As you read the book, you will find that I was not aware of when I actually became a defacto single parent. It just crept in quietly and suddenly stared me in the face. Talking with other single dads, especially my co-author, really drove home the need for a book such as ours. We finally decided to focus the book on some basic issues with which all single parents must deal, but to focus from our all too real perspective as Dads. Single Dads have some unique problems, just as single moms do. Mostly, we wanted to get the point across that such a state is survivable and that we Dads need not be a sterotypical, bungling, "male in the female role" as is depicted by so much of our contemporary literature and movies. I made a lot of mistakes, simply because I did not, at first, realize that I was a single parent, later that I had little guidance to go on. There are many instances and situations that I handled poorly. Hopefully, by discussing these, other single Dads can recognize similar situations and avoid the pitfalls into which I fell. I found that the more abstract notions put out by the parenting experts with numerous degrees after their names fell short of the very practical, day to day guidance I needed. We don't cover everything in this book, but the idea is to cover what we can and show that other situations can be similarly solved. Our children represent our success and immortality. We should give them the best start in life we can, regardless of the situation.