Local Artist - Christopher Smith

Christopher Smith is the 35-year old married dad of a 6-year old boy, a 2-year old girl and a baby girl. He's the news editor at the Leaf Chronicle, in Clarksville, Tenn. He previously worked as a copy editor at the Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat and the Daily Home in Talladega, Ala. He was born in Athens, GA.Daddy On Board has appeared as a weekly column in the Leaf Chronicle since May 2001. This collection of stories are the top 50 stories from the first two years of Christopher Smith's weekly column on parenting. The book also includes illustrations by "the boy".

Summary: Was the world created by a stuffed animal named "Panna Bear"? How do you explain to your mom that every time she sees her grandson he's injured? What do you do when your 4-year-old boy discovers a Victoria's Secret catalog? Discover the answers in "Daddy On Board: Tales from the Front Seat," a collection of hilarious true stories straight from the front lines of daddyhood. Hitch a ride as this thirtysomething dad faces long work weeks with imaginary dragons, yaks and swords. Join him in a restroom break as he tries to keep a potty-trainee from touching anything. Learn a millennium version of "Don't make me stop this car and come back there!" Christopher Smith is a real Daddy, who changes diapers and kisses boo-boos while fixing the kitchen sink. Parents, grandparents and parents-to-be will see themselves in his insightful slices of family life, and everyone will enjoy comments from the child he calls The Boy, who observes, "Some days it’s hard. Some days it's not. Some days it's pudding."

Here are several excerps from the book:

A Failure to communicate

"Daddy, here a kurter fur de pur."
"A what?" The Boy - wearing his Robin Hood mask - handed me a penny.
"A kurter fu de pur. Ta feed de pur people."
"Oh! You mean 'a quarter for the poor."
"Yeah, a kurterfurdepur."

A glimpse of paradise

I have taken out the trash once a week ever since I was 3 years old. I have taken out the trash 1,508 times in a row in four states. Now, I believe, it's someone else's turn. And that's why I had a son.

A moment in the sun

I ran out the door with The Boy's toy shield on one arm and with the other swinging his broom-sword above my head. I galloped across the yard shouting a battle cry at the fleeing rabbit... just as my neighbors rolled down the driveway.

Daddy on Board is available for sale at Hodgepodge for $12