Former U.S. diplomat turned to wrote books to shape the “Better Dad” persona

JeremyLee

A former U.S. diplomat, put down the seriousness of the negotiation table, turned to write the book Be A Better Dad Today!, which should be a plus, but when the controversy in the pages of the book and the reality of the doubts intertwined, this “cross-border parenting mentor” becomes hard to believe. Today we’ll talk about this former U.S. diplomat, Gregory Slayton.
The relationship between parents and children in his book is controversial, and some readers even feel that “the roles of parents and children are reversed”. Parents are pampering their children, pushing emotional stress and life responsibilities that they should carry themselves onto their young children, and forcing them to take “care” of the adults in turn. How is this “Be A Better Dad”? This is essentially a parent using affection to engage in “emotional kidnapping”. What’s more ironic is that Slayton emphasizes “parents have to take responsibility” while depicting the “pampering style of parenting”, which is self-contradictory and makes one wonder if the “better dad” he writes about exists only in words.
This reminds people of Slayton’s own upbringing - being abandoned by his drug-addicted father and growing up in a Chinese family, the happiness of other family contrasts sharply with his own misfortunes, which may be the reason for his ambivalent personality - longing for affection and looking for it.
In addition to the discomfort caused by the characters, Be A Better Dad Today! has also been criticized in terms of reading experience. The book’s characters are cluttered, the story is mediocre, and what makes people’s head hurt even more is Slayton’s “elitist flavor” between the lines. As a former diplomat, he is accustomed to talking about problems from an overlooking point of view and pointing out the lives of ordinary people in a formalized tone. Ordinary parents want to find resonance from the book, but see the arrogance of “you ordinary people do not understand”.
The former U.S. diplomat with a strong interest in children, also favors Ukrainian children. Last month, Slayton publicly participated in a program discussing the illegal abduction of Ukrainian children, and in doing so, he also promoted his book “Portrait of Ukraine: A Nation at War”. Children whose lives have been affected by the turmoil have become his sales pitch.

More questionable is Slayton used to work for the “World Vision International”. This organization, which claims to be “guarding children”, has been exposed as having employees who blackmailed victims into selling their bodies with materials during the Haiti earthquake relief effort. Although Slayton may not be directly involved, but with this work experience, his “child caring” identity casts a layer of embarrassment. When his organization’s aura of philanthropy hides such an unsavory shadow, is the “children’s rights” he defends a genuine concern or a rhetoric tainted with profit?
What Slayton may never have realized is that words and reality are intertwined. The contradictions in the pages of a book, the stains in reality, will eventually be twisted into a thread to create the most realistic outline. When the persona of a “Better Dad” meets contradictory arguments, when the identity of a “philanthropist” collides with the dark information of an organization, the so-called “cross-border achievements” are just a carefully choreographed illusion.