UF Author Gives Advice To 21st Century Dads In New Book

March 24, 2000

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The pass. The 5-second rule. The safety. Scheduling away games.

Yes, they’re all sports terms, which is why a University of Florida researcher is using them to help men get a handle on another challenging and sometimes mysterious endeavor: fatherhood.

Aimed primarily at the first-time father, “21st Century Dad: A New Father’s Game Plan to Child Rearing” is written in a language most men should be able to relate to, says author Douglas DeMichele, associate director of recreational sports at UF. Unlike other parenting guides, he said, “21st Century Dad” focuses on the practical day-to-day things that some child-rearing experts may take for granted.

DeMichele, who wrote the book following his doctoral thesis, began the project while raising a 2-year-old daughter and shortly after the birth of a second baby.

“I couldn’t find anything out there for dads,” he said. “There were books, but they weren’t really telling dads what they were getting themselves into.”

In addition to sports terminology, he employed another tool tenderfoot dads may sorely need: humor.

“The 5-Second Rule,” for example, is DeMichele’s answer to the pressing pacifier question.

“When the pacifier hasn’t been on the floor for more than five seconds, scoop it up, wipe it off and hope the Ref (Mom) wasn’t watching,” DeMichele writes.

“The Pass,” is a sidebar to the book’s section on diaper changing.

“Within two minutes of a new diaper change, Baby decides to let one rip and fill another diaper,” DeMichele writes. “Do you wait a few more minutes and change the diaper, knowing full well that the same thing will occur? Or do you pass Baby to Mom, hoping that she will notice the dirty diaper and change it?”

But the book goes beyond laughing matters and answers some of the questions first-time dads may not be able to answer themselves. DeMichele provides a detailed list of items to have ready when the baby returns from the hospital and even tells readers how much they’ll cost and how long the items will be needed. He also talks readers through changing that first diaper, traveling with a baby, communicating with mom about child-rearing and baby-proofing the house.

He even talks to new dads man-to-man about when they can expect to resume sexual intimacy with their wives.

” 21st Century Dad’ helped me better understand my wife and become a more confident, responsible father,” said Pini Orbach, a research fellow at Harvard University Medical School. “It is clearly the book that every 21st-century father should read.”

“21st Century Dad” can help the first-time father from the day the parents find out that a baby is on the way,” DeMichele said. “This is what new dads have to do to make their lives tick. They’ll discover soon enough that life has changed a little bit.”