DADWAGON

Fellow DadWagoner Matt, whose parenting style I apparently criticized this weekend, had a good point about an unrelated topic: If I’m going to go around the Internet saying I love the book Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do), then I might as well actually read it. Fortunately, he had a galley copy.

Reading more than the title of this book did not disappoint. Yes, it covers climbing trees and licking 9-volt batteries, but this how-to for young adrenaline junkies also includes standing in a hailstorm, throwing spears, and staring at the sun. Commenter Jason had mentioned in response to my post that he used to microwave grape halves (they catch fire?!). That’s in there, too.

The book, which was written by a Montara, Calif., paraglider and software engineer named Gever Tulley, became even more appealing after I read a flinty, sarcastic-in-a-Sarah-Palin-way slapdown of Tulley on Babble. The main complaint seemed to be that Tulley doesn’t have kids of his own. Well, this ain’t a sacred fraternity, brother. Anyone with swimmy sperm or a good fertility clinic can have a kid. A sense of wonder and exploration is an altogether rarer commodity. Plus, to be a good father, you need to think seriously about what kind of kid you’re raising. The more I do that kind of thinking, the more I like Tulley’s book.

Bonus, I ran across few pretty great graphics from Tully that appeared in Make Magazine. What the toy warning labels ought to say: