by S. Adams Sullivan
In child-raising literature, advice to fathers is often ghettoized in afterthought chapters—as in "The Father's Part" in earlier editions of Benjamin Spock's Baby and Child Care. This sensible volume—a companion to The Mother's Almanac (1975)—is doubly welcome. Its author, a father of two young boys, is a free-lance copy editor for Doubleday, so his personal experience is not exactly typical—he spends an unusual amount of time at home. But he has researched assiduously, and his discussions on topics ranging from natural childbirth to handling 4-year-olds will be useful to all fathers. Sullivan also mixes in suggestions on dealing with mothers' postpartum blues as well as details on how to burp a baby, make simple toys and build a device to help little boys reach the urinals in public restrooms. There is some belaboring of common sense, like hide-the-poisonous-chemicals, but no coy language or condescension toward fatherly fears of dropping the baby. Warm and sensitive, the book fits the tone of Sullivan's closing quote, from a letter by Charles Darwin to one of his grown children: "When you were very young it was my delight to play with you all, and I think with a sigh that such days can never return." (Doubleday/Dolphin, S7.95 paperback)
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