What parents are saying about
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Christopher Whalen’s Foxhole Father is a call to arms for fathers everywhere. This book offers practical and valuable advice to men navigating the role of parent, particularly as a single parent, with wisdom, insight and razor sharp clarity. Drawing from his own experience as a single father to three daughters, Chris exposes the courage and commitment engaged fathering requires, and calls upon all men to step up and take an active and valiant role in the lives of their children. While not every suggestion Chris offers may feel applicable to your circumstances, reading this book will certainly make you think long and hard about the role fathers can and should play in the lives of their children. I highly recommend it.
Jennifer Cory, MS, LCSW, Clinical Psychotherapist
Jennifer Cory, MS, LCSW, Clinical Psychotherapist
Foxhole Father is a book after my own heart, short, to the point and very poignant. The book is broken up into easy to follow sections and categories that any short attention span father or soon to be father can keep up with. No long winded psychobabble, unrealistic expectations or emasculation of the male soul in order to carve a man into a woman's image in this down in the trenches book. Foxhole Father takes a man as he should be, male, and doesn't talk down to us in Neanderthal grunts and three year old baby talk. Foxhole Father is a book women will not like because it gets to the point quickly and men will love, because it gets to the point quickly. Readers may not agree with every point of view in the book and you may have varying degree's of what Chris' advice is, but you'll still agree that Foxhole Father is a great read, great understanding of fathers and manhood and how advice like this should be given out to fathers as much as What To Expect When You Are Expecting is. Buy two copies of Foxhole Father, one for you to dog ear, highlight and underline, and one to give to another father.
Gary Unger
Author of "How To Be A Creative Genius (in five minutes or less)" and the work in progress "Welcome to the Jungle (A Collection of Dangerously Exaggerated Adventures, Short Stories, and Tall Tales from my Life)"
Gary Unger
Author of "How To Be A Creative Genius (in five minutes or less)" and the work in progress "Welcome to the Jungle (A Collection of Dangerously Exaggerated Adventures, Short Stories, and Tall Tales from my Life)"
Foxhole Father was a wealth of knowledge for me. Although I do not have kids of my own, I was able to use the book as a tool to not only evaluate my own childhood, but to evaluate myself and my own masculinity. The book discusses the common misconceptions of what makes a real man and how we can make that transition for ourselves and the betterment of our children. Lance Corporal Zach Brown, United States Marine Corps
Excellent advice for all parents, male or female. Well written, easy to navigate, and gives you a great perspective on raising your children. I not only purchased this book for myself, but I plan to purchase additional copies as gifts for family and friends, especially for all the new parents and parents-to-be . I know this is one book that will be well read and greatly appreciated. Fran Butler
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Foxhole Father was truly a great read. I, being a divorced father of a 16 year old son, not only found I could gather a great many tools for the teen years of molding my son into a healthy well rounded man but it also confirmed I was apparently on the right track in my current style of parenting. Foxhole Father not only identifies what you could be using as patenting tools going forward but also identifies that you may already be on the right track, which is quite empowering as a parent to know as well as it's nice to feel accomplished about raising our children properly. Foxhole Father can only enhance the growth of a healthier society ! Love it ! Frank Rubba
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Mother Approved! Great book for any parent, Dad or Mom. Easy to relate to. Teaches parents a new approach on communicating with our children. Definitely a must have for all families. Awakening and sheds new light on who is really important and what our goals as parents should be.
Patricia Rahner |
My highly functioning autistic son is now 18, and even though I am a mother, not a father, I wish I had had Foxhole Father when my son was smaller. While I don't agree with everything in the book, I feel that many of the book's teachings would have been very valuable to me. I highly recommend this to parenting "newbies", to mothers as well as fathers.
Lisa Alessi |
Chris your honest, to the point writing style is refreshing and welcomed. Your message is not just geared toward single moms and dads, but for all parents. I think the parents of today are too easy on their kids. They all want to be friends. A little old school love and parenting is needed. You address this throughout your book. Great message, great book, and best of luck. A must read for all parents and soon to be parents.
