Home Game - Michael Lewis

My husband is a fan of Michael Lewis's books, in particular Moneyball and The Blind Side, so when I saw that Lewis had a book about fatherhood, I figured it would be a good one for Jake to check out.  I think I was right.  As Jake read in bed next to me, he laughed out loud and even read me a couple passages (usually one of my annoying habits that I really appreciate seeing in others).  He finished the book quickly, and mostly took away from it that Ferberizing is out of date, and that having more than one kid might require a little more thought.  I then decided to read it for myself...and I didn't find it quite so amusing.  Michael Lewis might be a brilliant writer and asutte investigative journalist type, but he is a class A doofus when it comes to raising his children.  Of course, that's part of the point of the book - to get a laugh at his own expense and to heap credit on to his wife (former MTV news anchor, Tabitha Soren), but I don't find it endearing when fathers pretend then can't figure out how to dress their children or pack a lunch.  But, despite Lewis's at-times seeming indifference to parenting, he did have some good insight on rolling with the punches (I especially liked the stories about his oldest daughter heaping contempt on his following the arrival of her younger sister), and his efforts to be with his kids even when the experiences weren't exactly fun (like camping overnight in Fairyland - which is just down the street from us).  This book can be read in one sitting - and while it may infuriate the parents who are the ones keeping track of all the doctor's appointments and waking up multiple times in the night for feedings, I think it's a good book for those other parents - the ones who might not always feel like their kids necessarily need them, or like they might have missed the day when they were supposed to have developed a deep-seated bond with their child - it will help them realize that kids always need more people in their lives that just love them and appreciate them for who they are, and that your love for a child will come, maybe when you least expect it, but always when they need it most.