AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Be A Better Dad Today by Gregory Slayton

I was really excited to listen to Gregory Slayton’s Be A Better Dad Today just because of the title.  His enormous list of accomplishments as well as book endorsements from people like John McCain and Chuck Colson, got me even more excited.  This book is being heralded as a call to arms for the fathers of America to reclaim their lost way.

It’s a solid book, but it didn’t really live up to the hype for me.  Slayton definitely speaks from experience, but the whole thing feels “a mile wide and an inch deep” to me.  It seems that in an attempt to be all things to all fathers, the teeth have been pulled from this book.  The narration could be partially to blame here, because Sean Runnette’s delivery is pretty much devoid of any passion.  However, Slayton himself seems reluctant to share his personal struggles honestly and I struggled as a result to connect to his message on a deeper level.  For example, he shares in general terms about “one of his kids” who had “a certain struggle” and he and his wife “had to take action to help that kid with their struggle.”  I don’t need all the juicy details and I understand you need to protect the privacy of your family, but how can a personal story have any impact if there are virtually no details shared?

The first couple chapters are my favorite part, where Slayton talks about the importance of fathers and the power of having a “noble family vision.”  Very practical.  The majority of the rest of the book is a description of “The Ten Tools of Fatherhood” that spell out the word “F.A.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D.”  With chapter titles like “Family First/Family Fun” and “Other Good Dads” these are all concepts you’ve heard before if you’ve read any parenting books aimed at dads.

Maybe that’s ultimately the one redeeming strength of Be A Better Dad Today: it’s a one-stop-shop, comprehensive collection of parenting wisdom for dads.  Yes, it’s pretty shallow, but it comes complete with endorsements from well-known politicians and Christian leaders and it has inter-faith appeal.  Maybe this is a book about being a better dad that dads will actually read and it will set them on the right path.  That wouldn’t be a bad thing at all.

One final thing: if you are going to read this book, I recommend you grab a print copy rather than listen to the audiobook version.  The “Put It To Work” guides at the end of each chapter seem really solid and useful, but are harder to reference in the audio format than they would be in print.

Please Note: This audiobook was gifted as a part of the Christianaudio Reviewers Program in exchange for my unbiased review of this work. This has in no way influenced my opinion or review of this work.  More information can be found about this and other Christian audiobooks at christianaudio.com.