Resetting Your Parenting GPS after Divorce

Book offers encouragement and advice

to dads detoured by the pain of divorce

The saying used to be “father knows best,” but with changing cultural tides, a man’s role in the family has been greatly diminished — especially when it comes to single dads. The divorced father is often portrayed in movies and television as an object of humor, ridicule or pity. Where does that leave real single dads trying to do their best? It can easily make them susceptible to overcompensation or apathy, which is why Tez Brooks has written The Single Dad Detour: Directions for Fathering After Divorce (Kregel/February 27, 2015/ISBN: 978-0825443602/$14.99).

Brooks understands how modern single fathers feel all too well. “Divorce was not something my family did, but you can’t make someone love you, and you can’t make someone stay. So although I didn't want a failed marriage, I found myself single again. It was a lonely time for me, but I ran to the Lord to survive,” he explains.

The Single Dad Detour was born out of the difficult and painful lessons Brooks learned along the way. Using the metaphor of a car accident encountered while on a road trip, the book is interactive, with each chapter offering steps to take, questions to consider and suggested scriptures and prayers.

With an honesty and vulnerability that will appeal to men, Brooks admits divorce is ugly and depressing, totaling families and denting parent-child relationships. Without a strong connection to God, it can leave a dad feeling hopeless. “As I interviewed men in my research for The Single Dad Detour, I ran into guys who said they were tempted to be absent,” Brooks admits. “There’s already an expectation from the world that they are going to fail. Coupled with the normal low self-esteem that comes with a failed marriage, a guy can be left feeling like maybe his child would be better off without him in his or her life.”

Study after study discredits this fear and affirms a dad’s critical role. Without him, children are more likely to be involved in crime, promiscuity and other risky behaviors. Through this practical guidebook for the rocky road of single fatherhood, Brooks extends hope and compassion, instills confidence and addresses difficult challenges.

Brooks says his time as a single dad ultimately made him a better father and husband. “The Lord spent those seven years of singleness re-building me into more of what he wanted me to be. My wife, Christine, has always said she would not have been attracted to the kind of man I was before,” Brooks reveals. “I can’t say I blame her, Thankfully, God’s timing is perfect.”

Offering down-to-earth wisdom from one dad to another, Brooks wants fathers to finish The Single Dad Detour filled with the grace to forgive themselves and the courage to be the dad God is calling them to be.

Advance Praise

“When life doesn’t mirror our dreams, we can respond in anger, denial, depression and escape. Tez speaks from his experience as a single dad with practical help and no-fuss straight talk. With humor, biblical truth and disarming frankness, this easy-to-read book shines a light, providing practical steps to embrace God’s mission for single-again dads.”

~ Bill Hodgson, former national director of Cru Australia

“The Single Dad Detour takes us along a journey that too many have traveled and where too few maps exist. Tez’s narrative resonates and his authenticity is liberating. If I were a single parent on this journey, I’d want Tez’s comforting voice on my GPS. It’s a warm and understanding voice that’s traveled the back roads and knows where it’s going.”

~ Rick James, publisher for Cru Press and author of Jesus Without Religion and A Million Ways to Die

“Honest, vulnerable and often hilarious, Tez Brooks reveals the raw sorrows and transcendent joys of fatherhood after divorce. The Single Dad Detour is a graphic roadmap drawn from the personal experiences of single dads. Along this byway, in a comfortably conversational way, Brooks reveals unexpected signposts of scriptural wisdom collected from years of both crashed guardrails and triumphant victory laps.”

~ Dr. Alan Kent Scholes, seminary professor for Cru’s Institute of Biblical Studies and author of Enjoying God

“Single fathers are busy and often emotionally mangled. They need information like The Single Dad Detour that’s easy to read and use. There’s no delusion, only sincere assistance for men on this detour, offering real help to see them through.”

~ Mike Klumpp, solo-parenting expert for Divorce Care Ministries and author of The Single Dad’s Survival Guide

About the author

Tez Brooks has been a writer since 1980. His experience includes serving as editor-in-chief for TODAY magazine, a publication of Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) and as managing editor for The Jesus Film Project. His articles have been published in magazines including Australian Family, Eternity and Wor

ldwide Challenge, among others. Brooks has also authored two other books: Imagine Australia and Somewhere in the Journey.

As a former law enforcement officer, his ability to relate to the everyday man with transparency and humor sets him apart. He is an international speaker and a certified Stephen Minister whose passion is to see husbands and fathers succeed as courageous men of God.

Tez and his wife, Christine, are full-time missionaries who recently returned from living overseas. They have two children together and two adult children from Brooks’ first marriage. They reside in Orlando, where Tez serves as a film writer/producer for The Jesus Film Project.

Learn more about Tez Brooks and The Single Dad Detour at www.everysingledad.com, on Facebook (everysingledad) or on Twitter (tezd63).