Fred Chalmers |
While Foxhole Father is written for dads, much of the book applies to moms as well. It is a helpful book for parents, as it stresses communication between parent and child, emphasizing that this comes about from non-judgmental parenting. Not only does this book cover a large variety of situations and topics that may come up while raising children, but it also comes with a quick guide which you can look back to at any time. I recommend Foxhole Father to new parents and to more experienced parents who are looking to communicate better with their children. Stephanie Sullivan
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FOXHOLE FATHER is a must read for both Moms And Dads. I am a recently divorced Mom. I have a 12 yr old son and a 14 year old daughter. I am so grateful to have found this book. The author's insight on parenting is unique. He has raised three beautiful smart well rounded girls. He is an amazing Dad. I am so thankful for his words of wisdom in his New Book. THANK YOU CHRIS. Sarah McGregor.
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I am a mother of 2 young boys and this foxhole father guide has helped me more than any other show or book on parenting. If I have any questions or concerns or if I'm second guessing myself I go directly to foxhole. The books approach is very direct and I like that the author gives stern advice because you rarely find that in any self help guides for parenting advice and techniques. I will say this book is not for just single fathers and I think every parent should grab a copy and educate themselves on parenting at its finest! Erica Avery
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HALT!! Ladies do not put this book down!! I know it appears 2 be a book about "Fathering", but it is earnestly a book about "Parenting". Mr. Whalen approaches his parenting perspective from that of a single father, because he is. Yet, much of his tried & true methods will resonate with male & female parents alike. Mr. Whalen shares a wealth of personal parenting information in this book. All can benefit from his insightful & heartfelt attempts at building a safe & supportive environment wherein his young ladies could grow & blossom. Healthy, safe, supportive, non-judgmental, this is the parental environment Mr. Whalen strives to embody & promote. Also, just when you think you're a little past the age of learning from Mr. Whalen's experiences, ask yourself, "What could I have done differently?". Hmmm...could reading this book help you pass on vital parenting information to your young adults, soon to be up & coming parents?? Do Not put this book down. When can one not learn a little something new ;) Ellen Grascia
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A must read for Mothers and Fathers. I am not a parent, but having worked with Chris Whalen and I have seen some of these methods first hand. My father was never around for my brother and I so I was never really sure what a father figure was. Then when I was in High School I started working for Chris. He told me stories about his daughters, and some problems he would work over with them. His methods always seemed logical to me, and he has raised three wonderful and successful daughters using these parenting techniques. Sometimes, when I complained about fights I had with my mother and brother or friends Chris would sit me down and talk things out with me. I never felt belittled by his parenting methods, but I felt like I was treated as an adult. I know that not only does he preach these methods, but that they always work and they bring families together rather then strain them. I highly recommend that all parents read the techniques in this book and apply them to their everyday lives. Your relationships with your kids and each other will improve if you do.
Kelly Johnston |
All Dads - single, divorced, or married - will benefit from arming themselves with Foxhole Father. 18 years ago, I found myself in the exact position as the author- devastated by the breakup of a marriage, but also responsible for co-parenting my 5 year old son & 1 year old daughter. We all made it through happy, healthy & intact but how I wish I had this magnificent parenting tool to help me navigate what was a long & sometimes bumpy road.
