Shows / The Daily Dad
The Daily Dad
The audio companion to DailyDad.com’s daily email meditations on fatherhood, read by Ryan Holiday. Each daily reading will help you find the wisdom, inner strength, and good humor you need in order to be a great dad. Learn from historical figures and contemporary fathers how to do your most important job. Find more at dailydad.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
- The Daily Dad
Love is About Service
Ernest Hemingway was not a great husband or, as often as he should have been, a great father. He had four wives, at least one affair, and was often absent in…
- The Daily Dad
You Are Letting Them Steal From Your Family
In early January, Kobe Bryant got a note from a reporter at ESPN. She was working on a story about a moment in Lakers’ history and she wanted to feature Kobe…
- The Daily Dad
Don’t Be A Dream Hoarder
There is a type of parent out there. Career-wise, they are killing it. They have a good marriage to an income-earning spouse and together they make good money…
- The Daily Dad
How Could You Be So Stupid?
If you ever hear yourself uttering these words, “How could you have been so stupid?” to your kids—because they just got escorted home by a police officer…
- The Daily Dad
Your Kids Will Be Whatever You Make Them
Dr. Edith Enger’s son was born with athetoid cerebral palsy. A diagnosis like this would be scary whenever one gets it, but getting it decades ago was scarier…
- The Daily Dad
Are You Teaching Them Gratitude?
Your kids should be grateful. Not to you and mom, of course, you’re just doing your job. You’re legally and biologically obligated. Your kids should be…
- The Daily Dad
You Can Be a Dad Anywhere
When we think teacher, we think classroom. When we think leader, we think the corner office or the lectern or a general in front of their troops. But the truth…
- The Daily Dad
Help, But Don’t Make Them Helpless
There is so much to do. Your kids have to be dressed. They have to eat. They have go to school. They have to do well in school. They’ll need jobs. They’ll need…
- The Daily Dad
Here’s Where To Be A Competitive Parent
Way too many parents are competitive. They see the car their neighbor is driving and they want to get a better one. They hear that a friend’s kid got into a…
- The Daily Dad
Blame Yourself—Or No One
A few weeks ago, there was a fascinating piece about the controversial NFL receiver Antonio Brown. Of course, anything about Antonio Brown is fascinating—his…
- The Daily Dad
Your Expectations Are A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
The writer Thomas Sowell once noted, sardonically, how sad it is that editions of Frederick Douglass’s memoirs, when provided for high school students, were…
- The Daily Dad
What’s The Contract You Have With Your Kids?
In 2009, after winning two National Championships as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team, Urban Meyer stunned the nation by announcing his…
- The Daily Dad
Don't Wait To Be Proud
It’s a story as old as fatherhood itself. The son or daughter kills themselves to win the approval of their dad, which never seems to come. There is pain…
- The Daily Dad
You’re Too Old To Act Out
When our kids mess up we say: Aren’t you a little old for that? And we have all sorts of rules of thumb for what things are age appropriate or not—what age…
- The Daily Dad
How To Teach Them This Essential Value
Pretty much every parent wants to raise kids who turn out to be good people. Almost no father thinks: I’d love for my son to be rich, but awful. Or I’d love…
- The Daily Dad
Get Rid of Your Preconceived Notions
One of the things Napoleon advised his generals against was “forming a picture” of the battle. What he meant was that your preconceived notions, your…
- The Daily Dad
You Must Engage With The Slime
Rules and regulations are important. A child needs to learn what behaviors are acceptable and which ones are not. They need structure and guidance. They need…
- The Daily Dad
Don’t Baby Them When It Comes to Books
It’s interesting to think about the steady decline in expectations for our kids when it comes to reading. Sure, we want them to be able to read earlier than…
- The Daily Dad
Teach them Early Where Their Value Lies
The ancient writer—and father—Plutarch tells us of a parenting strategy he discovered in the works of Plato. “Young people must be taught from childhood,” he…
- The Daily Dad
You Are Not A Babysitter
The late ESPN broadcaster—and father of two girls—Stuart Scott, was once sitting in a restaurant with some friends and their respective children. Everyone was…
- The Daily Dad
You Will Want A Crowded Table
Right now, you’re thinking about what all the other parents are doing. What schools they’re getting their kids into. What the best strollers are. You’re…
- The Daily Dad
What Do You Think You Look Like When You’re Anxious?
