'From Lad to Dad' - Book Review, Babyworld 2005

Review of: 'From Lad to Dad' by Stephen Giles
Written For: Babyworld.co.uk
Date of Review: August 2005

What it's all about: 'From Lad to Dad' is, unsurprisingly, one man's journey through pregnancy and into fatherhood. Stephen Giles uses a journal-type format to chart his feelings, his fears and his joys from the first steps in conception to his first Christmas as a new Dad.

Presentation: A short book at just 106 pages, the book takes a simple narrative style, interspersed with words of advice taken from his own experience and those of other fathers who contributed.

Tone and target audience: It is easy to read, written with humour, sensitivity and intelligence. The tone and approach is light, and while not avoiding the more serious issues doesn't make anything too deep and meaningful. Imagine Nick Hornby with less football, a touch less wit and fewer euphemisms for excrement, and you get the idea. I wouldn't class this as a useful book - it's more entertainment than education, despite Giles's stated intentions, and he's never going to supplant Miriam Stoppard.

The good points: There's some good information in 'From Lad to Dad', including useful pointers towards paternity leave entitlement and when you are eligible to apply for it. Giles also offers helpful advice on dealing with the assorted professionals (and amateurs) encountered on the tricky trek to fatherhood.

It's a light, easy read with a good sense of humour, introducing dads to the trials and joys of pregnancy without inducing bowel-squeezing terror or galloping alcoholism. It's small and light enough to fit in the hospital bag, so it could be a good delivery room read.

The bad points: Like many fathers I've met, he seemed to try to make the whole thing dramatic - it's not enough to have conception, pregnancy and birth, it has to be worthy of E.R. in drama and Hitchcock in suspense. This made me take his suggestions less seriously than they perhaps deserved.

One thing I disliked was the tendency to use this book as a vehicle to plug other White Ladder Press publications. If I want to quit smoking, I'll search Amazon and find a book. I don't need advertising in a parenting book, thanks.

Chips, Videos & Alcohol' - Book Review, Babyworld 2005

Review of: 'Chips, Videos & Alcohol' by Alan Charlton
Written For: Babyworld.co.uk
Date of Review: 24 August 2005

What it's all about: Alan Charlton bills 'Chips, Videos & Alcohol' as the essential guide to being a house husband. He brings his eleven years of house-husbandry to the fray, outlining his experiences, and telling us the ups and downs - in his case, mostly downs - of the work he's done raising his two children.

Tone and target audience: This is a light read - short and with a conversational style designed to give the impression he's talking to you between parenting crises. However, it's hard to find anything that really differentiates Charlton's actual writing style from that of any other author. Other than the fact that he moans. A lot. In fact, most of the book is given over to his incessant whining.

The intended audience is, unsurprisingly, potential househusbands and those who, according to Charlton, want to know what it's like to do the job he does.

The good points: When I write these reviews, I like to try and focus on positive points. Amusing and cathartic though it may be, simply savaging a book when I personally don't like it offers little information to the review reader, and isn't particularly helpful. Unfortunately, if I bring that approach to 'Chips, Videos and Alcohol', it would be a very short review!

I will say, though, that the chapter on vasectomy was quite amusing.

The bad points: I read this book twice, yet sadly could still find little, if anything, to commend it.

Alan Charlton spends most of his time moaning - his aim seems to be to tell us all how awful his experiences were, how hard he had it, and how much worse it is for men than women. But it's hard to have any sympathy for a man who, from reading the book, caused the vast majority of his own problems!

For example - how can he whine about how hard the work is, and how unremitting - then admit that he takes his wife breakfast in bed EVERY day, and allows her to sleep till lunchtime at weekends. His wife works, so does nothing to contribute to the household. If a man were to take that approach, he would quite rightly be castigated for laziness. If he's allowed himself to take it all on without insisting on his wife sharing some of the responsibility, he has no right to complain about how hard-done-by he is.

He moans about an unfeasibly large number of changes of clothing every day. Hmm. Try being less fastidious - I don't think the baby will mind a little vomit-stain on his t-shirt - or just learn how to put a nappy on properly to avoid leaks!

But the most ridiculous thing was his complaint about not being able to use the toilet because the baby was crying and he couldn't leave him. Surely this doesn't require the brains of a mastermind - insert baby into chair or cot, insert dummy into baby, insert self into bathroom. In the worst case, leaving the baby crying for a couple of minutes while he uses the loo is unlikely to result in the infant suffering a coronary, aneurysm or long-term stress disorder.

In the end, I was left impressed by only one thing - that the surgeon performing his vasectomy could find a pair of testicles upon which to perform the procedure.

In summary: There are hundreds of books out there about being a dad. Some are very good - From Lad to Dad, for example. This one, however, is not. Avoid it, and spend your cash on something more worthwhile - like chips, videos or alcohol.