In this new book, psychologist and writer Samuel Osherson explores the most challenging and rewarding relationship in a man's life: fatherhood.
As Osherson explains, fatherhood is not simply a role; it's an evolving, highly dynamic relationship that continuously and powerfully transforms men as their children grow up. Through revealing personal anecdotes and interviews with scores of other fathers, Osherson dramatizes the central dilemmas that all fathers face today. How does a father help his son find confidence and strength without pushing him too hard? When a father falls head over heels in love with his little girl, how can he also maintain clear and healthy boundaries? How can men keep the passions of fatherhood from stifling the sexual and emotional passions of marriage? How can men reconcile their desire to be present in their families with their need to get away?
Since being a father inevitably reminds us of our childhoods, Osherson also probes the father's relationship with his own parents - his effort to do things differently from his own dad while at the same time drawing on his male inheritance. In addition, there are sensitive and thoughtful chapters devoted to the father's role in his children's spiritual and moral education, how fathers can deal with their children's natural curiosity about sex, and the special needs of divorced fathers.