Make Room For Daddy.

Daddy on the couch movie
Unusual sighting: Monty (Idris Elba), a mechanic, fathers his brood

It’s a story told so rarely—as it is, for example, in Tyler Perry’s 2007 film, Daddy’s Little Girls, above—that it’s, for the most part, nonexistent: What are the travails, challenges, joys, and rewards of bringing up children, alone, as a Black male?

“Go to bed, kids!”In his new book, Bedtime Stories: Adventures in the Land of Single Fatherhood, suave literatus Trey Ellis grapples with the transformative experience of raising his daughter, Ava, 10, and son, Chet, 7, as a solo dad.

We’ll talk with him about his book on my WBAI-NY / 99.5 FM radio show, NONFICTION, this afternoon, Friday, June 13, 2 pm ET.

Writing in a light, direct, typically humorous manner—also demoed on his blog, Father of the YearEllis nimbly navigates the narrative of the child-rearing process, one for which his sizable professional acclaim (Columbia prof, widely-quoted and published author, screenwriter) perhaps, at best, minimally prepares him. At the same time, Bedtime Stories documents Ellis’s attempts to meet women, to fully come to grips with the loss of both parents, and to advance his writing career in the midst of good parenting. Needless to say, it’s a harsh and unforgiving balancing act.

You can hear Trey Ellis by tuning in to NONFICTION, today, at 2 pm. If you’re outside of the New York tri-state, you can check out our stream on the web. If you miss the live show, check out our archive for up to two weeks after broadcast.

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1 comment so far ↓

#1 joseph on 10.11.08 at 11:21 am

I was a single father raising a daughter. I had lots of females in my life, so my daughter was always in the female vortex: her mother, grandmother, aunts, friends and her own friends, some of which she still has 30 years later that she had in nursey school.

however, i was the one who did the school thing, and the million other things that a single parent does when noone else was around to answer the million questions that children have about their experience in the environment of growing up.

i never got the hair braiding thing down, so she copied the sisters who locked their hair.

thirty years later, today, if my daughter has a trying situation i can anticipate a call and a discussion. she works it out and keeps gittin up.

A wonderful experience being a single parent. But being with a woman and raising a child is the prefered experience. Trust me on that.

I have no regrets.
joseph

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