Seeking parental wisdom, I gathered my most trusted belongings (cell phone, iPad, coffee cup, and, of course, my Dove Men Care body wash), stuffed them in my man purse, picked up my Sherpa, and headed up the mountaintop for paternal enlightenment. The journey towards becoming a better father was long and tedious, but as the Sherpa cleared branches, hoisted my donkey with herculean strength upon his shoulders the way a shepherd carries a lamb, and made fun of my lack of manliness, I finally stood before the Grand Poohbah of modern dadhood himself, Whit Honea. Full of grace, humor, and wisdom, he bestowed upon me the answers to all the child-rearing wisdom (or Whitdom) and behaviors that I needed to know in order to be a good father.
Actually, I enjoy running water and hate peeing in front of bears too much to go on any hikes that would require a Sherpa. So I skipped the physical trip to enlightenment and instead clicked my mouse and ordered Whit Honea’s book, The Parents’ Phrase Book, from Amazon. (And you can do the same here.)
Honea has a parenting website titled Honea Express, which can be found at www.WhitHonea.com. He has also written for Baby Center, Babble, and the Huffington Post. Let’s just say his words get around. Not only is Whit a fantastic writer, but he also happens to be a nice guy – the kind of guy you are not shocked to discover is a great dad. Whit writing a parenting book makes perfect sense to anyone that has ever read his work.
In his book, Honea tackles parenting problems with a great deal of humor, combined with eloquent and meaningful dialogue. Some of the parenting topics that he discusses are when a relative says something racist (who doesn’t have that one uncle?), bullies, the internet, death, and, of course, discipline.
As I read, or perused if you will, I felt relieved to know that I am not alone in my parenting journey. I’m not the first one to face difficult questions and the problematic situations I’ve encountered have been experienced by others. I’m thankful that dads like Honea can share parenting wisdom with such poignant words, so that I can apply it to my own family.
I read a lot of parenting books and usually I have to force myself to read all the way to the last page. Unlike a lot of the other books, I perused each page of The Parents’ Phrase Book with a great deal of enjoyment. (I hate the word perused by the way. So pretentious.) For any parent that is looking for answers to the questions that arise along the parenting road, this would be a good one to start with. And for those parents that just need a good laugh, this one is for you too.
You can even store it by the toilet for temporary perusal. Honea said he doesn’t mind.
Sounds like a good book. Toooooooooo cute of Wyatt!