1001 Things it Means to Be a Dad: (Some Assembly Required)
()
About this ebook
D-A-D. How can three letters mean a 1001 things?!
Harry H. Harrison Jr.'s latest dose of his trademark wit and wisdom pays tribute and provides insight to dads from all walks of life. From new dads, single dads, dads of adult kids and more, 1001 Things it Means to be a Dad is a topic we can all appreciate, especially when there's "some assembly required!" With two million books in the market, no one knows how to deliver simple, powerful insights like Harry.
Read more from Harry H. Harrison
1001 Things Every Teen Should Know Before They Leave Home (Or Else They'll Come Back) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings1001 Things Happy Couples Know about Marriage (Love, Romance, & Morning Breath) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51001 Things Every College Student Needs to Know: (Like Buying Your Books Before Exams Start) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/51001 Things Your Kids Should See & Do (or Else They'll Never Leave Home) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to 1001 Things it Means to Be a Dad
Related ebooks
You Know You're a Dad: A Book for Dads Who Never Thought They’d Say Binkies, Blankies, or Curfew Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFathers and Babies: How Babies Grow and What They Need from Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings52 Things Kids Need from a Dad: What Fathers Can Do to Make a Lifelong Difference Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/510 Things Great Dads Do: Strategies for Raising Great Kids Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dad Guide: A Collection of 1,001 Different Ways to Be a Better Dad Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJoyful Parents Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCongratulations, You're Gonna Be a Dad!: What's Ahead from A to Z for First-Time Fathers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings52 Tips for Fathers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings99 Ways to Raise Spiritually Healthy Children Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Dad's Guide to Raising a Son of Character (Ebook Shorts) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Parenting Made Easier: Tips to Having a Happy and Successful Family Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Man in the Making: Strategies to Help Your Son Succeed in Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5So, You Want to Be a Leader?: An Awesome Guide to Becoming a Head Honcho Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Good Husband's Guide to Balancing Hobbies and Marriage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGirls!: Helping Your Little Girl Become an Extraordinary Woman Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Day I Threw Banana Bread and Almost Went to Jail: True Stories About How I Used to Lose My Temper (and How I Learned to Stop) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow To Start a Christian Day Camp Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStanding Up To Maturity: Being the Best Person You Can Be Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnrich Your Life Like Tycoons Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat a Son Needs from His Dad: How a Man Prepares His Sons for Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How To Eat An Elephant Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art of Raising Significant Children Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Entertain, Distract, and Unplug Your Kids: Tricks, Tools, and Spontaneous Screen-Free Activities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Most Awesome Money Book Ever: Teaching Children and Teenagers How to Earn Money Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsParenting Jewish Teens: A Guide for the Perplexed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChampionship Fathering Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Grand Money Chasm: Ten Effective Strategies to Build a Money Legacy Within Your Grandchildren Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGoing From Homeless to CEO: The No Excuse Handbook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPocket Guide for Young Men without Fathers: Important Life Lessons Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Relationships For You
The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Big Book of 30-Day Challenges: 60 Habit-Forming Programs to Live an Infinitely Better Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Doing Life with Your Adult Children: Keep Your Mouth Shut and the Welcome Mat Out Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5She Comes First: The Thinking Man's Guide to Pleasuring a Woman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex: Creating a Marriage That's Both Holy and Hot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Running on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Covert Passive Aggressive Narcissist: The Narcissism Series, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries Workbook: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The ADHD Effect on Marriage: Understand and Rebuild Your Relationship in Six Steps Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen: A Survival Guide to Life with Children Ages 2-7 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Brain's Not Broken: Strategies for Navigating Your Emotions and Life with ADHD Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Codependence and the Power of Detachment: How to Set Boundaries and Make Your Life Your Own Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Boundaries with Kids: How Healthy Choices Grow Healthy Children Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Makes Love Last?: How to Build Trust and Avoid Betrayal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Consensual Nonmonogamy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet: Discovering New Ways of Living When the Old Ways Stop Working Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why Won't You Apologize?: Healing Big Betrayals and Everyday Hurts Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for 1001 Things it Means to Be a Dad
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
1001 Things it Means to Be a Dad - Harry H. Harrison
glue here.
1001 Things
It Means
to Be a Dad
(Some Assembly Required)
HARRY H. HARRISON JR.
HarryHarrisonDad_int_0003_0011001 Things It Means to Be a Dad
Copyright © 2008 by Harry H. Harrison Jr.
www.raisingparents.com
Published by Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.
