The Father's Guide to the Meaning of Life: What Being a Dad Has Taught Me about Hope, Love, Patience, Pride, and Everyday Wonder - Hardcover

On Perfection "The best dads are the ones who aren't afraid to screw up in front of their kids. They're the ones who drop an occasional fly ball and laugh, who burn a meal and then treat everyone to dinner, who call a repairman to fix what they couldn't, who finish second (or last) with no regrets. These guys make such good fathers because they're so real. If you're not perfect, your children never feel they have to be."

On the Need for Play "Play is instinctual. You see it in cubs; you see it in kids. Give a child an interesting object, and it follows as naturally as giggles from a tickle. It is how we learn, how we explore, how we first open our minds. And when we stumble across it as adults, part of us remembers this and prepares to grow again. The older we get, the more exciting that possibility is."

On Love "A good test for love is if it can thrive amidst the mundane, whether you can find as much shared satisfaction in living the everyday as you can the extraordinary. If so, then it's true. Remember this: Life is largely routine, and love must carry on in these times, too."

On Knowledge "A child's inclination is to question the world, and a father's duty is to supply as many answers as he can. The important thing to remember is that even if you don't know the explanation, your kid thinks you do. Don't let him down."

On Bedtime "No time is more special between father and child than the few minutes just before bed. Whether they're 15 months or 15 years, they are the warmest, kindest, and most appreciative of beings during that brief period. Use this opportunity for whatever you like: a bedtime story, a prayer, a discussion. It doesn't really matter. The important thing is your being there, your giving them your full attention for perhaps the first time that day."

In The Father's Guide to the Meaning of Life, author Joe Kita reveals the life lessons that can be learned from being a dad--powerful lessons that apply to all of us, no matter what stage of life we are in. Kita focuses on 15 essential truths about friendship, trust, wonder, play, even death--truths that otherwise would have remained secret to him if not for his kids. In a manly voice that is both wickedly funny and startlingly honest, Kita talks of the essential traits of a good dad and how he has grown, both emotionally and intellectually, as a result of the challenges his kids have presented. Further, he talks about the transcendent moments, as when he said goodbye to his father for the last time, that change us most deeply. The Father's Guide to the Meaning of Life is one in a series of Daybreak books that provide life lessons and spiritual perspectives from the vantage point of different occupations and passions.