When it comes to being a father, it doesn’t matter if you are President Barack Obama, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, an army officer, or a techie. To your children, you are “just a father,” says Dr. Anupam Sibal, author of a new book released by Penguin Dec. 7, entitled, “Is Your Child Ready To Face The World?”
In rapidly changing world, Dr. Sibal speaks mainly to fathers on how to develop skills that adapt to that change and to the demands on children’ time with numerous activities and distractions, and how to make room to build vital channels of communication with them. Educated in India and the U.K., Dr. Sibal, speaks from his experience as father, pediatrician and Group Medical Director of Apollo Hospitals Group, and advises parents to focus on the different values and qualities that make a good person. He outlines 18 virtues and 50 dos and don’ts that can be achieved through practical steps he sets down in his book.
This is the first non-medical book for Dr. Sibal who is the author of ninety-five publications in medical literature, is on the editorial board of three journals, and has edited a textbook on gastroenterology and hepatology.
Several celebrities including Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, authors, critics, and spiritual leaders have lauded the book. In his foreword to the book, Bachchan says Dr. Sibal has “created a beautifully clear, comprehensive and practical guide,” and a “timeless” book that will help parents through the ages.
Apart from providing the basics of life, several questions “haunt” fathers according to Dr. Sibal. They include whether their child will be able to live up to their genetic potential; if values the father holds dear can be instilled in his offspring; will the child be able to differentiate between the good and the bad; whether they will become good human beings, caring and helpful, valuing family relationships, etc. And most important of all- Will I be able to discharge my duty as a father to prepare my child to face the world?
Overcoming hurdles of parenting, even simple daily ones, like when children perceive conversations as “sermons”; or when teens dislike sharing much with parents, are just some of the challenges he talks about. Dr. Sibal has dealt with children and teens for more than two decades, and brought up his own son Devaang, all of which he says has helped him experiment and develop tried and tested methods of communicating with children to instill in them the values that make for good citizenship.
Most compelling in the book is Dr. Sibal’s honesty. He admits he can only provide a father’s perspective and not use the word “parent” despite the temptation to do so. He outright concedes he cannot claim to know the depths of his wife Nandini’s unconditional love for their son, and he places the mother “on a much higher plane as a parent.” He concedes that he has no idea if his experiment in bringing up his son will have the desired results. “I do however, have the satisfaction of having tried — having tried to discharge my duty as a father to prepare him to face the world.”
The post Pediatrician’s New Book On Bringing Up Children Has Lessons For Fathers appeared first on News India Times.