Happily remarried now with a beautiful 4 year old daughter, and with my older children now fully functioning adults, I get the gift of raising my girl with the knowledge & skills I've learned from reading this book. If you find yourself in the foxhole, you want Christopher Whalen with you! Chuck Opramolla |
I cannot recommend this book more strongly. For anyone who wants guidance and support to be the best father possibly. Whenever I have a difficult situation, I simply ask, "What would Chris Whalen do?" and if I don't know the answer I simply refer to this book. Amazon Customer
Great perspective, wish I read it sooner. C. KUZMIAK
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Mr. Whalen is to be commended for his astute sense of true, genuine, love and esteem that a parent holds, dearly, for his children. His "field manual" cannily juxtapose the battleground that the raising of child presents-- he duly notes the most enduring care and affection is the development of well-reasoned and, funnily enough, deceitful -- perhaps, imaginative is best-- tactic(s) that a good parent requires to raise children with an abiding gift of providing guidance that is resolute but strategically keen. The fathers' role navigating the land mines and trenches that threaten to "bog-down" and defeat the most resilient opponent-- his children. Love is a battlefield (as Pat Benatar has it-- sing it, sister!) Mr. Whalen never wavers in his objective that his orders are clear, his commands lucid, direct-- that a parent, especially, a father owes his children what is just; a man who mindfully instills within his progeny a sense of awe, wonder, discipline, direction, prudence and the cardinal (and marital) virtues, too readily dismissed these days-- the herculean task to wage war against the inane theories of overly circumspect child-rearing. The chain of command is established. His suggestions are a sort of reconnaissance, to protect and advance the field of battle without fear, because he himself is the exemplum of proper deportment. Mr. Whalen's stratagem is to conquer the colossal boredom that encircles our children-- by an engaged, rear-guard action of enlisting the moral imagination. The terrain is sometimes treacherous, but the parent in "general" confronts valiantly, the vagaries and vicissitudes of a cause worth waging. There are no lost causes because no causes are truly "won" in this life. But Mr. Whalen assiduously cultivates the habits of being his children require to mature, to en-noble, and provide a salutary and advantageous position so his "troops" are well-equipped, alert to necessity and chastened by occasional defeats to survive "boot camp" that life entails. Mr. Whalen's profound love for his children his evident. He sets the boundaries where none shall trespass. His authority has resonance because it is compassed to a moral obligation, devotion and duty not to live his children's lives but to rouse his subordinates (for whom he would give his life) or raze, the dark, cavernous, caves of ersatz instruction one encounters inside a "model-school"-- one finds in the "socializing" troughs and tropes (disordered, democratic, demotic drivel) practiced, "drilled" to the drumming of mediocrity residing within the crumbling walls of a leveling, or ('leveled') docile, technological negation or, mind (field) where the drum beats slowly, and technology replaces thought, children are inundated with gadgets that dull the spirit and inure the soul with a renegade , increasingly war weary grind-- the attrition and inanition of all things that are corporate only to parents and the children themselves. Mr. Whalen discerns with steely determination to tax the "benighted" by inculcating a decent concern for "greater loves."
This book has an appropriate amount of ammunition reminding me of Anthony Esolen's, "Ten Ways To Destroy the Imagination of Your Child." As one whose desire is to engage the minions of educational mediocrity, as a teacher-- imagine Virgil and Dante (Lol)-- I recommend this "field manual" to those who fight the good fight, that is the encampment and intrusion that professionals tread into the soul of a child, where none but a parent ought to have peremptory, providential "rights". I have no doubt that Mr. Whalen's book will guard, hold the "lines," and when necessary the "reins" in reinforcing what is right and just; returning territory to the sovereign souls' he so gallantly led into this world-- resupplying, recovering what ground may be lost but is found through the marshaling of fortitude, fathers' of meritorious combat deserve. Perhaps, his next volume will be titled-- "I Shall Return!"-- Chris always had a bit of MacArthur, thank God, in him! Gerard Lawrence Klunek
This book has an appropriate amount of ammunition reminding me of Anthony Esolen's, "Ten Ways To Destroy the Imagination of Your Child." As one whose desire is to engage the minions of educational mediocrity, as a teacher-- imagine Virgil and Dante (Lol)-- I recommend this "field manual" to those who fight the good fight, that is the encampment and intrusion that professionals tread into the soul of a child, where none but a parent ought to have peremptory, providential "rights". I have no doubt that Mr. Whalen's book will guard, hold the "lines," and when necessary the "reins" in reinforcing what is right and just; returning territory to the sovereign souls' he so gallantly led into this world-- resupplying, recovering what ground may be lost but is found through the marshaling of fortitude, fathers' of meritorious combat deserve. Perhaps, his next volume will be titled-- "I Shall Return!"-- Chris always had a bit of MacArthur, thank God, in him! Gerard Lawrence Klunek