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Daddy Dates: Fathers Connecting with Daughters

Apr 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

daddy dates

With my first baby due in about a week, I’ve been thinking a lot about how my husband and I will connect with our child. It seems that traditionally, there are a lot of ways that fathers connect with sons and mothers connect with daughters. Dads teach their boys about sports and show them how to “be a man,” while moms go shopping with their daughters and are the first ones to take girls to the salon or get a pedicure with them. Moms are glorified as the nurturing parent and play a vital support role in both sons’ and daughters’ lives. However, the relationship between father and daughter is a little murkier. Daughters have long been stereotyped as “daddy’s girls,” but fathers aren’t known for their ability to make a true and deep connection with their daughters. That’s where Daddy Dates comes in.

Daddy Dates: Four Daughters, One Clueless Dad, and His Quest to Win Their Hearts is about a father making a true connection with his four daughters. Greg Wright realized that while he and his daughters have a relationship based on mutual respect and love, he didn’t truly understand them at all. He had no idea how they thought or made decisions, and he wasn’t sure that they knew how men are meant to treat women. So he started taking each of them on “daddy dates” to deepen his connection with them and ensure that they were growing into strong and confident women. He learned a lot about his daughters and himself, and he has since written Daddy Dates to reflect on the experience and help guide other clueless dads through the process.

I like that Greg Wright infuses his book with personal details and anecdotes while also offering advice that can apply to any father-daughter situation. He offers specific date suggestions, walks fathers through the process of asking their daughters on daddy dates, and explains how to have an open and honest conversation – through the good times and the rough patches. He is easy to relate to and provides insightful advice in this quick read that should be at the top of every father’s book list.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from BookSneeze to facilitate my review. All opinions are my own.

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God Gave Us You: Answering a Tricky Question

Apr 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

God Gave Us You

My husband and I are currently expecting our first child, and have discussed at length how we’ll respond on the day when our kid will inevitably look at us with curious eyes and pose the age old question: “Where did I come from?” I’ve already written about my love of the God Gave Us So Much treasury to help tackle children’s difficult questions about faith and love. God Gave Us You expands on the treasury by answering another tricky question with honesty and ease.

Without getting into complicated technicalities, Mama Bear explains that her little cub was a gift from God in answer to many prayers. I like that the mother explains that the cub grew in her stomach and discusses doctor visits and nursery preparations, briefly touching on labor so children can begin to grasp the physical concept as well as the deeper message. Kids will come away from this book understanding that they are here on this planet for a reason: because they are loved and wanted and God sent them here with a purpose.

Disclaimer: Waterbrook Multnomah provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for the purposes of this review. All opinions are my own.

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Giveaway: LaRue Across America (CLOSED)

Mar 27, 2011 By 22 Comments

Update:

Random.orgRandom.org

According to Random.org, the winners are number 1, Ingerinflorida and number 12, SkaggsH1! Congrats you two. I’m sure your grandchild and great niece or nephew will love the book and backpack. I’ve contacted you both separately by email as well.

LaRue Across America

Good news! Scholastic Press is giving two of my readers a copy of the newest title in Mark Teague’s Ike LaRue series. LaRue Across America: Postcards from the Vacation follows terrier Ike LaRue and his owner on a road trip across America. Ike’s highly-anticipated trip quickly turns into a much different vacation than he had planned when their neighbor falls ill and Mrs. LaRue offers to bring the neighbor’s cats along for the ride! Kids will love Ike’s postcards from all over the United States, and parents will love the adorable dog that’s not only entertaining but also educational as he introduces US geography with quirky descriptions and interesting pictures. I think this book would be a great fit for kids around age 5 through 10.

Two lucky readers have the chance to win a copy of LaRue Across America AND a LaRue branded backpack!

LaRue Across America Backpack

How to Enter

  • Leave a comment below telling me who you’d read the book to if you win.

If you’re feeling super-competitive, you can get extra entries for doing any of the following and leaving me a comment below for each entry:

  • Subscribe to Someday I’ll Learn via email or Feedreader.
  • Become a fan of Someday I’ll Learn on Facebook.
  • Write about the contest on your Facebook page and tag or link to Someday I’ll Learn in your status update.
  • Follow Someday I’ll Learn on Twitter.
  • Follow Scholastic on Twitter.
  • Tweet about the contest: “@SomedayIllLearn is having a cool @Scholastic #LaRue giveaway http://bit.ly/LaRueAA”

You must leave a separate comment for each entry. Giveaway closes Friday, April 1st @ 11:59am (PST). Winners will be picked by Random.org and notified by email. Good luck!

