A lot can be said about a father before the birth of their first child. Scared. Excited. Slight tingles in funny places. What? Ok, maybe that was just me. Regardless, one thing that I could always count on was the knowledge of others and for someone living in an area where I don’t know many people, that knowledge was found in books. Now there are millions of books on babies and I’m pleased to report that a large collection of books for Dads is emerging as well. Before my daughter was born, I went to the book store and spent a few hours looking through several books to determine which one would be the right one for me.
I was looking for something that was lighthearted but serious enough with information. A book that could help me understand what I was getting myself into without scarring the crap out of me. A fine line and one that I personally walked often and I needed a guide to help me along the way. That’s why when I found the book, the one that would help me figure out what the heck I was doing, it was like magic. From the calm blue cover with several grown men in lab coats holding babies to the friendly writing style, I knew this was the book for me.
Now I’d like to take a moment to share a little review of the pieces of paper that helped me through pregnancy and beyond. Prepare to experience awesome, it’s Dad Labs: Guide to Fatherhood.
Points I liked: I’ll be 100% honest and say that I haven’t read this book since my daughter was born so everything I liked was all based on memory. Well for this review, I decided to crack the book open again and I remembered why this book is so awesome. The writing style, phrases, everything is perfect. The entire thing is written with the idea that I’m not too smart nor too stupid but I’m just a guy who wants to know about being the best Dad I can be. It’s funny, it’s witty, it has an awesome tag line, “We screwed up, so you don’t have too.”
It’s almost as friendly as “Don’t Panic” which can be found on the inside cover of the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Other great things that this book does is present information in a way that is not only easy to digest but fun at the same time. For example, ever wonder what the cost of year one is going to be? About the same as a top-of-the-line 42,000 BTU gas barbecue grill. Did you get that? Simple, right.
Yeah, I thought so.
So regardless, this book has lots of little moments like this. Another funny moment is the when they go on to explain changing your first diaper. Simple stuff, they even provide a diagram.
Changing a diaper in 3 easy steps
- Place baby on changing table
- Remove old diaper
- Done!
And the diagram that goes along with it is even funnier.
Points I didn’t like: So like I said earlier, this book treats me like I’m your average Joe which is a double edge sword. Sometimes I felt like this book could have given me more. More details, more information, more funny. And that’s about it.
Who will benefit most from this: This book is for noobs. Yes, I was a noob at one point in time but this book lays things out in a way that doesn’t sound so scary. It doesn’t go into crazy detail but it still gives enough to take a little of the edge off of the situation. I’m sure that if being a father is not new to you, then this book isn’t for you (granted, you probably don’t need a book after all). This book is great, I can’t stress that enough.
If you’d like to pick up your own copy of Dad Labs, click here! It’s only $16 which is cheap in the big baby picture.
