Flip Side : A Father's Perspective

Rating:
Summary: A Perspective Well Worth the Read!
Review: Byron Bailey provides a compelling account of the struggle a young father faced to maintain a healthy bond with his children despite the many challenges he encountered utilizing the legal system. The author provides a rare opportunity to see through the eyes of a father and to understand a perspective that is too often minimized by our society or completely ignored. This is a great book!

Rating:
Summary: Fictitious Reviewer
Review: Hmm...John Marks from Olney, MD, huh? Yeah, right...and I'm the Easter bunny.

That's pathetic, Michael.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting personal view
Review: Like the old saying goes, "If it sounds to good to be true, then it usually is". I would encourage all readers of this book to do some fact finding before you believe all that is contained in this book. It is amazing what is available in public records. Here are a couple of observations I made while reading this book. The author went to great pains to explain that he helped pay student loans for "Tracey" out of their joint checking account (he also benefited from her edcuation and income as well), but what he didn't say was more important! How were the attorney's paid while he pursued custody of Brent and Logan? How were the counseling and psychiatric paid for Brent? As a divorced Father, I found this book to be unrealistic and too much "Me against the World". If the author spent more time with his kids and less time in court, maybe they (Brent & Logan) wouldn't be in jail right now. Lastly, what kind of person would write such terrible things about the Mother's of his children, regardless if they are true or not? The damage could be far reaching for the kids and only serve as self gratification or some sort of twisted justification for failures as a parent!

I saw through this book!

Rating:
Summary: a must read
Review: The story that unfolds in this book is unbelievable. Once you start reading this book, you won't be able to stop.

Rating:
Summary: a must read
Review: The story that unfolds in this book is unbelievable. Once you start reading this book, you won't be able to stop.

Rating:
Summary: A Father's Perspective, not the truth
Review: This is an excellent book about the life of a real man and the system that failed him as it fails so many of us. The lengths that this man goes to do the right thing are to be admired. The book is very real but yet unbelievable at the same time. The story is a sad one, but the fact that the author is willing to share such a dark side of his life is proof that there is hope. This story is one that had to be told and one that we have to learn from. It is a story that has to be told, shared with others. There are men out there worthy of being called "Fathers". Our children's lives are so fragile, that we must do all we can to hold them together. Byron Bailey did the best he could under extreme circumstances and against a system that needs to be changed. I only wish there were more people like him in this world. Maybe the world would be a better place.

Rating:
Summary: a true work of art
Review: This is an excellent book about the life of a real man and the system that failed him as it fails so many of us. The lengths that this man goes to do the right thing are to be admired. The book is very real but yet unbelievable at the same time. The story is a sad one, but the fact that the author is willing to share such a dark side of his life is proof that there is hope. This story is one that had to be told and one that we have to learn from. It is a story that has to be told, shared with others. There are men out there worthy of being called "Fathers". Our children's lives are so fragile, that we must do all we can to hold them together. Byron Bailey did the best he could under extreme circumstances and against a system that needs to be changed. I only wish there were more people like him in this world. Maybe the world would be a better place.

Rating:
Summary: Throwing stones in a glass house...
Review: Wow! I certainly do hope the anonymous "A reader" opened the windows in that glass house before he started throwing stones. First of all, the facts I quote in my book are documented in writing-court records, letters, email correspondence, etc. Anything that I couldn't provide documentation for is clearly labeled as an opinion. Secondly, "A reader", tell the readers of my book something that they don't already know. I acknowledge my relationship mistakes in the book. I'm not proud of them, but I'm candid about them and I've learned from them. Let ye without sin cast the first stone.

As my readers know, there is more to the story than me "placing my needs above [my daughter's]" in regards to my move to the east coast. In fact, this move was made, primarily, in an attempt to ensure that I would continue to have significant time with my daughter. It was pre-emptive strategy to what seemed to be an inevitable move by my daughter's mother to the east coast. All of my daughter's mother's family is out here, they always wanted her to return to her origins on the east coast, and, at one point, her attorney stated that she had made a decision to move to the east coast. This move was thwarted, in my opinion, when my daughter's mother got pregnant in California.

In reality, my actual contact time with my daughter, on an annual basis here in Maryland, is not much less than when I was living in California. This time would be significantly greater, however, if I had not been repeatedly rebuked, by her mother, in my formal requests for additional time.

The sharing of expenses required for children to travel between divorced parents is standard fare in child custody arrangements. It is difficult to empathize with parents from a six-figure income household, which receives an additional $10,000 plus per year in tax-free child support from me, when they complain about having to contribute one-half of the cost of an airfare twice per year. And get over the extracurricular activities issue. As the presiding judge ruling on our case incredulously remarked, in response to my daughter's mother's request for extracurricular activities reimbursement, "that is what child support is for!"

Perhaps "A reader" should write and publish his own version of fatherhood to share "the portions that are left out of this book." While he pontificates, perhaps he could share his experiences of raising a daughter who is an unwed, teenage mother while he was in the act of impregnating a legally married woman. Now, that would be an interesting read! Ouch-did I hear glass breaking?

For my readers who are interested in knowing more, my website picks up where the book ends. Visit my site at www.byronpbailey.com. While you are there, send me a note with your guess on the identity of the anonymous "A reader". The first three respondents with a correct response will receive a free, autographed copy of my book!