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Daddy’s Little Girl by Gregory Lang
If you have a daughter, it’s hard not to get a little emotional reading this collection of anecdotes compiled by Gregory Lang (author of more pithy books like “Why a daughter Needs a Dad: 100 reasons”). This is not a “deep” book, but it does get at a lot important truths about the importance of a father to little (and big) girls. Sometimes, that’s also what dads need to give an extra push to their efforts. We all need to know that all those hours pushing swings and replacing toy batteries are the foundation of an enduring relationship that doesn’t end suddenly at adolescence. There has been plenty of research that shows this to be true, but Mr. Lang, in this compilation of his own and others’ stories, relates how this plays out in different ways. For the dad of a young girl, it also gives a not-always-comfortable (read morbid) look into the future when kids are grown up and dad is looking at what he’s leaving behind as a legacy, rather than what he is building in the here and now. It may have you weeping into your Scotch before the end of the second chapter.
I’d recommend this as a gift from any girl or woman wanting to communicate to a dad why he’s special to her.
Daddy’s Little Girl: Stories of the Special Bond Between Fathers and Daughters by Gregory E. Lang
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Monuments, landmarks, and building in a manageable size
Like most people, I have a dirty little secret: I collect tacky souvenirs from monuments and buildings when I travel.
Like collections of snow globes, one monument alone is a tasteless souvenir. But put together a FULL CITY of monuments and you make a statement. My wife could never understand this mania, or “neurosis,” as she puts it, until a few years ago when the San Francisco International Airport featured a full concourse exhibit of souvenir monuments from around the world. There, in plenty of glory, were miniature reproductions of every major edifice in the world. Suddenly, my puny collection gained stature and value, rather then just being the goofy past-time of a middle-aged traveler. Some day, I could bequeath my collection to the Museum of Modern Art or even the Met!
As a former New Yorker, when I saw these, I knew I had to have them. The cars are cute too, but I’d skip them for a PanAm building, miniature Whitney, or a Columbus Circle. In fact, I’m getting two sets. I’m getting one set for my little boy to place between tracks of his train set (yes, the scale is a bit off), and one to go up on the shelf until I get a call from the mus
eum asking to take my collection on tour. They will make a perfect addition to my collection of stone, plaster, bronze and wood miniatures from cities I’ve visited around the world.
To read more about the history of this crazy hobby, check out this book: Souvenir Buildings Miniature Monuments: From the Collection of Ace Architects, which is a good book for dads and kids. My four-year-old son loves looking at the monuments. The book is divided mostly into major city-scapes, composed of mostly bronze and iron replicas of local landmarks and buildings. This is a fun book for both dads, kids, and budding architects.
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Best and worst kid books for dads
Every night, it’s the same drills at our house. A never-ending pattern of tooth-brushing and pyjama-changing. It’s like the myth of Sisyphus, a mom and a dad doomed for eternity to push a rock up to the top of a hill, only to watch it come rolling back down. But of course, it’s not eternity. It’s just a few short years until they brush and change themselves, start to read to you, and eventually close the door after dinner and hang a big “Parents Keep Out” sign on their door.
However, until then, what to do to make the rituals more entertaing, stay in the moment, and not despair over your own need to pay the bills or catch up on the latest update on “Lost.” I hope you don’t feel tricked if I tell you that bedtime will always be bedtime. Kids thrive on routine, and actually, the more you do that’s the same (same order, same time) will help get them to sleep better.
However, there is one area within your control, and that is which book you have to or get to read.
Personally, I always liked to read Goodnight Moon, and one of my favorites is Go to Bed, Fred. Good Night Moon is more sentimental and strangely poignant. Go to Bed, Fred uses Sesame Street characters and is actually funny with kids below four years old.
I have now read two Harry Potter books with my eight year old girl. I can’t say it’s great literature but it’s better than a lot of the Scholastic books she brings home. And it fuels our discussions for days because the characters are so vivid. They say that beyond book Three or so, you have to watch out since the themes become ever more dark, and are really too chilling for little kids.
What are your favorites? Do you hate or love Winnie the Pooh (hate him now except for the Heffalump-chasing scene). Have you tried the classics or do you stick with the bestsellers. Do the rhymes in Madeline drive you to insanity? Have you read enough Go Dog Go to last a lifetime?
Reading to your kids is one of life’s great pleasures and has been proven over and over to benefit kids and make them better learners and future readers. With so many great books to choose from though, there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy yourself along the way. Remember though, if it’s on the shelf, you’re at the mercy of your little kid’s choices, and he’ll sometimes be happy reading the same thing for week straight.
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Reading Harry Potter
My seven year old turns eight in March. Many of her 2nd grade classmates, especially the boys, have already read most if not all the Harry Potters, and have even seen all the movies. Over the holiday break, I suggested to my daughter that we finally break into
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Book 1) and see what all the fuss was about. Lost as she usually is in books about princesses or American Girl dolls, she wasn’t too interested. By the second chapter though, she was hooked. At every occasion, she begs for me to read Harry Potter to her, and many of our conversations are reviews of the plot and mystery. She even reads to me as well, and some times will advance a chapter or two without me when the suspense gets too great.
As a dad, I’d say the books are marginally good. They are not “great” fiction, but are well-written and creative enough to hold an older person’s interest. The big draw, I now realize, though, is the wonder of watching your child have their first real immersive literary experience. My daughter can imagine this world, all through our reading it together.
We’ve now watched the movie together as well, and I’ve been happy that most of my character name pronunciations were correct. I also did a pretty good impersonation of Hagrid, a giant, who has the most distinctive accent so far.
I’ve been told that the tales get “darker” as they go along, with plenty of betrayal and violence. We’re proceeding cautiously at this point, which will increasingly become a challenge, as my daughter asks every afternoon when she gets home from school, “Can we read just a little bit?.” As dads of daughters can attest. it’s always hard to say, “no.”
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