8 Great books for working mothers

Most new or expectant parents tend to read mainly books that relate to their children – how to parent, caring for babies, child development, discipline etc – but motherhood is a profound transition that impacts every aspect of our lives and identities. And being a mum who works adds an additional layer of challenge. These are the eight books for working mothers that I most highly recommend my clients to read (and why):

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Beyond Baby Talk

Beyond Baby Talk (by Rachel Childs) is the book both you and your partner should read when you are expecting your first child. It’s not so much a ‘how to’ guide as a sequence of prompts for the most important conversations you and your partner need to have before a baby arrives (or afterwards if you are playing catch up) in order to build the foundations for successful co-parenting. Communication is the foundation of equal parenting. If you don’t talk about your values, expectations, needs and wants, and make these explicit, then tension can often fester once babies arrive and time is short (and stress levels are higher).

 

Matrescence

Matrescence: On the metamorphosis of pregnany, childbirth and motherhood by Lucy Jones has quickly become a classic. It won’t tell you how to be a good parent, but it does offer research-backed insights into how motherhood changes us and the profound shifts in identity and sense of self that many women experience. This is the book that will help you make sense of yourself and give you permission to grow into the new – and let go of what might have come before.

 

Can Women Really Have It All?

In a similar vein, Can Women Really Have It All? A Happiness Handbook for Working Mothers (by Giselle Goodwin) is a romp through history, philosophy, science and research to examine what is going on in modern motherhood and ask critical questions about the pressure working mothers feel to do everything, be everything and get everything right (and why we inevitably feel like we are failing!). A great read for anyone interested in working motherhood, no matter the age of your children.

 

The Blend

In The Blend: How to successfully manage a career and a family, Tobi Asare draws on her own personal experiences to offer practical advice for navigating the early years as a mum with career ambitions. There are sections on finances, emotions, childcare, returning to work, confidence and lots of other thorny issues that are thrown up when trying to combine a career with motherhood. In addition to her own experiences, there are snippets of practical advice from other successful working mothers and therapists/experts.

 

The Mother of All Jobs

Christine Armstrong takes on a similar project in The Mother of All Jobs: How to have children and a career and stay sane(ish) but takes a more journalistic path, drawing on interviews with working parents plus research studies and expert opinion to produce a manifesto(ish) for happy working motherhood. The details are gritty and the examples (just like real life) are not always pretty in this healthy dose of realism. Read it before having kids or after, you will find value in it.

 

The Work/Parent Switch

If it is help with the ‘being a parent’ side of the work/parenting equation you seek, then I’d recommend my book The Work/Parent Switch: How to parent smarter not harder. This is a practical blueprint for how to manage your mindset, actions and energy in order to be the parent your children need whilst also enjoying being a working parent. Confusingly, the book is known as The Working Parent’s Survival Guide in the USA. For parents of children aged 0-10 years.

 

Work Parent Thrive

Work Parent Thrive by Yael Schonbrun looks  specifically at how we manage guilt and overwhelm as working parents. This book takes quite an intellectual approach, so might not leave you with a practical action plan, but it is perfect for working mothers who like to reflect and do high level thinking. Lots of thought-based strategies for challenging your own mindset.

 

Advice for Working Moms

Advice for Working Moms: Tips stories and strategies for the job that never ends (by Daisy Dowling, Sheryl G. Ziegler, Francesca Gino and Amy Jen Su) is part of a series of six books from Harvard Business Review on working parenthood. It’s very practical and suitable for working mothers with children of any age. This book is especially strong on drawing boundaries (at work and at home), saying No and negotiating for the support you need.

 

If I have missed your favourite book off this list, or you want to offer your feedback on any of these books, please do drop a comment below.

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