Giveaways open to US Mailing Addresses Only. Giveaway courtesy of Scholastic, who provided me with a copy of the book to review and provided the giveaway products for my readers. My opinions are entirely my own.

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God Gave Us So Much: Exploring Faith with Children

Mar 23, 2011 By 1 Comment

God Gave Us So Much

I’ve thought a lot throughout my pregnancy about how Nate and I will develop our child’s faith. We’re both Christian and feel that Sunday school lessons have a lot to offer, but there’s really something to be said for a parent being involved in teaching their children about God. Some of my best childhood memories are of my mom reading to me at night, and the stories she shared about God’s love are the ones that made a big impact and stuck with me the most. God Gave Us So Much by Lisa Tawn Bergren is an excellent, touching story that I can absolutely see fitting in as a cherished part of my child’s bedtime stories.

God Gave Us So Much is three books in one: God Gave Us the World, God Gave Us Love and God Gave Us Heaven.

god gave us the world

God Gave Us the World helps explain why every creature is different and explores the vast, varying world that God created. These concepts are explained through a mama bear telling her cubs why there are so many types of bears and how they all live. This story is a great way to help children develop a concept of a world larger than their immediate surroundings, and will help children appreciate the diversity of the universe and the vast capabilities of God.

god gave us love

God Gave Us Love focuses on a grandpa bear explaining to a cub that while God meant for us to love all creatures, there are different types of love: the love between parents, the love between friends and family, and the love of God. This story helps children understand the concept of God’s love by bringing it down to a level they can easily relate to.

god gave us heaven

God Gave Us Heaven explains what seems to me to be the most difficult concept of the series: the idea of a place better than anything we can ever experience on earth. Papa bear explains the idea of death in a gentle manner, reassuring the cubs that while sometimes bad things do happen on earth, they shouldn’t worry because nothing bad ever happens in heaven. He briefly attempts to explain that we don’t get to be angels in heaven and that Jesus is a “bridge” to heaven. To me, this seems a bit obscure and I would anticipate that curious children will need further explanation of these concepts. However, this section is a good conversation starter for parents who are prepared to explore the idea of heaven with their children.

I really enjoyed the dialogue throughout this beautiful book, and the illustrations are adorable! I would highly recommend the treasury to anyone looking to explore faith and God with their children. I think it would be most appropriate for children ages 4-8.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. All opinions are my own.

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Dear John Book Review

Dec 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

dear john review

I’m going to be totally honest here: I’ve never been a fan of Nicholas Sparks books. I think he spends way too much time on character development. By the time he gets to the action…er, the sappy stuff…I’ve already fallen asleep or completely lost interest. The movie versions of his books are awesome because time-sensitive producers understand that an hour-long buildup will have audiences bailing before the main love interest is even introduced. Except for Nights in Rodanthe. I’m sorry, but even Richard Gere couldn’t revive that one.

Nights in Rodanthe Nicholas Sparks

After tossing The Notebook and giving up 15 pages into A Walk to Remember, I vowed to make it through at least one Nicholas Sparks book without running to Redbox for the movie version. I picked Dear John simply because Channing Tatum (who played the lead role in the movie adaptation) is delicious and at the very least, I’d be able to drool over the cover photo when Nicholas Sparks’ descriptive prologue got old.

dear john channing tatum

It worked. The droning on and on…and on…with the backstory did annoy me, but not quite as much as usual. I actually found myself intrigued by John’s tenuous relationship with his father. By the time Nicholas Sparks got to describing the father’s complete and incomprehensible obsession with coins, I was totally embroiled. Yeah, Nicholas Sparks finally broke through my cold, cold heart with a coin collection. Throughout the entire book, I was cheering not for the relationship between John and his new love Savannah, but for John and his distant father. It could be my own rebellious daddy issues rearing their immature little head, but I suspect that anyone could relate to this plot. It literally had me bawling myself to sleep for three or four nights in a row. In a good way.

Perhaps it’s because Dear John was the first Nicholas Sparks book I read that didn’t feature a difficult-to-relate-to teenage girl in it’s pivotal role. Maybe it was my hell-bent determination to not let the first 20 pages of a book discourage me. Maybe it’s because Channing Tatum is so darn sexy. Whatever the reason, Dear John earned it’s place as one of the most genuine and heart-wrenching novels I’ve ever read. I highly recommend Dear John to anyone – whether they’re a Nicholas Sparks fan or not.

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