Books

While there are a lot of parenting books out there, I haven't found too many that I really like—until now. Pregnant: a Field Guide to Fathering (134 pages, $10.95), by Marin County father and author Gary Kleiman, is exactly the parenting book I wish would have written. It's funny, comforting, useful, and profound, and if you're a hands-on, inquisitive dad or a dad to be, it should be required reading. (I only wish that Gary published it six years ago so I had it when my first child was born.)

Pregnant: A Field Guide to Fathering is divided into two sections. The first, "Getting Daddy Ready," deals with the preparations for parenthood that every father-to-be experiences, and offers sage advice on mentally and emotionally preparing yourself for your new role, as well as supporting the mother-to-be. The second section is titled "Field Guide to Your Child," and is relevant to parenting children of all ages. It features discourses on such topics as the finer points of choosing a diaper, crying and how to live with it, what to do when your child decided she wants a pet, the joy of undertaking art projects at home, and much more.

Since my son's going on six, I figured it was high time to introduce him to one of my childhood favorites: The Adventures of Tintin. For those of you unfamiliar with the subject, The Adventures of Tintin is a series of 20 or so comic books written by Belgian author Hergé (the pen name of Georges Remi). The books, produced from the late 1920s (the satirical Tintin in the Land of the Soviets) through the 1970s (Tintin and the Picaros), follow the adventures of the eponymous Tintin, a youthful reporter, and his faithful dog Snowy (Milou in the original French). In fact Tintin will soon be the subject of a motion-capture animated movie created under the auspices of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. (Don't screw it up guys, OK?)

I think most dads will agree with me when I make the blanket assertion that the whole pregnancy thing is, in addition to being a wondrous beautiful miracle, pretty freaking scary and unfamiliar. While certainly your wife/partner/baby mama/significant other has to deal with most of the difficult stuff, it's still something that can be quite a challenge for the father-to-be. If anything, we just want to be the best partners and supporters that we can be.

That's why I really wish I had a copy of Your Pregnancy for the Father-to-Be: Everything Dads Need to Know about Pregnancy, Childbirth and Getting Ready for a New Baby (Glade B. Curtis, MD, MPH and Judith Schuler, MS, Lifelong Books/Da Capo Press, $14.99) back when our first child was born a few years ago. While I had a lot of resources to fall back on, most of them were from the mother's point of view and, while useful, weren't directly speaking to the father's experience. The 2009 edition pretty much tells you everything you need to know about what the expectant mother is going through, offers tips and suggestions on how to help, and basically walks you through everything you need to know about getting ready for your new baby. read more »

I never thought I'd find myself admitting to this, but I think I'm finally sick and tired of Dr. Seuss. Our four-year-old has developed an obsession with the late Doctor's works and we've been indulging it in keeping with the theory of "Anything That Encourages Literacy Has to Be Good." As an adult, I think Dr. Seuss books are one of the pleasures of reading to your children. With so many dull children's books out there, especially those derived from TV shows (Elmo, or, even worse, Dora the Explorer) or derivatives of past-their-prime book series (Clifford, anyone?), Dr. Seuss books are a joy to read, with even the simpler ones like the seemingly basic Hop On Pop being at least fun to read, and seminal works like The Cat in the Hat and How the Grinch Stole Christmas coming off as high art.