The Daily Dad

"You work hard for your family. You know how you sweated for each dollar, which can make it hard to spend. Especially if you have an eye toward investing—every dollar expended now comes at the cost of returns in the future.  That’s one way to think about it, but it’s not the only way." Find another perspective on how to invest in your family on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this we...

"If you haven’t read Emily Oster’s work, then your wife probably has. She’s a wonderful, brilliant economist (who also has a brilliant newsletter) whose work focuses on parenting and children.  It shouldn’t surprise us that her work is brilliant and often contrarian, given the unique childhood she had. Oster was the children of two professors at Yale. Her mother and father did more than just inter...

"Two thousand years ago, Plutarch, quoting a philosopher named Xenocrates, was talking about how concerned parents back then made sure their children wore ear protection when they wrestled, so as not to damage their cartilage. But isn’t it interesting, he asked, that we’re less concerned with what goes in their ears?" Ryan talks about the things we need to protect our children from, including thos...

"It was one of those nights. The boys would not go to sleep. They had that contagious energy that so often keeps brothers awake. The first time their father came in to tell them to go to bed, they didn’t listen. The second time, too. More giggling. Fighting. Playing games. Messing around. Getting into mischief.  Finally, on the third time, Jack Harbaugh was readying to yell, just like the father i...

"A lot can go wrong. You and your spouse could split up. You could get cancer and die before your kids grow up. They could join a cult. They could move far away. They could be the victim of injustices or experience serious adversity. We have no idea what life has in store for our kids. So what should we do now?" Ryan describes what we should focus on, even though we can never know the whole future...

Cato the Elder was a great man. He was successful at agriculture. He was successful as a writer. He was a powerful politician. He towered over Roman life not just in his own time, but for generations hence.  Yet that wasn’t what he was proud of. That’s not what he worked hardest at, or admired in others. Ryan explains what Cato the Elder prioritized, and why it matters to any parent,  on today's D...

Tracee Ellis Ross has a famous, successful mother: the singer Diana Ross. You might think that someone that successful would care a lot about success. Indeed, it’s a pretty common pattern: the driven parent drives their children —to get good grades, to win games, to be the strongest, prettiest, or most popular. They want to continue their pattern of excellence down through the college their kids g...

"There’s a lot of darkness in the world. A pandemic. Corrupt and failed politicians. Institutions groaning under the weight of modern problems. Maybe your neighbors are a jerk, or your boss sucks.  It can be easy to feel depressed about how things are. It can be easy to pass this onto your children. But how fair is that? You’re going to let your cynicism infect them? This early?" Learn how to insp...

"It hits you randomly. You’re in the middle of packing your kids up for a drive to the beach. You’re laying on the couch because your back hurts. You’re telling your daughter to stop messing with the thermostat.  Holy crap. I have become my parents." Ryan talks about the impact of this realization, and what it means for you, on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’...

"You can look at all the negative in the world. You can focus on the dark clouds above. Or you can look for the silver lining, the bright spots.  We have that expression about whether the glass is half-full or half-empty? Well, what worldview are you going to teach your children?" Ryan points out the importance of optimism over pessimism on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s...

"Maybe your parents have issues. Maybe you have trouble getting along with your siblings.  Maybe your spouse and you are very different.  Maybe you have all these things and more.  It’s tough. Sometimes you resent it. Sometimes it drives you crazy. " Ryan describes the approach you should take with people like this on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for...

"Your kids are always listening, that’s true. They’ll always look to see what you’re doing and learn from you. Nell Painter learning from her mother’s career change late in life is proof of that.  But it’s also a fact that when they’re young, they’re much more impressionable. They can pick up languages earlier. They have fewer habits. They’ve seen less." Ryan describes why you need to teach your k...

