My daughter Emma  Span has a hilarious piece in Slate Magazine this week, a polished send-off (she is the mother of a two-year old, my granddaughter Robin) on children’s books called Help: My Husband Was Baked In A Pie And Now My Son Is Stealing His Veggies!

She pokes some fun at the logic and drama of some of the most loved children’s book stories – Dr. Seuss and Peter Rabbit, among them and gives advice to the dysfunctional characters.

The piece is vintage Emma – ironic, funny, with all kinds of hidden messages. Emma started reading when she was three – I brought her boxes of old Archie Comics – and she has never stopped. I don’t think she reads my books much, but she devours contemporary fiction.

I loved Emma’s piece in Slate, and was not only proud of her, I was pleased she is writing again. She took up editing a few years ago. She is an editor in charge of baseball coverage for a hot new sports website called The Athletic, to which I subscribe. It is very good.

I’ve always thought my daughter  to be a natural and exceptionally gifted writer. So did Random House and other publishers, when she was 25, she sold and published a book on baseball called 90% percent of the Game Is Half Mental: And Other Tales from the Edge Of Baseball Fandom.

Emma and I did some book touring together when her book came out, and she was a pro on the stump, funny, wise and compelling. It was a special experience for me, I thought it was the launch of her book writing career.

I was surprised when Emma wrote a baseball book, and focused her career on baseball editing,  but not surprised she had become a writer. I am far from unbiased, but I am not the only person who believed she is an especially gifted writer.  It just came so naturally to her. She married Jay Jaffe, who is also a baseball writer and author, and baseball is a center of their lives together, along with Robin.

Was I pleased that she had become a writer?

Sure, but I never wanted Emma to automatically follow in my life, my wish for her is that she have her own life, and that is what she chose to do.  My parenting philosophy goes against the grain, I guess, I don’t wan’t her to live in my life, but in hers. My measure of good parenting is that my child can live a life without me, not bound to me.

Be careful what you wish for, I guess, but I believe it to be the right choice. She has done very well with her life.

And  book writing has changed so much since I began doing it decades ago. Still, it stirs the soul to see her writing again.

She is very happy and grounded in her life in Brooklyn. She didn’t care for the  unpredictable life of the writer, my life, she wanted more security and coherence in her life. So it was great to see her byline in Slate, a smart magazine I have written for myself.

Emma always credited me with her turn towards baseball writing and editing, I took her to Yankee Stadium when she was an adolescent and taught her how to score games. I never once thought that would lead her to sports writing.

She says those games changed her life, but life is like that. It makes its own plans. I have followed the Yankees from time to time, but baseball is no longer a regular part of my life. I keep up with her editing and baseball coverage, of course.

Emma loves what she is doing, but I love reading her writing. I suspect Robin will inspire many more stories, maybe even a book. Emma is a great mother, intuitive and patient.

Perhaps she’ll do more writing, I love reading it. In the meantime, check out her very funny piece on Slate. True irony and wit, a kind of writing not often seen any longer.