The Daily Dad

"When you look at champions—in sports or politics or business—it’s hard not to detect a theme running through a lot of their motivations. Many of these superstars, be they men or women, are fighting for something. They want the approval of their father. They want to prove their worth to their families. They want to feel loved. They want to show that the doubt they experienced young or the trauma t...

"You have been looking forward to this for so long. The opportunity to turn them onto your favorite bands. To watch your favorite movies. To take them to your favorite places. To order your favorite foods together." Ryan describes the right way to introduce your kids to your favorite things, in today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review o...

"There is nothing that can prepare you for being a dad, as the cliche goes. No book. No class. No amount of seeing your own parents or siblings do it. So one way to look at this thing is that it shows us how little we know. The other way, the more positive way, is to see it as something that teaches us." Ryan describes how we can learn from the experience of being a father in today's Daily Dad Pod...

"We want to make sure our kids have opportunities in life. We want to make sure that they’re not excluded or kept out. We work hard—try to make money, try to invest, try to get ahead in our careers and life so our kids can have a head start. All good. But sometimes, for all this hustle and ambition, we neglect one of the easiest ways to help them get ahead." Ryan describes how to give your kids a...

"We all have issues. We know that. Our goal as fathers, as we’ve said, is to not pass them on. To stop the cycle of dysfunction. It’s a low bar, to be sure, but it's an important one: Don’t let the demons you wrestle with find softer targets in your children." Ryan describes how important it is not to burden your children with your baggage on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week...

"The jogging stroller lets you exercise… while spending time with your kid. The drive to school, or to soccer tournaments… is a chance to have that conversation you needed to have with your daughter. All the chores that need to be done around the house...they’re a way to teach your kids  about responsibility." Ryan discusses how you can find unexpected places to impart lessons to your child in tod...

"It was just another day on vacation for the Roosevelts in 1921. FDR spent the morning sailing around Campobello Island with Eleanor and his two older boys. They’d had quite an adventure. Seeing a small fire on another nearby island, they rushed and put it out as a family. When they got back, FDR and his sons raced each more than a mile to a swimming hole. And then later they jumped into the Bay o...

"Each morning, Hugh Jackman and his wife Deborra-Lee Furness, get up early and, after they meditate, they read together. Actually, they read aloud to each other . Hugh to Debbora-Lee. Deborra-Lee to Hugh." Find out why reading together with your spouse, or doing anything together, makes for such a strong relationship in today's Daily Dad Podcast. Get your copy of Stillness Is the Key : https://gen...

"You send them to great schools. You make sure they do their homework. You drill them on their flashcards. You are saving for college. You are not going to let them set their sights low like you did, or maybe you won’t accept them getting into anywhere less prestigious than you did." But that's not the only kind of education that matters. Find out more in today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjo...

"How much should we shelter our kids from the scariness of the world? How much should we protect them from knowing about the day-to-day events of the world that they are not to blame for, that they can’t do anything about?" Ryan discusses what we need to do to keep our kids appropriately informed and protected, on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you...

"It’s tempting to tell them exactly what they can and can’t do. It’s tempting to tell them what you expect them to do, or explain how the world works. But would you have listened to that when you were their age? What did you do when your parents pretended like they knew what they were talking about?" Ryan talks about the best way to teach your kids the important lessons that you have for them on t...

"It’s been a rough couple weeks. You watched your retirement accounts lose as much as 30% of their value. You’re watching businesses disappear left and right. Maybe you’re stuck at home. Maybe you have to show up to work every day, with a flutter of fear in your heart, because you have one of those 'essential' jobs. Your kids are at home—school is canceled. You’re going through groceries like craz...

"You probably heard the story of the ugly duckling growing up. Or perhaps you remember the story of Solon and Croesus . Both stories—one about a duckling and the other about a very rich man—have the same moral: That time has a way of evening things out. It can turn you into a beautiful swan… or it can strip you of all your winnings. They teach us that we shouldn’t be too sure of our success or our...

