Are you soon going to become a father? Is your husband or boyfriend soon going to be a father?
Many friends of mine become fathers these days. I am one with two daughters. They are 3 years and 7 months old. My memories of the time before I was a father are still fresh. Yet I already start to notice consequences of the things I chose to do at the time. Apart from caring for my transforming and loved wife, I read books!
There are traditions that speak of «Mother Earth» and «Father Sky». Mother is associated with the flesh, the earth, the concrete, that which materializes. Father is associated with inspiration, ideas, and theories.
Pregnancy looks like a very obvious example for that view of motherhood. So much is happening in that literally wonderful body of the pregnant woman. From physical, chemical, biological transformations to personality-morphing hormone action, the show is spectacular. Like a rumbling volcano at times, like a limp vegetable at others.
What can I do as I watch? I can pick up that Father image. I can go gather input and put together my very own mix of inspiring input. I can gently feed this volcano with that inspiration through words, actions, and embrace.
I read many books during my wife’s first pregnancy, i.e. while I became a father. And here comes my present to you: these are the boiled down selection out of the books I read. Follow the links, have a look at them!
- The Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff
Deutsch: Auf der Suche nach dem verlorenen Glück - Your Competent Child by Jesper Juul
Deutsch: Dein Kompetentes Kind - Hypnobirthing by Marie Mongan
Deutsch: Hypnobirthing
Not only did the ideas, concepts, and examples of these books convince me, but I already notice direct and obvious consequences of their implementation in our older daughter.
What are your must-read recommendations? I hope to hear or read your reviews about those books.
Update 2016-11-30
After inputs like «Before the flood«, I feel the urge to add this recommendation:
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Deutsch: Trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen
Update 2017-08-04
With my children getting older and discovering un-comforting behavior, I discovered this input that should best be available before birth:
Hold on to your kids – why parents need to matter more than peers by Gordon Neufeld
Deutsch: Unsere Kinder brauchen uns