Liz Climo - Youre Dad: A Little Book for Fathers (And the People Who Love Them)

Oops, sorry. Ill move this to the next page.

Okay, where were we

Youre dad! Or, maybe you arentbut you probably know a dad, or possibly have a dad. Maybe you love a dad, or have lost a dad. Either way, if this book is in your hands, the word dad probably means something to you, and if someone gave it to you, then you must be pretty special. (And if youre buying this book for yourself, clearly you have excellent taste.) Regardless of how you got this book, Im so happy its yours.

Im not sure if I should admit this, but you seem cool, so here goes: This book was actually a little hard for me to start writing. I had just finished another book called Youre Mom and knew I wanted to do a follow-up book for dads. The first book came pretty naturally to me. From start to finish, I always had a pretty clear idea about what I wanted to say. You see, I lost my mom in my early twenties, and Ive had years to process my feelings about what she meant to me and how hard it was to lose her. Words of love, loss, acceptance, and gratitude poured out of me pretty naturallyand the book ended up being a love letter not just to moms but to all great parents. So, when I started working on this book, I felt stumped. Its not that I dont have a good relationship with my dad (I dohi, Dad!), but I wondered how I could make this book different from the first one. How are dads different from moms anyway? Are they? And what about families that dont have dads? Would I be excluding those families by writing this book? I felt like I had inadvertently backed myself into a corner by writing the first book and had no clue what I wanted to say with this one.

So, I started thinking about what it means to be a dad. The dads I grew up watching on TV were usually men married to women, who were good at fixing things, oftentimes masculine, sometimes clumsy, or maybe even surly. They were the long-suffering breadwinners, who ended each day with a beer between their knees and a football game on TV. Some dads are like that, sure! But this stereotypical notion of a dad, of course, doesnt represent all dads. I decided

I wanted this book to show all the different ways a person can be a dad. So, I started thinking about the dads in my life. I thought about my own dad, an introverted, hardworking businessman who loves singing only the high notes in songs (think Stay by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs) and who once dressed up as Tinker Bell for Halloween (my mom was Peter Pan). My brother, who loves playing and watching sports and is also an incredible baker (he recently baked doughnuts for his wife as a thank-you after she fixed their broken radiator). My husband, who always takes the time to listen to, connect with, and understand our daughter, whether it be shooting hoops with her in our yard or having his nails painted by her. I have friends whose families include two loving dads and others with children who dont have someone in their family they call dad at all. I know people with children from previous relationships, with partners who have forged meaningful parental relationships with the children in their lives. I thought about all these different types of dads and families and decided I wanted to honor the one thing they all have in common: the unwavering love and support of a good parent and all of the beautiful ways thats represented within different families.

The idea of the traditional family is evolving, and its a wonderful thing. Whether youre a beer-drinking, football-watching dad or a fingernail-painting, doughnut-baking dad (or both!), a fun uncle, a dear friend to someone with kids you adore, or even if youre not a dad at all, in the traditional sense, if you are a parent or someone in a parental role, your love and attention means everything to the people who look up to you. Because when youre dadno matter what that looks likeyou are so loved.

Thanks. I hope you like it.

Liz

Oh, hello!

Now that I have your attention ahem

You must be dad!

Youre probably pretty busy.

(Okay, well, the rest of you dads probably are.)

So, lets cut to the chase.

Being a dad is pretty great.

Maybe you already know this.

Maybe youve been preparing for a long time.

Maybe not.

But if youre about to become a dad

then its time to get serious

because fatherhood is serious business.