The Sixty Minute Father: How Time Well Spent Can Change Your Child's Life

by Rob Parsons

Book Overview

As a successful lawyer and busy father, Rob Parsons understands the tension of work and family but believes that many fathers are caught in a trap of unnecessary business -- making one more call or... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805462899
• ISBN13: 9780805462890
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.3" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

The ability to create unnecessary busyness

Picked this book up on a whim - caught my eye at a discount table, because, not two months ago, my wife and I had a ~heated~ discussion about whether I'm missing a literal, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to share my children's childhoods (I've got four, ages 9-and-under), in exchange for keeping her stay-at-home, meeting their current needs, and securing our future. There're some useful tips and to-dos in this quick read - the long lunch I used to read it is about all the time I would have afforded it, anyway. A lot of the book was daggers to my heart - in a good way. Better forewarned than regretful, and here's an example (by the way, the book is overall more casual and easy to read than this sample): " . . . In one survey of fathers, the men were asked, "How long do you think you spend each day in conversation with your toddlers?" Most guessed between fifteen and twenty minutes a day. To test this, the researchers put microphones on the fathers and their children to measure accurately the amount of parental interaction. Those busy men spent on average less than forty seconds a day with their children, split into three encounters of between ten and fifteen seconds each. In another survey, fathers were spending three minutes a day talking with their children, but the research also showed that the children were watching three hours of television a day." OUCH. So tonight, instead of what I'd planned and wanted to do, I kept my 3-year old up past her bed time and we baked her birthday cake together (she turned 3 on Saturday, but I was out of town on a business trip *wince*, so we're celebrating her delayed birthday on Wednesday), all the while wondering how I'd score if I'd been wearing a microphone the past several years. Bottom line: I intend to loan this book out to colleagues and friends.

Dads, you need this one!!!

Rob Parsons provides incredible insight into the busy life of fathers. His thought provoking suggestions as well as his pointers for separating work from home life have made a tremendous impact on my relationship with my kids. They're only small once, so take the time to listen, learn and be a part of their daily lives. Don't let the lyrics to Chapin's "Cats in the Cradle" ring true in your life!

Don't miss your "window of opportunity" with your child

Rob Parsons has written a wonderful book for fathers ( and mothers) about the ultimately fleeting time we have as parents to develop a strong relationship with our children while they are young. It's one of the best books I've read about the joys and opportunities of parenthood- sixty minutes of reading very well spent!

Every Parent should read this book

My wife and I learned so much from this short book, that we now give this book as a gift to our friends, and especially new parents. It really made us focus on what is most important in our lives ..... our children. No one ever said on their death bed, "I wish I would have spent one more day at the offce." It is a short book ... read it. Your kids will thank you.

A must-read for every man committed to success as a father

This short book uses numerous stories to paint emotional word-pictures of values that every dad shares in life and enumerates the key forces that constantly attempt to relegate those values to the back-burner. In a very encouraging and non-threatening manner, this book articulates these values in a way that enables the reader to get a handle on them that won't be easily pried loose by the many demands on our time. It does not deal with parenting techniques, but with paradigm shifts and focus. It enables the reader to mentally fast-forward their lives 10-20 years ahead and determine if the choices they are making today will then be viewed as wise choices or as deep regrets. The author so vividly points out that we have only so many opportunities with our children to share special moments together and that this window of childhood closes so suddenly and unexpectedly. We are encouraged to try not to miss one of them - herein lies the memories that will be treasured for a lifetime by you and your child. We may be very astute at grasping every career advancement opportunity that presents itself to us; this book challenges us to not allow the quiet windows of opportunity with our children to pass by, as if these windows will never close. We are shown in a very realistic way that without a concerted effort on our part, time will play its trick on us, and the day will arrive that the father now has time, but the window of opportunity is shut. This book will help each of us realize that a 'slower day' is not coming, and that if we want to build bonds with our children that will last, we must 'seize the day' today. We are reminded that somebody else will one day take our place at the office, but nobody else will ever take our place as father. I have personally benefited tremendously from reading this book, and I continue to reread it each month in an effort to keep fresh in my mind the things that are most important in life. Someone has said that the good things in life are often the mortal enemy of the best things in life. This book is a constant reminder of the difference between the two.