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Daddy Needs a Drink: An Irreverent Look at Parenting from a Dad Who Truly Loves His Kids-- Even When They're Driving Him Nuts

by Robert Wilder

Fatherhood, told through domestic chaos and candid comic essays

Regular price $18.54 USD
Regular price $28.97 USD Sale price $18.54 USD
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Paperback New English

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Awards & Recognition

  • Critical praise

    Praised by People

    People praised Robert Wilder’s essays about parenting as hilarious and boldly candid.

AlbakiReads Editorial

Fatherhood, told through domestic chaos and candid comic essays

Robert Wilder organizes his account of family life around the everyday pressures and surprises of raising two young children while sharing care with his artist wife. The essays move through sleep deprivation, diapers, tantrums, baby names, potty training, school fundraisers, and the logistical challenge of carrying a child while doing everything else one-handed. Alongside the household mishaps are moments of paternal pride, particularly as Wilder watches his daughter grow into her own person. Set against his life as a Santa Fe father and high-school teacher, the book presents parenting as a mix of affection, embarrassment, frustration, and ongoing improvisation.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Parents interested in humorous personal essays about raising young children
  • Fans of candid family-life humor
  • Adults looking for a father’s perspective on domestic parenting

Themes

FatherhoodParenting challengesFamily lifeDomestic humorChildhood development

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

In the tradition of Dave Barry, an irreverent look at fatherhood from a dad who truly loves his kids--even when they're driving him nuts.

"Robert Wilder's hilarious and boldly candid essays about the realities of parenting go down like gin and tonic on a hot summer afternoon."--People


A Santa Fe dad shares heartwarming, comic, often ludicrous tales of raising a family in this laugh-out-loud book perfect for anyone who enjoys the edgy humor of David Sedaris or the whimsical commentary of Dave Barry. Waxing both profound and profane on issues close to a father's heart--from exploding diapers to toddler tantrums, from the horrors of dressing up as Frosty the Snowman to the moments that make a father proud--Robert Wilder brilliantly captures the joys and absurdities of being a parent today.

With an artist wife and two kids--a daughter, Poppy, and a son, London--Robert Wilder considers himself as open-minded as the next man. Yet even he finds himself parentally challenged when his toddler son, London, careens around the house in the buff or asks the kind of outrageous, embarrassing questions only a kid can ask. A high school teacher who sometimes refers to himself jokingly as Mister Mom (when his wife, Lala, is busy in her studio), Wilder shares warmly funny stories on everything from sleep deprivation to why school-sponsored charities can turn otherwise sane adults into blithering and begging idiots.

Whether trying to conjure up the perfect baby name ("Poppy" came to his wife's mother in a dream) or hiring a Baby Whisperer to get some much-needed sleep, Wilder offers priceless life lessons on discipline, potty training, even phallic fiddling (courtesy of young London). He describes the perils of learning to live monodextrously (doing everything with one hand while carrying your child around with the other) and the joys of watching his daughter morph into a graceful, wise, unique little person right before his eyes.

By turns tender, irreverent, and hysterically funny, Daddy Needs a Drink is a hilarious and poignant tribute to his family by a man who truly loves being a father.
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