Freakonomics of Fatherhood

If you haven't read or heard anything about Freakonomics yet, I suggest you check it out immediately. I specifically recommend chapter 5 if you are a new parent like me. Here's the basic gist of the book:

Conventional wisdom is, at best, erroneous, and, at worst, entirely harmful. Though the tools provided by the field of economics (which is usually incredibly dry and dull) information can be gleaned which reveals the true nature about the way things work.

Chapter 5 is all about parenting and basically reaches this conclusion:

You, as a parent, are very important in shaping your child's future but not at all in the way you think. It's who you are as a person rather than what you do as a parent that dictates your child's future - statistically speaking, of course.

Since I'm more of an artist than a scientist and approach parenting intuitively rather than academically, I found this conclusion to be reassuring. My being happy, healthy, and educated will help my Baby J more than the the various volumes on child rearing I was supposed to read but never did. As long as I'm not a jerk and don't do anything that feels out of sync with my role as a dad, things should go pretty well.

Whew...that's a relief

Listening To: Birth of the Cool by Miles Davis