The U. of Iew

I love to meander through bookstores during my free time. It was during one such visit to Barnes and Noble that I encountered an irresistible sale- buy two paperback books and receive the third for free. Of course, you had to pick your books out from a select number of titles, but I managed to find a few that sounded interesting. For my third book, I picked up a title that sounded like it would have some good information- Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters. I had seen this book before and had often wondered if it would provide me with any good advice for raising my own daughter. Well, what the heck- it was free, right? I picked it up and started to read it that same night.

Admittedly, I made the assumption that the advice in this book would be written from an objective viewpoint. The author is a doctor, after all, and I’ve come to expect an unbiased opinion from the majority of these folks. Unfortunately, the book itself is not written from an entirely medical standpoint. The author’s religion and personal view on human ethics/morals is prevalent throughout the book. Which isn’t a problem if you agree with the author’s perspective, but let’s face it- in this day and age, a lot of people will not. The author seems to be a very intelligent and passionate woman, so I was disappointed when the book didn’t provide the information or perspective that I was hoping for.

For example, the book is very narrow-minded in its approach to raising girls. A father, in this book, is the heterosexual, biological husband of a woman. What about unmarried fathers? Divorced fathers? Gay fathers? Transsexual fathers? Granted, there are other books on this subject that may have been written with a more diverse audience in mind. My biggest gripe is that, in just skimming through this book before making the decision to purchase it, there was really no way of telling that the book would have such a slanted perspective. I was also disappointed by the fact that much of the author’s advice and assumptions are based off of her own conception of morals and ethical human behavior. Come on, now- this is a very grey area, especially where religion is involved. I would have appreciated opinions and observations based on genuine facts and studies. Yes, the author does cite a number of studies in her bibliography, but conveniently enough these are all studies that support her own moral view on the father’s role in his daughter’s life. I can think of just as many- if not more- scientific studies that would disprove much of her evidence, or at least provide an interesting counterpoint to her opinions.

Well, I honestly can’t say that I didn’t learn anything from this book. There were a few areas in which I agreed with the author. There were many more areas in which I did not agree with her. However, through questioning the author’s advice and giving some serious thought as to why I disagreed with many of her opinions, I managed to walk away from this book a little bit wiser. The final verdict? It’s probably not worth buying, but it makes for an interesting read; it’s worthy of being checked out from your local library. Just bring an open mind take her advice with a grain of salt.