January 20, 2005

How To Be A Good Dad (Without Breaking Into Buckingham Palace)

Celebrity philosopher--and the most important man he knows--Alain de Botton discovers "the new dad-lit" in the Times of London. He reviews two new advice books, From Lad to Dad: How to Survive as a Pregnant Father by Stephen Giles; and Fatherhood: The Truth by Marcus Berkmann, and declares a revolution.

Both books, he says, are written "in a distinctive matey good humour, which will keep fears of sentiment and homosexuality at bay." [wow, making babies is gay? Talk about driving on the other side of the road...]

The books appear long on humoured resignation and "lavatorial" humo(u)r, and short on hands-on parenting tips, but so what? "They are fascinating documents for the social historian, for they are evidence of a momentous historical shift in our conceptions of what fatherhood should be. They reflect a new ideology that being a 'real' man involves knowing how to have a good relationship with one's children as much as it does knowing how to drink or talk about football."

Or wearing a Batman suit and throwing flour bombs at the PM.

Parenthood, Sunday Times Book Reviews [timesonline.co.uk]

1 Comment

Oooh, gratuitous Fathers 4 Justice dig! I likey!

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