The Book of Dad. Paul Barker

      

      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.