15th Book of 2026
There are parenting books that tell you what you should do, books that make you feel guilty about what you are already doing, and then there are books that simply remind you that parenting was never supposed to be perfect. The Good-Enough Parent by Dr Kishore Das belongs largely to the third category. With the tagline “Embracing the Science and Joy of Raising Secure Kids,” the book attempts to address one of the biggest problems modern parents face—not necessarily the lack of information, but the overwhelming amount of it. The book is published in around 270 pages by Rupa Publications.
Every parent today is surrounded by advice about feeding, sleeping, discipline, screen time, emotional development and almost everything else that happens between a child's birth and adulthood. Somewhere in this race to become the "perfect" parent, parenting itself can start feeling like an examination that we are constantly failing. Dr Kishore Das takes the opposite approach: you don't have to be perfect; you have to be good enough.
A paediatrician with more than four decades of experience, Das brings his professional understanding of children together with his experience as a father of two. The result is a book that tries to make parenting science understandable without turning it into a medical textbook. His professional background and family-centred approach are particularly relevant because the book isn't simply about children's physical development; a substantial part of it is about emotional security, relationships and the environment in which children grow.
What I particularly liked about the book is its wide canvas. Instead of beginning after the child is born, Das starts with preconception and pregnancy before moving into newborn care. Feeding, sleep and early communication are followed by some of the most important discussions in the book—attachment, authenticity, counterwill, peer orientation and emotional development.
The section on secure attachment is arguably the heart of the book. Das explains why a child's relationship with caregivers is much more significant than merely ensuring that the child is fed, educated and disciplined. The idea that children need emotionally available adults who can respond to them consistently is hardly revolutionary, but the way the book brings this into everyday parenting makes it meaningful.
Das points out that babies can develop meaningful bonds with multiple caregivers—not just their mother or father—and that grandparents and other trusted caregivers can also become important attachment figures when they respond to children lovingly and consistently.
I also enjoyed the book's attempt to move away from fear-based discipline. The chapters on emotional regulation and behaviour encourage parents to understand what lies behind a child's reaction rather than immediately labelling it as "bad behaviour". This is an important distinction because correcting behaviour without understanding emotion can sometimes solve the immediate problem without addressing the reason behind it.
The chapters dealing with modern parenting are equally relevant. Screens, peer influence and the changing environment in which today's children are growing up have created challenges that previous generations of parents didn't have to deal with in quite the same way. The book doesn't present parenting as a collection of rigid rules but repeatedly comes back to connection, communication and understanding.
Another positive is the author's accessible language. Complex ideas around child psychology and attachment can easily become academic, but Das generally keeps the discussion conversational. His professional experience gives the advice credibility, while his use of real-life experiences makes the book feel less like a lecture from an expert sitting above the reader.
However, this is also where I felt the book could have been better. The biggest limitation is its breadth. There is an enormous amount packed into these chapters—from preconception and breastfeeding to attachment, emotional regulation, executive function, play, discipline, screens and adolescence. While this makes the book useful as a broad parenting companion, some subjects inevitably don't receive the depth they deserve.
At times, I also wished the book had included more detailed real-world scenarios. Parenting becomes complicated when two perfectly reasonable principles collide—when a child's emotional needs conflict with parental boundaries, when grandparents have completely different parenting philosophies, or when parents themselves are exhausted and unable to respond ideally. More such situations, accompanied by different possible responses, would have made the practical value of the book even stronger.
Similarly, readers who have already consumed a lot of contemporary parenting and attachment literature may not find every idea completely new. The book's real strength isn't necessarily discovering an entirely new theory of parenting; it is bringing several important ideas together and making them approachable for ordinary parents. And perhaps that is exactly what the title promises.
The Good-Enough Parent doesn't try to create perfect parents because, as Das repeatedly reminds us, perfect parenting isn't the goal. The goal is to build a relationship in which children feel secure enough to explore the world, make mistakes, communicate their emotions and eventually become independent individuals - For new parents, parents expecting a baby, and even those navigating the complicated years of childhood and adolescence, there is something useful here.
More importantly, there is something reassuring. You may get things wrong. You may lose your patience. You may occasionally wonder whether you are doing enough. Because raising a child isn't about getting every decision right. It is about showing up, repairing when you get it wrong, understanding your child and continuing to grow alongside them.
Overall, The Good-Enough Parent is a warm, sensible and accessible parenting guide with an important message, although I felt some topics deserved greater depth and more situation-based examples. It may not completely transform the way experienced readers think about parenting, but it can certainly make them pause, reflect and perhaps feel a little less guilty about being imperfect.
I would rate this book 3.5 stars out of 5.
Thanks!
WRITING BUDDHA
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