The Book of Dad

Dadication’s What You Need!

Written by A Dad

(Paul Barker)

Contents

Foreword

Part One

Know your Dad

Part Two

The Spotter’s Guide

Part Three

Dads Through the Ages

Part Four

The Family Jigsaw

Part Five

The Gospel According to Dad

Part Six

The Psychology of Dad

Part Seven

The Natural Dad

Part Eight

The Dad-to-Be

Part Nine

How To Be a Dad

Part Ten

Ask Dad

Part Eleven

Dad Recipes

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Copyright

About the Publisher

Foreword, Who is Dad?

Dad. Say it. Dad. What does Dad mean? Dad’s not Father. No. Not Papa. Definitely not. Not Daddy, not Daddio. No way. Don’t even consider Pater. Dad is something and someone else entirely. Dad. He has a solid monosyllabic quality, a comforting bluntness. Dad is all homely and informal in his open-necked shirt. Dad is unique and universal, a fascinating amalgam of qualities, vices and foibles. Dad is drama and excitement, unfolding action, comedy, romance, soap opera, game show. All human life is in Dad. Dad is a landscape and a portrait. Dad is history; Dad is culture. Dad reaches his arms around the world. Dad is a king with an invisible crown. Dad is the centre, gravity, the slowly spinning gyroscope from which all things come. Dad is all this and more. Pretty much.

You might be a Dad; you might not. But, whoever you are, rich or poor, black or white, great or small, man, woman or child, you will know how essential Dad can be. You will know of an occasion, an incident, an accident, something from your very own past that says something about the nature, the role, the purpose of Dad. Dad is part of nature’s great cycle. Dads have children; children have Dads. And so on. It’s time to celebrate Dad.