
A dapper-looking father wearing a suit holds his well dressed toddler’s hand. It’s almost Father’s Day and I’m thinking about what Father’s Day gift to buy for my dad (and my husband). Photo by Sabine van Straaten.
It’s almost Father’s Day and my father lives 3,000 miles away and I don’t have a Father’s Day gift for my dad. He hates presents, has everything he needs, and has another daughter (my much younger sister) to dote on him.
I’m not much for writing sappy cards. Or sending flowers.
Then there’s my husband, the father of four.
He’s also a hard man to buy a Father’s Day gift for.
It may be too late to get him a custom made plush doll in his likeness (aren’t these cool?) and something tells me he won’t like this edible uterus and colon. (Though I know I would, hint, hint.)
Our only plans for Father’s Day so far are breakfast in bed and a swim in the Illinois River. Hopefully we can squeeze in some horizontal play time. (Graphic pun intended. Totally offensive. Definitely stop reading. But can you expect better of a post about Father’s Day with a cuss word in the title?)
A Father’s Day gift for new dads
If your husband is a new father, or if you have a new baby in your life, I have the **perfect Father’s Day gift idea** for you.
Raise your hand if the man in your life wishes he had a better relationship with his own father?

Baby peeing. Photo by Christopher Briscoe (this one’s in the book).
My husband and I wrote a book to inspire men to take their shirts off and cuddle with their babies. It’s called The Baby Bonding Book For Dads.
The reason we wrote the book is that we both believe that men should be involved in parenting even the tiniest babies, instead of waiting to be the cool and playful dad when their kid is older, old enough to eat pizza and throw a football.
Christopher Briscoe, an internationally renown photographer who is Kirk Douglas’s family photographer, did the photos for this book.
The photos in the book are so gorgeous one reviewer called them “soft porn for new moms.”
Chris wrote this beautiful post about becoming a father.
My husband never held a newborn before our oldest daughter was born.
An only child who thought he wanted “maybe one” kid someday (we have four), he never imagined the depth of love he would feel for the squashy mewing tiny human who smelled like bread baking that he held in his arms for the first time nearly 16 years ago.

Enjoy the first year while you can, even as your baby pees on you and robs your sleep. Photo by Christopher Briscoe.
My husband has been changing cloth diapers, bringing babies to me to nurse, taking kids to the pool, going to parent-teacher conferences, and being front and center in our children’s lives ever since.
(He dropped our daughter on her head in the Paris Metro. She fractured her skull. He fractured his confidence. And years later wrote one of the best stories I’ve ever read in an anthology I edited.)
Happy reading.
Happy present buying.
Happy Father’s Day!

The new father in your life needs this book, which will teach him how to bond with and enjoy his baby. The perfect Father’s Day gift for any new dad.
Updated: January 9, 2020
Related posts:
11 Perfect Presents for an 11-Year-Old
15 Fabulous Gifts for Writers
Father’s Day When You’re Estranged From Your Dad
You should get him a lunch show gift card!