Waking Up Daddy
Cover of Waking Up Daddy by Jason Roth: a gray crib mobile with yellow stars and a crescent moon against a marigold background

Nine months of pregnancy and the first year of parenthood, as survived by the least qualified person for the job.

Waking Up Daddy is less like what you'd hear in a parenting class and more like what you'd overhear at a bar afterward.

Buy the paperback, $16Also on Kindle

The perfect baby shower gift for an expectant father with zero intention of reading a parenting book.

5.0 on Amazon

About the book

A brutally honest, laugh-out-loud guide to new parenthood. The first book by a father to chronicle the entire journey from conception to birth and the insane first year of parenthood.

With humor and raw honesty, Waking Up Daddy takes readers step by step, from the moment in Shanghai the author learned he was going to be a dad, to his first clueless interaction with a newborn, to his (comparatively) expert-level parenting on his baby's first birthday.

From the madness of endless baby preparations and the unpredictability of sleep training, to baby name debates and visits to the gynecologist's office, this book captures both the universal and wildly unique moments of new parenthood.

You’ll learn:

  • The first two fears that go through a man's head when he learns he's going to be a father
  • How a person who never even babysat can be trusted to change a diaper
  • A first-hand view of the delivery room, playing the pivotal role of: staying the f*** out of everyone's way
  • Why men who say “we're pregnant!” ought to be subjected to a level of pain equivalent to that of giving birth
  • What percentage of the endless, convoluted baby preparations has any relevance to actual reality
  • What a Chinese mother-in-law thinks of this whole fiasco

Interspersed with top-10 lists (“Ten Thoughts About: Gender”, “Fifteen Thoughts About: Pregnancy”, “Six Thoughts About: Baby Gear”), the book is an easy and fun read. Less like what you’d hear in a parenting class and more like what you’d overhear at a bar afterward, Waking Up Daddy is an unfiltered, hilarious take on fatherhood, because no matter how much you prepare, aren’t we all just winging it?

Reviews

“Waking Up Daddy” by Jason Roth is a tour de force, no holds barred chronicle of the journey from married man into parenthood. Nothing is spared here in this part tell-all, part personal history, part “idiot’s guide to having a child”. For the millions of us who have journeyed this path, Jason puts into thoughts and words the bizarre and life-altering road to becoming a dad.
David S. (Amazon Customer)
A fun, satirical and endearing look at pregnancy, child birth and baby’s first year from a first-time dad. In “Waking Up Daddy,” Jason Roth takes readers along for the hilarious roller coaster of emotions, real life foibles and victories of that special journey to fatherhood. Along the way, he shares philosophical truths about the beauty, mystery and “joy” of it all writing, “I knew I was a father the day I opened up a diaper and found happiness.”
Helen Young (Amazon Customer)

It all started in Shanghai.

I learned my wife was pregnant, if you can call it that, in the city of Shanghai. We were on a February vacation, still sore from having hiked up the Great Wall days before in Beijing. At the moment, I was sitting on a bed in the hotel room, waiting for my wife to get ready to explore the city. From the bathroom, she called out to me.

“Babe? I think I’m pregnant.”

Read the sample.

The lists

Thoughts about pregnancy and parenthood. Too many thoughts. (And many more in the book.)

About the author

Jason Roth began his career as an advertising and marketing copywriter and now works in the education and nonprofit fields. Jason has written humorous nonfiction, and eons ago was published in such publications as High Times magazine.

More about Jason Roth.