Synopses & Reviews
The great Willie Mays said that good players can play with their bodies, but great players play with their hearts and minds as well. The same is true for fathering. In Covering Home, author Jack Petrash combines a love for children with his love for the game of baseball to give fathers, or fathers-to-be, a new perspective on raising children.
The Baltimore Orioles had a unique outfielder once named Ken Singleton, and he had an unusual habit: whenever he stepped up to bat, he would reach down and pick up three pebbles. These pebbles were a reminder that each time he batted he was entitled to three good pitches. This act heightened his awareness, and increased his patience and discipline as a hitter.
I think fathers need a similar ritual. We should stop before our front door when we are about to make the transition to our children’s world and imagine that we are about to pick up three stones. At this moment we should remind ourselves that we are going to spend these three hours with the most important people in the world.
—from Covering Home . . .
Quotes on the hardcover edition:
"Will immediately become the kind of book passed on from friend to friend, from father to father, and from father to son or daughter. . . . There are many more detailed books on fatherhood that are essential for a dad’s -library, but none so precious as this small wonder."—Publishers Weekly
"Petrash delivers more than just tips about patience and preparation, timing and tolerance. Like a veteran manager, he hands out inspiration and discipline in equal measures, and shows us how we can be more than we ever imagined."—Utne Reader
Review
"I have so many memories throughout my life that have been provided through baseball, but the strongest ones are those provided by my father. Almost all of the life lessons that my brothers, sister and I learned from dad were related to us through baseball. Jack Petrash seems to have captured that deep connection between fathers, their children, and baseball in Covering Home." - Cal Ripken, Jr
Review
"Petrash poignantly brings the field of dreams down to earth for fathers. He loads the bases of parenting with relevant truisms and then brings them home with practical lessons." - Washington Post
Review
"
will immediately become the kind of book passed on from friend to friend, from father to father, and from father to son or daughter
There are many more detailed books on fatherhood that are essential for a dad's library, but none so precious as this small wonder." - Publisher's Weekly
Synopsis
Willie Mays said that good players can play with their bodies, but great players play with their hearts and minds as well. The same is true for fathering. In Covering Home, author Jack Petrash combines a love for children with his love for the game of baseball to give fathers, or fathers-to-be, a new perspective on raising children.
From the first few pages of Covering Home…
There is a place where out passionate commitments converge, and it is there that fathering and baseball intertwine. The lessons that I have learned in one have instructed me in the other; how in fathering as in baseball you have to work on fundamentals, develop good habits, avoid errors, work on your control, and always keep in mind that you can't win them all…
In the busyness of modern times where both parents work and travel and go back to school, fathers are repeatedly covering home. Knowing when to cover home is essential. It requires knowledge of what should happen in a given situation but also an awareness of what could go wrong. Whether it's an overthrow, a passed ball, a snow day or a sick child, we need to be alert, as well as ready and willing to act…
Like baseball, fathering is a path of development…[It] will call on us to grow in ways we never imagined.
Synopsis
Drawing on baseballs rich history and traditions, this guide to effective fathering reveals the secret lessons of being a good father in anecdotes and allegories of the game. These insights speak to fathers in their own language and urge them to give themselves to their children the way a player gives himself to the game he loves; to look at every part of themselves to see how they can improve; to involve themselves in their childrens lives through activity, emotion, and awareness; and to have patience, especially with themselves. Written with insight, compassion, and wit, it offers support and guidance down the path of being successful, caring parents to their sons and daughters.
Synopsis
Written by a teacher with more than 25 years of experience, this book offers a jargon-free view of Waldorf schools with their philosophy of the importance of a three-dimensional education. Through learning experiences that involve all of the senses, children use a variety of intelligences to develop thought, feeling, and intentional, purposeful activity. Whether youre a Waldorf parent or teacher, or you just want to learn more about these innovative educational concepts, this book contains important ideas on learning that you can apply today.
Synopsis
Willie Mays said that good players can play with their bodies, but great players play with their hearts and minds as well. The same is true for fathering. In Covering Home, author Jack Petrash combines a love for children with his love for the game of baseball to give fathers, or fathers-to-be, a new perspective on raising children.
About the Author
Jack Petrash has been a teacher for over 30 years, much of that time at the Washington Waldorf School in Maryland where he has taken three classes of children from grade one through grade eight. In addition to teaching, he is the director of the Nova Institute, dedicated to working with parents and teachers to promote a deeper understanding of children.