📚 Book Rx: For Parents Who Feel Like They're Losing Their Minds
What to read when raising kids in this generation feels like it’s breaking you open.
What’s in this post:
Honest reflections from the thick of parenting teens
Why raising kids now is harder than it used to be
How the law of cognition impacts our children
5 beautifully written novels to help you breathe again
Lately, I’ve been feeling it in my bones—the emotional fatigue that comes from parenting in this strange, noisy, algorithm-shaped world. I have an 18-year-old (technically an adult), three teenagers, and a few others still coming up the ranks. And most days, I feel like I’m going through the wringer.
You’d think I’d be used to it by now. But truthfully? The early years—diapers and naptimes and meltdowns—were a breeze compared to the emotional weather systems I navigate now.
It’s not just the usual growing pains. It’s the world they’re growing up in. These kids are exposed to more than we ever were—information, misinformation, identity crises, curated perfection, and chaos all at once. Even if you unplug every screen, the current seeps in through every crack.
And it’s rewiring how they think.
According to the law of cognition, what we think shapes how we feel. And what we believe shapes what we do. Our kids are forming their beliefs faster and earlier, under a microscope of constant input. We can’t control what they think. We can only influence and support—and it’s exhausting work.
So today, I’m offering a balm. Five fictional books that help you breathe through the overwhelm. They won’t solve everything—but they will remind you that you’re not alone, that resilience can be tender, and that stories can still be medicine.
📘 1. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
A quiet, contemplative novel that soothes the soul like a warm cup of tea. Told as a letter from an aging father to his young son, this story reminds you of the long arc of parenting—and that love, even when quiet and fumbling, echoes forward.
“This is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it.”
📕 My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
This one’s for those moments when you wonder if you’re doing enough. It gently explores mother-daughter relationships, emotional distance, and the ache of wanting to connect. Sparse and stunning.
“There was a time, and it was many years ago now, when I had to stay in a hospital for almost nine weeks.”
(This quote opens the novel—gentle, raw, and personal. It sets the tone for the quiet ache and vulnerability that follows.)
📙 Room by Emma Donoghue
At first glance, this seems like a trauma novel—and it is. But it’s also a story of profound maternal courage. It reminds you of the lengths we go to protect our children’s minds, even when the world outside is harsh and unrelenting.
“Scared is what you're feeling. Brave is what you're doing.”
📗 The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
A heart-forward story about a young woman who unexpectedly becomes a mother and builds a patchwork family from the people around her. It speaks to the improvisation and grit of parenting—especially when you feel unprepared.
“There were two things I had never learned to do: stand still and be patient.”
📒 The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
Sometimes, we need to remember that our kids are walking their own paths. This fantasy-laced novel celebrates curiosity, freedom, and the bittersweet truth that opening doors also means letting go. A good one for when you feel powerless.
“A book is a door, you know. Always and forever. A book is a door into another place and another heart and another world.”
If you're in the trenches too, I see you.
We’re raising children in a world that moves faster than our instincts can catch up.
And yet, here we are—showing up. Loving hard. Learning as we go.
Books won’t parent your kids. But they can parent you—just enough to keep going one more day.
What books have comforted you lately?
Reply or leave a comment—I’d love to add to the prescription list.
🫶 Karen
Aww. Wonderful article.