honest and say that I have not personally read this book. However, I know 5 stay-at-home moms who have read and used the methods in this book, and they all say it works. They had student loan debt, car payments, credit card debt and so many more. Within a month of applying Dave’s principles, they started seeing a real change in their family’s finances.

You Can Stay Home with Your Kids!: 100 Tips, Tricks, and Ways to Make It Work on a Budget

This book gives stay-at-home moms practical tips on how to live life on a budget. She provides useful advice on making and sticking to a budget, side income ideas, and inexpensive ways to do birthday parties.

She also gives tips on educational and enrichment activities for little ones that won’t break the bank. There are date ideas and other ways to connect with your spouse without spending a lot, and how to plan for holidays.

Organization books for Stay-at-home moms

Cluttered Mess to Organized Success Workbook: Declutter and Organize your Home and Life with over 100 Checklists and Worksheets

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If you struggle with organizing your home to be the way you want, then this book is for you. It comes with over 100 worksheets, forms, labels, and schedules that will help you turn your cluttered home into a space you can be proud of.

The Real Simple Method to Organizing Every Room: And How To Keep It That Way

This book gives you practical suggestions on how to organize each room in your home. It contains a lot of pictures as examples, so you can visualize what the author is talking about. It’s simple to read and implement.

Conclusion

I know I’ve given you a very comprehensive list of stay-at-home mom books to choose from. Don’t feel like you have to read everything on this list. I’m still working my way through the list myself. I hope that I’ve given you a resource that will benefit you in your role as a stay-at-home mom.