mommymedia : dads

Fat Daddy/Fit Daddy: A Man’s Guide to Balancing Fitness and Family

Satya — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:35:00 GMT

This book is laugh-out-loud funny and easy to read. Lawrence Schwartz writes as a normal guy – full of football analogies, playful insults and sexual innuendos. The bulk of the book is focused on fitness and nutrition for dads, with a decent portion devoted to fitness involving the whole family and lots of tips for keeping the marriage together. It’s ironic coming from a divorced father, but perhaps that’s why the advice is so good. You can blow through this book and then keep it for reference as the information is fairly straight forward.

The best parts of this book are the creative ways to incorporate fitness in the family, his marriage tips, and of course, the jokes. The fitness information is valuable and pretty much right on, although since its release in 2003, new health and nutritional data have been discovered making it a bit dated. It’s astonishing to learn in this book that the average person gains at least one pound a year, or that over 90 percent of married couples that exercise together stay together. If you’re looking for how to keep the pounds off, then Schwartz has the advice you need. He provides an exhaustive list of nutrients and their importance, and plenty of ways to burn calories and build muscle, as well as sound fitness advice. He does not make it easy for dad though. In fact, he pretty much tells you to not make excuses and exercise for one hour everyday.

This book is very funny and a pleasure to read. Moms looking to buy their “fat daddy” a book would do well with this one; in the midst of all the fitness talk, he gives fathering and relationship advice that would go a long way in any family. Pick up a copy here.

The Practical Encyclopedia of Pregnancy, Babycare and Nutrition for Babies and Toddlers

Satya — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:04:00 GMT

This is a great reference book for pregnant women and parents of children up to 18 months of age. It covers all the basics that mom and dad will need to know and includes valuable information on feeding a newborn, recipes, fussy-eaters guides, nutritional information and more.

The largest section features homemade baby food recipes. The recipes range from simple purees for babies just beginning to eat solids to thicker styles for older babies, as wells as more well-rounded recipes for toddlers. Each recipe includes nutritional information for easy reference.

This book may leave the reader wanting more information as it tends to cover topics broadly without delving into too much detail. However, it is a great starting point for expecting and new parents. Pick up a copy here.

My Boys Can Swim!: The Official Guy’s Guide to Pregnancy

Satya — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:47:00 GMT

“My Boys Can Swim!: The Official Guy’s Guide to Pregnancy” is great reading material for the dad-to-be who has neither the desire nor the patience to spend a quiet evening by the fire with a good book. What man does? In this brief yet entertaining book, father and author Ian Davis tells guys everything he thinks they need to know about pregnancy, from how much it is going to cost to what it is going to do to your sex life. Coined “laugh-out-loud worthy” by readers everywhere, “My Boy’s Can Swim” is perfect for expectant dads in search of bottom-line pregnancy information without being touchy-feely or overloaded with clinical jargon. The pages are filled with helpful and hilarious insights on topics such as baby names (“Don’t give your kids names like Thaddeus, which is Greek for 'I'm a dork and should be beaten up’”) and birth (“No one told me it’s normal that babies’ heads can be misshapen at birth. I was convinced that my wife gave birth to Veldar, the conehead”). While it should not replace “What to Expect When You Are Expecting” as a reference, “My Boys Can Swim” is a quick, humorous and relatively painless way for a guy to learn a little more about what he can expect during his wife’s pregnancy. Pick up a copy here.

Don’t Just Stand There

Satya — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:51:00 GMT

Short and sweet, Don’t Just Stand There is filled with useful advice for the father-to-be. He can read the entire book in less than an hour if he sets his mind to it! Written by Elissa Stein and Jon Lichtenstein – a husband and wife team of authors – Don’t Just Stand There offers everything from massage techniques and a list of what to say (and what not to say) to visualization exercises and suggested items to bring to the hospital.

Advice from the dad’s perspective, printed in an alternate color than that of the mom, is humorous and gives the book a down-to-earth tone. He reminds dad not to “go overboard with the ice chips” because mom “can use them as projectiles,” of course!

All humor aside, Don’t Just Stand There may be extremely helpful to women who have less-than-prepared partners, highlighting several details about the experience that even the most aware father should know in advance. Moms-to-be will appreciate the helpful prompts for dad in the back, including “To calm me down, I want you to say…,” “These people are allowed in the delivery room…,” and “Don’t ever say this...”

Overall, Don’t Just Stand There is a basic but helpful guide for any father-to-be looking to provide support for his laboring partner. Pick up a copy here.

The Caveman’s Pregnancy Companion: A Survival Guide for Expectant Fathers

Madelyn8278 — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:51:00 GMT

With a five-star rating on Amazon.com, “The Caveman’s Pregnancy Companion” by David Port and John Ralston is a favorite among readers who fall under the category of daddy-to-be.

Both engaging and instructive, this guide was written under the assumption that most men are “twenty-first-century Cro-Magnons” when it comes to pregnancy, most noticeably during those moments when an expectant father “stops, scratches his head, and mutters to his woman, ‘I don’t get it.’”

Coined a must-read by book-loving dads and a “perennial gift book for expectant fathers” by Publishers Weekly, “The Caveman’s Pregnancy Companion” provides a detailed overview of the birthing experience and is the perfect companion to a classic pregnancy book like “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.”

First-time authors Port and Ralston serve as mentors to modern Cro-Magnon men, teaching them how to support their partners during each trimester, how to understand their own feelings, and how to do everything right during labor and delivery. They manage to do all of this in expert detail while using a large dose of humor to keep guys entertained, since even the most enlightened male might not initially be interested in learning about prenatal massages, amniocentesis and the placenta.

After reading this book, guys will be well-versed in baby-related information and prepared to embrace their new responsibilities.

Get yourself (or your partner!) a copy here.