It's Great Being a Dad, by Jay Payleitner, Brock Griffin, and Carey Casey

It's great being a dad.  That sums up the new book from the National Center for Fathering (www.fathers.com), It's Great Being a Dad.  Carey Casey, Jay Payleitner, and Brock Griffin have put together a collection of their essays on fatherhood to help us fathers be more effective in our role.  Covering a wide array of subjects, It's Great Being a Dad has something for every dad to improve as a father and to enjoy his children more.

The good: In their work with NCF, these three writers have gathered anecdotes and academic studies to illustrate their points and encourage fathers at every stage of life.  In 93 short chapters, they have plenty of wisdom to share.  Some of the high points and recurring themes: be intentional, make your kids a priority, pray for your kids, take time for them, be committed.  The chapters can be read in any order, and take just a couple of minutes to read.

The bad: With the bullet-point nature of the 93 chapters of the book, there's not much flow to it.  I suspect these chapters were written as e-mail or newsletter updates, for which they would be perfect.  Gathered into book form, they read like, well, a random collection of e-mail or newsletter updates.  I realize that sounds like a petty criticism, but I read the book cover-to-cover, which is the wrong way to read this book. . . .

In terms of the actual content, I fully endorse the authors' message.  Their advice and encouragement is spot-on.  Each father who reads It's Great Being a Dad will find at least a few essays that hit home.  Almost all of them will ring true with any dad.  I appreciate the NCF and this book, because even though it's great being a dad, it's not always easy being a dad.  It's Great Being a Dad is full of great reminders for me as I try to be the best dad I can be.


Thanks to NetGalley for the complimentary electronic review copy!