Book Review - Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads

By Abbas -
Like most parents, Kaniz and I have been reading our fair share of pregnancy and baby books.. so I thought I'd post a quick review of Be Prepared: A Practial Handbook for New Dads since I just finished it!

Overall, I think the book is well worth the $14US/$16CND price tag (thanks to Rahul & Pratiksha, I got mine for free). The book covers your baby's first year and is divided into 2-3 month sections (e.g. the first week, 0-3 months, 4-6 months, etc.). Each section discusses how your baby is developing, the type of issues they may experience and practical tips for dealing with these issues. A few examples:
  • First week: what your newborn will actually look like, how to do a basic diaper change
  • 0-3 months: how to deal with your partner's mood swings (basically ears open, mouth closed)
  • 4-6 months: taking your baby's (rectal) temperature - ouch!
  • 7-9 months: babyproofing your living room, kitchen, bathroom
  • 10-12 months: how to travel with your baby (if traveling with both parents, one parent boards first with all the baby gear, while the second parent wears out the kid at the gate and boards last - baby gets settled in seat and hopefully falls asleep)
What I liked most about the book is that it packs a lot of useful tips and information without the verbal padding. Plus, the writing style is quite readable (think Men's Health) and unlike all the other baby books I'm reading, the book is actually targeted at guys.

The book also has a companion website, beprepared.net which has a bunch of useful downloads like audio clips of white noise (to soothe newborns), a baby crying (to get yourself/your pets used to the sound), etc.

The illustrations in the book are reminiscient of an old highschool textbook and you'll either love them or hate them. Also, you may note that a great deal of attention was paid to the diversity of the dads depicted - we have white dads, black dads, Asian dads, Jewish dads, dads in wheelchairs, and even (I think) a gay couple! Wowza.

You can get more information on the book on beprepared.net, including sample chapters and links to actually purchasing the book.

I'm in San Jose, CA till the end of the week (wrote most of this on the plane ride over here), so this may well be my last post this week (I'm sure you're all disappointed) - but maybe Kaniz will have something to share with us?

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