"We’ve talked before about how children born into privilege or power or a well-known family can easily become spoiled. Marcus Aurelius was an exception to this rule… but sadly, his own son, Commodus was not. But that all feels very distant.  What about someone like Jimmy Kimmel?" Ryan discusses Jimmy Kimmel and how he helps his kids stay grounded amidst the riches in today's Daily Dad Podcast. ***...

"We’ve talked about so many things in this email over the last year, so many goals we have as parents. We talked about treating fatherhood as a second chance . We talked about giving what you didn’t get . We talked about the magic of the words “ as a family .” We talked about how nothing is better than time spent with your kids, we talked about how wonderful it is to get them things . We talked ab...

In today's Daily Dad Podcast, Ryan tells the story of a young Lyndon Johnson and how his mother's adulation would turn into something worse, something that we all must avoid. *** 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 better. S...

You had all these ideas about what being a father would be. You looked forward to fixing cars together. Or watching your favorite movies. Or taking them to all the places you loved as a kid.  This is wonderful and certainly it comes from the right place: that you want to spend time with them, that you have ideas for ways to connect and to teach them. But it’s important that you’re also open to bei...

"We’ve talked before of the crossfire hurricane that is becoming a father. When you first become a dad, your whole life gets turned upside down. As you scramble to manage and handle all the things now on your plate, you sometimes say to yourself: When they’re a little older, this will calm down. As soon as we get through [insert phase], everything will go back to normal. It’s this delusion—this li...

"Maybe you remember when your kids were really young—or maybe they still are really young so you know this even better—what you could do to magically calm them down. It didn’t matter how hysterical they were, how bad they were fighting going to sleep, all you had to do was take them for a walk. Or strap them in a stroller. And bam: they were out." Ryan explains the lesson that you can learn from t...

" Theodore Roosevelt lived an incredible life. He was an author. A naturalist. A rancher. A police chief. A cowboy. A hunter. A governor. A soldier. A president. An explorer. A philanthropist. And that’s probably not even close to an exhaustive list. His life was full of activity. It was full of adventure. It was marked by triumph and adversity to overcome." Learn more from the lesson of Teddy Roo...

"If you’re not paying attention, it’s easy to slip into a habit of almost invariable negativity: Stop doing that. Don’t touch this. No, you can’t watch TV right now. Why isn’t your room clean? I’m sorry but I’m not buying this. I’m disappointed with how you did on this test. That is just not realistic, shouldn’t you think about trying something else? I don’t think so. You already know the answer.....

"The emperor Hadrian never had a son so he devised a very specific succession plan. He adopted a fifty-one-year-old man named Antoninus Pius on the condition that he adopt Marcus Aurelius. He thought this would provide for five years of training for Marcus—instead Antoninus lived and instructed for twenty three.  You might think that being a prince-in-waiting for that long, being the heir to the r...

"You’re a parent, so you have rules. What are they ? No, not rules for them . Rules for you ." Ryan talks about the most important rules that a parent can set, and introduces the newest course from Daily Stoic, The Stoic Parent: 10 Commandments For Becoming A Better Parent.  Register for The Stoic Parent now:  https://dailystoic.com/stoicparent/ *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love fo...

"They say that the reason people have long shaken hands with their right hands was to signal that we came in peace and we’re not dangerous. They say that when dogs roll over and show you their belly, it’s an indication of trust and deliberate vulnerability... These might not feel like particularly meaningful gestures of respect and love, but they are. It’s an honor to get them, even though we regu...

"Maybe you don’t love where you live. Maybe if you had more money or a different job, you’d live elsewhere. Maybe it is too liberal or too conservative or too damn provincial for your taste. But this place you live right now, with your kids?  It’s their home. It’s where they are from. And that means something. " Ryan explains why you should instill in your kids a love of their hometown, on today's...