The Dad Difference

What does it take to be a great dad? The world is full of examples of men who weren’t there for their kids. But there are good and even great dads out there, who inspire their children and the men around them to reach for more. How do you become a dad like that—even if your own dad wasn’t such a good example? In The Dad Difference, Bryan Loritts explores the four gifts every kid needs from their dad: relationship, integrity, teaching, and experiences. He walks you through what each of these mean and how to put them into practice. He also shares stories of fathers, including his own dad, who were examples of this to him. Full of biblical wisdom, simple truths, and practical advice, this book will empower you to become a dad who makes a difference in the lives of your children.

If you are a new Dad or an experienced Dad, have you ever wondered, "Do I make a real difference in my child's life?" New research confirms that the answer is an unequivocal YES. The Dad Difference gives you the latest results in a quick read that is easy to understand. This little book includes five ways that you positively impact your child, your relationship with your child and your world at the same time. If you are a wife or a partner, The Dad Difference lets you in on the secrets of your husband or partner's influence. When Dads know how important they are, life can only get better for everyone in the family. By focusing on Dad's importance, this book does not diminish Mom's impacts or advocate any particular form that a family should take. Wherever you get your parental inspiration: from your own father, from a great friend, teacher, mentor or from your faith, The Dad Difference supports you with information that has just become available. With information from The Dad Difference, you will be able to counter and overcome the ridiculous stereotypes of fathers in the mass media. When this news becomes mainstream, you can celebrate with a full community of other fathers. So Dad Up! Your adventure is just beginning and now there is a roadmap. This book is a start. Try these five things with your kid and let's see how it can change our world.

From the New York Times best-selling author of Have a New Kid by Friday comes a call to dads to step up to the plate and become the loving, actively engaged father that a daughter needs for life and relational success. The relationship that matters most to your daughter isn't always the one with her mother—sometimes it's the one with you, Dad. Her self-esteem, choices, behavior, character, and even her ideas about or choice of a marriage partner are all directly tied to you, as the most important representative to her of the male species. In Be the Dad She Needs You to Be Dr. Kevin Leman—internationally-known psychologist, New York Times best-selling author, and father of four daughters—will show you not only how to get the fathering job done and done well, but also how to: Make each daughter feel unique, special, and valued. Discipline the right way . . . when it's needed. Talk turkey about what guys are really thinking. Keep the critical eye at bay. Wave the truce flag when females turn your family room into a battleground. Set your daughter up for life and relational success. With some effort on your part, you can gain the kind of lasting relationship you dream of with your daughter—one based on mutual love and respect. The simple yet profound suggestions in this book will transform you into the kind of man your daughter needs . . . for a lifetime.

“God, please help me...another game of Candy Land...” Quite a few dads spend time with their kids. However, many have no clue what their kids really need. Enter author Jay Payleitner, veteran dad of five, who’s also struggled with how to build up his children’s lives. His 52 Things Kids Need from a Dad combines straightforward features with step-up-to-the-mark challenges men will appreciate: a full year’s worth of focused, doable ideas—one per week, if desired uncomplicated ways to be an example, like “kiss your wife in the kitchen” tough, frank advice, like “throw away your porn” And, refreshingly... NO exhaustive (and exhausting) lists of “things you should do” NO criticism of dads for being men and acting like men Dads will feel respected and empowered, and gain confidence to initiate activities that build lifelong positives into their kids. Great gift or men’s group resource!

In this unique book of correspondence, two men from different generations write to each other about the burdens, anxieties, and singular joys of parenthood. Thirtysomething Charles Demers and 80-year-old George Bowering are both celebrated authors and the best of friends, and soon both will be the fathers of daughters. The letters begin as Charles and his wife discover they will become parents; he expresses his hopes and fears of impending fatherhood, compounded by his OCD and his own father's illness, while George recalls his own experiences raising a daughter in the 1970s and his own anxieties about bringing a child into a troubled world. Together, their thoughtful, funny, candid missives reveal what fathers know (or don't know) about raising daughters, as well as themselves and each other. Their combined observations make for a passionate, funny and moving portrait of fatherhood in all its imperfect, beautiful glory. George Bowering is Canada's first poet laureate and an officer of the Order of Canada. He is the author of more than eighty books, the most recent of which include The Hockey Scribbler, Writing the Okanagan, and Pinboy. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. Charles Demers is a comedian, performer, and writer. His previous books are The Horrors (Douglas & McIntyre) and Vancouver Special (Arsenal). He lives in Vancouver, where he teaches writing at the University of British Columbia.

This "intense reading experience"* is a Printz Honor Book. Shawn McDaniel's life is not what it may seem to anyone looking at him. He is glued to his wheelchair, unable to voluntarily move a muscle—he can't even move his eyes. For all Shawn's father knows, his son may be suffering. Shawn may want a release. And as long as he is unable to communicate his true feelings to his father, Shawn's life is in danger. To the world, Shawn's senses seem dead. Within these pages, however, we meet a side of him that no one else has seen—a spirit that is rich beyond imagining, breathing life. *Booklist starred review

What’s the difference if she has light skin and yours is a little darker? All that matters is the artwork you create together is as colorful as possible . . . As he did in I Wonder, Upworthy.com and Today Show parenting expert parenting guru Doyin Richards tackles a timely and universal subject—diversity and acceptance—and distills it for the youngest readers. Because what matters most is not our differences, but what we do together as friends, as families, as colleagues, as citizens. Perfect for sharing as a family or in the classroom, What's the Difference? should find a place in homes and in hearts.