Like many Bermudian children, David Chapman was raised by a single mother and missed the presence of his father as he was growing up.

Now he has published a book that will open children?s eyes to nature ? and also encourages fathers to take an active part in their children?s lives.

Mr. Chapman, an environmental science teacher, teamed up with photographer and graphic designer Cheerie Richardson to publish ?Daddy and I Explore the Tide Pools?, the first in an intended six-book series entitled ?Daddy and I Explore? which show how parents can have fun with their children ? without spending a lot of money.

?This book captures the unique relationship between the father and the child and it highlights the bond when a parents and their children explore together,? Mr. Chapman said. ?It also promotes the beauty of why our natural environment should be cared for. Parents are encouraged to discuss the things with their children as they read through the series.?

Even fathers who are already involved with their children can use the book to see that there are a range of activities they can do with them, apart from taking them shopping or to the movies.

?It doesn?t take money to do things with your child and in Bermuda there is a call for fathers to take more of a permanent role ? not only in their families, but in the community as a whole,? he said. ?This is another call to fathers that there are dads out there doing things and if not to get involved if they are not already.?

Mr. Chapman was inspired to write the book based on his own experiences growing up.

?I was raised by my mother, who had the most impact on my life,? he said, recalling that she encouraged him to develop his love of nature through play, Aquarium camps and adventure camps overseas.

?She encouraged me to go and study this as my career and this is how I got into the environmental sciences and it allowed me to study the things that I loved, which is nature,? he said. ?I had heroes like (the late) Jacques Cousteau and I met people like David Wingate and Stuart Hayward at a very early age.?

But Mr. Chapman admitted he would also have liked to have had more involvement with his father: ?I was fortunate to have some interaction with my father. Even though we didn?t live together, we have a healthy relationship, which continues to this day and I know how important it is because even though I had my father in my life, I still wanted more and still would have liked to have more time with my father and my grandfather and all the males in my family.

?I know that is very important in developing a young man?s sense of what it means to be a man and the skills that the older men have you can learn from them. For instance my father is a master electrician and builder, but I was only able to pick up so much because I wasn?t around him much.?

But unfortunately he was unable to stop the cycle in his own family.

?I suffered through a divorce and I don?t raise my children on my own, their mother and I share custody, but I spend a lot of time with my children,? said the father of four.

?Being that I am not with any of the mothers, being a good father becomes increasingly important so that they don?t fit the mould that others will expect from them because they are from single parent homes.

?I kind of wrote the book to disprove the myth that if a child does not have their father with them there is nothing they can do and also to dispel the myth that every father that is not with the mothers of their children is a deadbeat dad.?

For fathers who think that giving money and not time is the answer need to broaden their thinking, he said.

?Dads that think ?oh, I give my child money and nothing else? is not the way to go because I see it in the schools every day.

?The impact on children who don?t have father figures are in most cases the ones that usually end up having challenges, whether it is behavioural or academic is because of a lack of a holistic family structure. Either mother or father has gone and most times with boys, it is the father gone either physically or missing mentally in the home.

?So, this whole thing of dads and or fathers, and their children spending time together is crucial for Bermuda.

?The whole idea for Alternatives to Incarceration, the legislation of increased penalties for drugs, weapons ? all of those things are just effects. I think it is a reaction to the facts and we have to start looking at the root causes and put just as much money that we put into the public relations for other things, advertising the laws etc. We need to get fathers to spend time with their children, also some positive media images of fathers and their children in the public and what they can do with their children.?

The other side is the appreciation of Bermuda?s natural environment, because the book features pictures of animals and plants that most people don?t notice or don?t know to look for.

?The book has some special features and for every animal that the child sees, it highlights it a little bit,? he said.

?It talks more about that animal so that it can be used as a guide.?

During high tide there are no tide pools, but during low tide water is left in the depressions and in those tide pools you find a lot of life.

?It is a nice safe place for smaller animals to hide out and just by turning over some rocks you can see many different organisms like crabs, starfish,? he said, ?And we found them in one afternoon. And there are some are things that haven?t been seen before.

?Sometimes the animals move on to new tide pools, but as the tide brings nutrients they can feed until it comes back in.

?We all run along the shoreline, but often we do not give thought to how things interlink with the ocean. We all eat fish, but the tide pools play an important role, big fish eat smaller fish and small fish eat even smaller fish. These things are important.?

In the back of the book there is a glossary entitled Learn More, in which educators and parents can help a child to learn more on the subject.

?Daddy and I Explore the Tide Pools? was sponsored by the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Education is planning to use 300 books in all of the P3 classes around the Island.

?Teachers will be able to implement it in any way they feel fit, as Bermuda?s waters are already in our curriculum. So, this should service a nice resource for them, whether they read it, or for design exercises.?

As an artist, Miss Richardson?s past work has highlighted social issues. Her most recent solo exhibition highlighted women and their oneness with nature.

?It unknowingly prepared me for the Daddy and I Explore the Tide Pools book and series,? she said. ?When David saw my work he said he wanted the same spirit conveyed in his book. After being introduced to David?s philosophy and intentions for the ?Daddy and I Explore? series I was attracted to this adventure immediately.

?Through our collaboration I was able to visually interpret his ideas and gave his words life. The storybook has vibrant colour from cover to cover and the animals and organisms highlighted in the book have great detail and are practically life size.?

It was also a pleasure capturing the positive and genuine interaction between a father and daughter, she said.

?It is only one of the series and is a dream come true. I do intend on working alongside David to complete the series.?

Mr. Chapman, who has won two National Trust Environmental Awards and is a member of the Government-backed Sustainable Development roundtable, said: ?I think this is the type of thing that we need to talk about at the grassroots level. The Premier had started a commission/roundtable to talk about Sustainable Development, but really for young people they might find that it is a little hard to totally understand, but if it is broken down into things that they can understand like exploring, preservation, conservation and appreciation ? then as they get older they can deal more readily with those types of topics.

?I am hoping that this book will tie in with that.?

@EDITRULE:

The book is available at the Bookmart, the Bermuda Book Store, Queen of Sheba Trading Post and the Aquarium, Museum and Zoo Gift Shop. This Saturday it will be promoted at the Farmer?s Market at Bulls Head Car Park with other local authors, the Story Time book at the Junior Library on Church Street at 11.30 a.m. and there will be a book signing at the Bookmart between 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.