If your husband or partner is like I was, he may be quite nervous (read SCARED OUT OF HIS MIND) about the upcoming birth. I had a lot of misconceptions myself. Be Prepared help me correct those misconceptions. Babies look a lot different when the come out than what I expected. It’s not a cute cuddly neat looking child (i.e. the Gerber baby). Don’t get me wrong, I thought both of my children were amazingly beautiful and special the moment that they were born, but it just wasn’t what I was expecting, at least not the first time around.

If you want to get your partner more involved or IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A SPECIAL WAY TO TELL HIM THAT YOU ARE PREGNANT, Be Prepared makes a great gift for the man in your life. I’ve lent my copy to several friends and they all enjoyed it and learned useful information at the same time.

One of the things I really liked about the book was the fact that it uses a really clever retro format reminiscent of classic adventure and how-to guides. To quote, “Now changing a diaper can be as easy as changing a tire.” That pretty much sums the whole book up. While fueled by humor, this inventive “guy’s guide” provides all the information Dad will need to make it through year one of that ultimate survival sport - fatherhood.

“For thousands of years dads have roamed the earth, hunting, gathering, trudging through the fields day after day in order to provide for their families any way they could. But it wasn’t until the last quarter of a century that dads began to put down their spears and take an active role in the day-to-day duties of raising a child. The truth is that all those centuries of hunting gave men a skill set perfectly suited to new fatherhood. Patience, cunning, stamina, ad on-the-spot improvisation play a major role in both stalking prey ad baby raising. And much like a beast of the field, a baby is a very unpredictable creature, prone to wild mood swings and cranky tirades.” That is probably my favorite quote from the whole book.

It really is an indispensable survival manual for guys entering the trenches of fatherhood, Be Prepared is loaded with one-of-a-kind insights, MacGyver-esque tips and tricks, and no-nonsense advice for mastering the first year as a dad.

Finally, a book that teaches men all the things they really need to know about fatherhood…including how to:

• change a baby at a packed sports stadium
• create a decoy drawer full of old wallets, remote controls, and cell phones to throw baby off the scent of your real gear
• stay awake (or at least upright) at work
• babyproof a hotel room in four minutes flat
• construct an emergency diaper out of a towel, a sock, and duct tape (I keep wanting to try this one out, but so far my wife ever lets us run out of diapers.)

Get your copy of Be Prepared today for your special someone.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 21st, 2006 at 8:33 am and is filed under Book Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.