"You’re making good money. You’re saving. You’re investing. You’ve bought those personal finance books that tell you how to manage your finances. You’ve worked extra hard, taken risks, done everything you have to do to create a better life for your kids .  Wonderful. But is that really prioritizing the right thing?" Ryan tells you what kind of legacy you should be focused on leaving your children...

"Charles de Gaulle had a hard life. He was a POW in WWI. He had to flee France in order to save it in WWII. He endured protests and assassination attempts. He also had a daughter named Anne, who was born with Down’s syndrome. In 1928 when she was born, this was not something people knew how to deal with—handicapped children were often sent away to institutions. Parents were made to feel ashamed, a...

"An accident, a mistake—no matter the intention, no matter how sweet the child or living the parent—can irrevocably change a life. A kid playing with a gun. A father who leaves a pool gate open. A mother who forgoes the car seat because it’s a short trip, the teenager taking risks with their friends. In an instant, everything can be blown apart. One choice. One bad call. One shortcut. And all you’...

"Chesty Puller saw some stuff. He fought in the Banana Wars. He fought in guerilla wars. He took islands in the Pacific during WWII. He fought in Korea.  So you might think that he’d be able to handle just about anything life threw at him. But like you, he was a father, and he found that it was just about the hardest thing a person can ever do." Ryan tells a story about Chesty as a father, and exp...

"It’s confusing to be a parent these days. Confusing to be a father, too. Because roles are in a state of flux. Expectations are always increasing. And of course, the world is an enormous mess. There’s a pandemic. Civil unrest. An unpredictable economy. A culture war. What are you supposed to do? What should your priorities be? What do you focus on?" Ryan points out the thing you should care about...

Clearly, Dean Acheson’s parents did a good job. They raised him to be diligent enough to get into the best schools. They provided for him. They made him curious. They made him feel loved and safe. Yet for all his early success, it wasn’t until much later in life—law school, in fact—that he was fully unlocked as a human being. There, he said, with the help of his professions, he was introduced to a...

"Nell Painter was an accomplished adult. She was more than out from under her parents thumb—she was in her seventies. She was a world-class historian. Yet even then, her mother was teaching her. How did she have the courage to leave a promising academic career at that age to leave her job and go to art school?" Find out the answer on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcas...

"As we’ve talked about, you have to toughen your kids up . No one is well-served by parents who are soft, who let them be soft. But at the same time, many a tough parent has had to come to terms with the fact that every kid is different and needs different things." Ryan explains the best way to challenge your kids on today's Daily Dad Podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by Magic Spoon, make...

"Obviously you want them to be successful. You want them to be excellent—at whatever they do in this life.  But it is essential, as you try to motivate and encourage and inspire them, that you are quite clear: All of this is extra." Ryan explains why your kids in and of themselves should be enough for you, on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to l...

"An illiterate world is not a good one, but a world where people unthinkingly believe and accept everything they read is not that much better.  So it’s great that you’re teaching your kids to read, but are you teaching them to read critically?" Ryan describes the important next step you must take with your children's reading, on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we...

"Like so many dads, Harbaugh kept repeating this ridiculous line because, who knows why, that’s just what dads do. Not once in the five hundred times he said it over the course of their childhood did it get a reaction. Not once. But he kept at it, because he thought maybe it would get through." Find out the line, and how it stuck with Harbaugh's famous sons, on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If yo...

"Of course, you want tough kids. You want boys who are active and resilient. You want girls who are active and resilient. You want them to be healthy, you want them to be able to overcome obstacles, you want them to know how to defend themselves, you want them to be prepared for the ups and downs of life. " What's the best way to do that? By providing them with challenges, as Ryan explains on toda...

"Cato the Elder, we’re told by Plutarch, “used to say that a man who beats his wife or a child is laying sacrilegious hands on the most sacred thing in the world.” Boom. It doesn’t matter how angry you are. It doesn’t matter who started it. It doesn’t matter how many times you told your son. It doesn’t matter that your parents used to do it. It doesn’t matter that some cultures still accept it.  F...