The Daily Dad

"It’s almost incomprehensible. The parents were rich. They were powerful. Their kids had access to the best tutors in the world. The best schools. They were already connected. They already had a leg up in life.  So why did they risk everything—tax fraud, racketeering charges—to bribe their way into college?" Ryan explains where your priorities in raising your children should lay on today's Daily D...

"The Spartan Agesilaus was the toughest of the tough. Like all Spartans, he had been trained in the agoge to be courageous and self-disciplined and beyond fear and pain. He was capable of incredible feats in battle and was in peak physical condition. As a Spartan king, he was all these things and more.   But he was also a father, and as you know , that changes you." Ryan describes the changes that...

"You tell them to be good . To be honest . To follow the law. To care about other people . That safety comes first.  You say these things, but what do you show ?" Ryan explains why your good example is just as important as the words you utter on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, an...

"You’re a dad, so you know a lot. You’ve been alive a while. You’ve read a thing or two and heard a thing or two. So when your kids ask you questions—about history, about life, about why people are this way or that way, you’re quick with an answer. But what if this was actually a bad habit? What if this was a form of stupidity?" Ryan describes why being the all-knowing father may not be the best r...

"F Scott Fitzgerald wasn’t always the best father, but as one of the most brilliant writers and thinkers of his time, he certainly knew how to express fatherly advice perfectly in words. One of the best letters he ever wrote is to his daughter Frances while she was away at camp, where he discussed the anxieties and worries that all young people feel. Some things were worth worrying about, he said,...

"You can’t wait until you’re on your deathbed to let them know how you feel about them. You can’t wait until you’re dead and gone and they go through your stuff and find the news clippings you kept and finally see that you were proud of them. You can’t just hope they overhear you saying it to someone else. You can’t just assume they know." Ryan tells us why we can't wait to tell our kids how we fe...

"While there are certainly people out there for whom the pandemic or our political environment have brought out their worst, the rest of us have started to feel something different. We’re raw. We’re vulnerable. We tear up when we hear about someone losing someone. We tear up when we think about families struggling to make ends meet. Have you seen some of the videos we’ve posted on Instagram lately...

"What’s the through line to judge a good parent through the early days to the glory days through the golden years?  It’s simple: Do you make their life easier or harder? Better or worse?" Learn the importance of this question on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people...

"We have to remember that while we’re on this journey. They’re going to get older. Someday, perhaps some day soon, they’ll stop being a little boy or a little girl. But they’ll never, not ever, stop being your child. And it’s important to realize that this is what you are to your own parents and grandparents." Ryan explains the permanent connections that you have with your family, and why those co...

"Of course, you’re busy. You have work. You have your spouse. You have your kids. You have all the obligations of adulthood. All these things are important. How do you fit it all in? The truth is, if you’re winging it everyday, you won’t get it all in. Something will fall by the wayside and too often, that’s our kids." Ryan explains the importance of actually carving out time for your kids, not ju...

"When Robert Lovett, the future State Department official and Secretary of Defense, was a kid, it happened that both father and son took similar routes in the morning and evening—although at different times—to work and to school. Lovett and his father would often play an interesting game based on this coincidence." Ryan explains the game and shows you why you should train your child's perception o...

"We parents are like field goal kickers. Just like if a certain shirt or a pair of socks brings them luck, we’re always looking for something, anything that will give us an edge. Just like a free throw shooter going through a preposterous routine, we’re religious about ours too." Ryan describes parental superstitions—and why they're okay!—on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’...

"Imagine you’re in the middle of the biggest moment of your career.  Suddenly, someone starts attacking and criticizing your son. They’re not completely wrong. Your son has made mistakes. Your son has struggled with addiction and bad decision-making. Those decisions have cost your family money, maybe. It’s caused you untold stress, personally. It’s made you sad and it’s made you angry. It’s certai...

"Someone once remarked to the famed Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn, that his father hadn’t left him much when he had died. Rayburn was quick to correct this misconception. My father, he said, '“gave me my untarnished name.' Harry Truman would say something similar to his own daughter. The question today is: What are you leaving to your children?" Ryan describes the legacy you should leave your...

"A few years ago, the Emmy-winning actor William H. Macy was asked for the best piece of advice he was ever given. 'Never lie,' he answered. 'It’s the cheapest way to go. Lies cost you a lot and they’re never worth what they cost.' But as the authors of Unacceptable: Privilege, Deceit & the Making of the College Admissions Scandal noted, precisely as Macy was giving this interview, he and his...

"We have to remember that our job as parents, as educators, is not to keep our kids in line. It’s not to crush their initiative because it’s disruptive or uncomfortable or difficult for us. We have to encourage them. We have to make space for our kids. If they want to read? By god, let them! If they want to skip ahead, or deviate from the conventional path? Cheer them on!" Using the childhood expe...

"Your daughter gets mad, so she slams the door and screams. Your son makes himself a snack and leaves the kitchen a disaster for someone else to clean up. You hear them say something rude to a waiter. You see them write something offensive on social media.  Before you get mad yourself, before you condemn, just take them aside. Ask them, kindly, openly, a question that the strongman Mark Bell says...

"When you’re gone, when they go through your stuff or when they talk to your friends at your funeral, it will be undeniable clearly: God, your dad just loved you so much. You were all he talked about. He was more proud of you than anything. Just look at all these photos he kept. And news clippings. And mementos.  They’ll know this because it’s true, because the evidence will speak for itself.  But...

"We all say things to our kids, just as our parents did. Little bits and bobs of wisdom that we picked up places. We hope they hear us. We hope it gets through.  And when it does? Oh, that is the best." Ryan talks about E.H. Harriman, a railroad tycoon who passed down wisdom to his daughter and watched her embody it herself, on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’...

"There’s a lot going on in the world, a lot going wrong. There’s so much we’d like to change, so much we’d like to be better. Where do we start? How about with our kids?" Ryan talks about the most effective way you can leave your mark on the world—through the way you guide your child's life—on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on...

"Sure, it’s important that you keep up with your friends. You wouldn’t want to be one of those people that just disappears once they have kids. You and your spouse should get out and see folks from time to time. You can’t turn down every invite. You can let those friendships—the ones from school, from growing up, from the old days—drift away. You can’t neglect your hobbies, either. Work, too… And...

"There’s always an excuse for why you’re not being the parent you’d like to be, just as there’s always an excuse why you’re not being the person you know you’re supposed to be.  Things are busy at work. This divorce has really messed you up. It’s this damn pandemic. You’re really struggling with your own issues right now. It’s been hard since your brother got sick, or since the hurricane struck. Y...

"There is one way to judge, in the end, whether you’ve done this thing right. It’s not based on how rich your kids get. It’s not whether they make it into Yale, or whether they turn out handsome or beautiful, smart or famous." Find out what the ultimate test is, and how to pass it, on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Po...

Ryan further discusses the letters that author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote to his daughter, and what they say about him and his character as a parent, on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even bette...

"It’s easy to forget this. It’s easy to give into dissension and conflict and zero-sumness. Especially now. Especially when things are so dark. Isn’t that the natural state of things? Survival of the fittest. We’re in a war—our genes need to survive. So screw those other parents, screw their kids. There are only so many spots at Harvard, you know. So many spots in the preschool that will increase...