Life's Lessons from a Father to his Daughter

About the Book

Life's Lessons from a Father to his Daughter uses twenty-four stories, pictures and artwork to help teach our children life's lessons with the aim of helping our children learn to make good decision-making skills. Decision-making skills are often not well taught or integrated into a strong sense of personal philosophy. Human nature can be impulsive.

The use of stories (real life or metaphors) to pass on life lessons from one generation to another is at the core of our oral and written traditions. Parents can help to pass on this information as a creative way to install core values, help reduce the chance of mishap, and enhance lifelong success.

Part of the challenge is establishing a dialogue that allows worldviews to be discussed: both the commonalties and the differences. Perhaps part of the failure to achieve a sustained dialogue is that we as parents wait too long to start the dialogue.

Part of the challenge, too, is that the lessons have different levels of meaning as we age. So Life's Lessons from a Father to his Daughter was written to have meaning at the different stages of life: in one's mid-teens, mid-twenties, and again in mid-life. Value exists in the stories being real. Non-fiction can carry more weight. Children need to learn early that their parents continue to go through what they are experiencing. We, too, make mistakes, that we try and fail, and we are both individuals and members of larger communities.

All the increasing access to information may not make decision-making easier. Greater discrimination and better choices will be essential. So, read the vignettes with your children and see where the discussion goes. Be sure to have a few good laughs along the way! Life's Lessons from a Father to his Daughter is a tool to help parents communicate with their children by providing a context for parents to add their own personal stories.

About the Author

Bob Grossmann is a local artist and writer in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dr. Grossmann received his doctorate degree from the University of Hawaii in political science and currently is raising funds to sponsor after school art programs for intermediate and high school students. He has lived and worked in France, Italy, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and West Africa. His policy work and writing stresses the need for teaching decision-making skills that are based on the development of a strong personal philosophy. Dr. Grossmann's twenty years of teaching and community service, primarily in the area of public health and biological resources, has incorporated community empowerment, ethics and social responsibility. His life's experiences shared through the book's stories share a broad cultural viewpoint. He is married to Dr. Geri Marullo, who was the CEO of the American Nurses Association in Washington, D.C. and currently serves as the President & CEO of Child and Family Service (a private, non-profit human service organization in Hawaii). Our greatest gift was the adoption of our daughter, Maya Makana, in 1993. She is an aspiring marine biologist and veterinarian.