Children and their parents--it is an ancient theme, a timeless attempt to unravel the mystery of the parent and the mystery of the child understanding itself as a distinct person apart, yet very much a part of the mother and father. Over the years, the author has had success teaching a unit on the father/child theme for various second-year literature classes. It is a unit that students enjoy, because they can relate to the emotions and situations described by an endless variety of writers and because the works that the author chooses are modern and accessible to college students. This unit could also very easily be adjusted to a "reader-based" introductory composition course that contains literary pieces as models for exploring themes or adapting rhetorical strategies. This essay describes a week-long thematic overview of poetry, essays, and stories and recommends a variety of proven discussion questions and paper assignments.