All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Project Editor: Lisa Stilwell
Designed by ThinkPen Design, LLC
ISBN-10: 1–4041–0433–X
ISBN-13: 978–1–4041–0433–4
Printed and bound in China
www.thomasnelson.com
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Dad Rules
2. Fathers-to-Be
3. Baby Dads
4. Toddler Dads
5. School-Age Dads
6. Dads and Teenagers
7. Dads and Vacations
8. College Dads
9. Dads and Spiritual Matters
10. Dad Fears
11. Dads and Moms
12. Dads and Sports
13. Dads and Work
14. Dads and Money
15. Dads and Problems
16. Divorced Dads
17. Stay-at-Home Dads
18. Parting Words
Introduction
Men handle the whole baby thing differently than women do.
Upon hearing the news, they don’t go to the office, burst into tears, and scream, We’re pregnant!
They don’t stay up late at night reading books on lactation. They think buying a baby crib just about wraps up the whole shopping thing. They are flabbergasted to learn that a baby has needs. And they think that by going to birthing class and learning the word push, they’ve become active participants, if not authority figures, in the pregnancy world.
But, of course, a man can’t help but notice the two thousand books stacked up on his wife’s bedside table or discover that he can actually feel a baby’s foot inside her stomach, or that whenever she wants to talk about the baby, there’s usually one minute left in the game and his team is driving for the go-ahead touchdown, so he has to act interested while secretly wishing she would move just two inches to the left so he can see the TV.
The fact is, dads are just as excited, depressed, worried, happy, awed, and stressed as moms, but who do they tell this to? Their workout buddies? Fat chance. Yet, that’s exactly who they should be talking to. Other men. Other dads. Other dads-to-be. So this book is like telling a bunch of other guys, Uh . . . we’re . . . uh . . . having a baby and . . . and I’m feeling, you know, kind of weird.
And his friends look at him sympathetically, and one of them says, Really? Because that’s the way you’re gonna feel for the rest of your life. But at least your kids will think you know what you’re doing. For a while.
•
Dad Rules
1. Being a dad means becoming heroic.
•
2. Being a dad means being a man. In all situations.
•
3. Being a dad means understanding God has big plans for you. He chose you to be the father of His child.
•
4. Being a dad means making promises—and keeping them.
5. Being a dad means being around. Studies show that kids without responsible fathers are more likely to experience poverty, perform poorly in school, and engage in criminal activity, premarital sex, drug abuse, and heavy alcohol consumption.
•
6. Being a dad means admitting your screw-ups, but not dwelling on them.
•
7. Being a dad means providing for your family. And that can mean sleepless nights, ulcers, and low-grade fear.
8. Being a dad means making your child feel safe.
•
9. Being a dad means telling them a little blood won’t hurt them.
•
10. Being a dad means telling your kids to deal with scrapes and bruises by:
A. Walk it off!
B. Blow on it.
C. Run it under cold water.
11. Being a dad means telling stories of adventure and bravery.
•
12. Being a dad means assuring Mom that growing up involves pain and suffering.
•
13. Being a dad means teaching that happiness isn’t a goal, but a consequence.
•
14. Being a dad means having high expectations for your kids.
15. Being a dad means being the heavy. It’s your job to say no.
•
16. Being a dad means being your child’s father. Not your child’s friend. Dads who get this confused have confused kids.
•
17. Being a dad means demanding peace over justice. No matter who hit whom last.
•
18. Being a dad means teaching your kids that life is unfair.
19. Being a dad means making your kids believe they can do it themselves.
•
20. Being a dad means realizing if you don’t want to move into a six-bedroom house, you need a vasectomy.
•
21. Being a dad means showing them how to stand up for their rights.
•
22. Being a dad means understanding that food stolen off your plate tastes better to your kids than any other food in the world.
23. Being a dad means showing your kids how to fix stuff. It helps, of course, if you know how to fix stuff.
•
24. Being a dad means you have to get off the couch.
•
25. Being a dad means giving your kids courage.
•
26. Being a dad takes balls— baseballs, footballs, soccer balls, dodge balls, basketballs, tennis balls, and other spherical or semispherical objects.
27. Being a dad means teaching your kids to stand on their own two feet. Literally and philosophically.
•
28. Being a dad means letting them live without being the center of attention all the time.
•
29. Being a dad means making sure you live in a neighborhood safe enough for kids.
30. Being a dad means having more confidence in your kids than they have in themselves.
•
31. Being a dad means realizing that the only way to avoid sibling rivalry is to avoid siblings.
•
32. Being a dad means realizing life doesn’t get any better than this. Ever.
33. Being a dad means understanding how dumb you are depends on the age of your child:
•
0 to 6 years old Dad knows everything.
•
6 to 8 years old Dad knows almost everything.
•
8 to 12 years old Dad knows many things.
12 to 16 years old Dad knows one or two things.
•
16 to 20 years old Dad knows nothing.
•
20 to 23 years old Maybe Dad does know one or two things.
•
23 to 25 years old Actually, Dad knows many things.
•
Over 25 Dad knows everything.
Fathers-to-Be
34. Being a dad means secretly panicking after hearing the news your wife’s pregnant,