A couple weeks ago, we talked about the sobering exercise of trying to observe other people getting upset or losing their temper at their kids. Nothing wakes…
- The Daily Dad
This Is Good Advice For Your Kids
We’ve talked before about David Epstein’s wonderful book Range, which advises against premature specialization—in athletes, in kids, in intellectual…
- The Daily Dad
Just Listen. Just Listen. Just Listen.
Ted Williams was not a good father. We’ve written about this before, but it bears restating for our purposes here that while he was the greatest hitter to ever…
- The Daily Dad
You Have To Be Flexible
When you read parenting books, it’s hard not to get the distinct sense that there is a right way to parent. That being a dad (or a mom) means following a set…
- The Daily Dad
How Many Times Have You Been Told?
You’ve told them a million times. You told them why they need to study before their test, and they didn’t and they came home with a D. You told them about how…
- The Daily Dad
You Are Capable of Change
Ted Williams was not a good father—at least not for most of his life. He was a great baseball player, but for a long time, he was a really selfish and ruthless…
- The Daily Dad
Nobody Is Better Than Your Kids
The great physicist Richard Feynman had a father who instilled his brilliant son with an interesting perspective about the world. Sitting down, he would lay…
- The Daily Dad
It’s Time To Look in the Mirror
Kids are crazy, right? When they’re hungry, they are rude and difficult to manage. They are demanding and seem incapable, most of the time, of doing anything…
- The Daily Dad
This Is Proof You Have What It Takes
Who among us is not insecure? We look around and see people who make more money. Who have bigger houses. Who have accomplished more than we have. This…
- The Daily Dad
This Is Making You So Much Better
We talked before about how MacArthur had a kind of scheduled morning craziness with his son Arthur, who would enter his room promptly at 7am and pummel his…
- The Daily Dad
Where Is Your Ego Getting In The Way?
We live in a world awash with ego. We see it every day. We can see the ego of our boss, and how it has turned the office against them. We can see ego in…
- The Daily Dad
It’s a Low Bar, But You Better Clear It
If you haven’t seen the fascinating Netflix documentary about Rachel Dolezal, a troubled woman who pretended to be black when she’s actually white, you should…
- The Daily Dad
All You Can Do As a Dad
You might not think of Tom Hanks as a father, but he is one. He had four kids, two from his first marriage, Colin and Elizabeth, and two from his second, Chet…
- The Daily Dad
Do You Know What You Look Like Angry?
A while back, we talked over at Daily Stoic about one of Seneca’s remedies for a hot temper. Try to catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror some time when…
- The Daily Dad
Feelings Are Not Indictments
One of the things you have trouble adjusting to when you first have kids is the crying. Not just because it’s loud, but because it feels like you’re being…
- The Daily Dad
A Dad Must Think The Unthinkable
It’s fitting that one of the most important things you can do as a parent would require you to think about a thing that’s very nearly impossible for a parent…
- The Daily Dad
Make Sure You Make Time For Crazy
Douglas MacArthur was a man of routine, most military men are. So it shouldn’t surprise us that he built a family life around routine. But unlike far too many…
- The Daily Dad
Teach Them Early—When You Still Can
Cato the Younger was not an easy man to get to do something. If he felt it went against his conscience or that it was illogical, you’d have an easier time…
- The Daily Dad
You Can’t Choose Your Parents, But You Can…
One of the best lines from Seneca is that while we can’t choose our parents, we do have the ability to choose whose children we will be. In ancient Rome this…
- The Daily Dad
If You’re Not Getting Better, You’re Getting Worse
It’s a sad sight when you see a dad who has clearly stopped trying. He puts on weight. He checks out of his marriage. Maybe he starts drinking more. He resigns…
- The Daily Dad
The Stakes Are High
It’s hard to picture Fred Rogers as a parent. Of course, we can easily recall him as Mr. Rogers, patiently and lovingly explaining things to generations of…
- The Daily Dad
Why Are You Rushing?
We’re always in a rush. We have to get them ready for school. We have to get them off to bed. We have to get to the airport. We have to get back inside. We…
- The Daily Dad
What Kind Of Energy Are You Bringing?
The ubiquity of the word “energy” these days is probably a sign of how pervasive pseudo-science and charlatans have become. We are inundated with energy…
- The Daily Dad
If You Want Your Children To Turn Out Well
It’s easy to think that money is the solution to most of the problems of parenting. After all, we remember our own childhood and the things that money could…
- The Daily Dad
You Have To Mean What You Say
It’s so easy to make threats as a dad. If you don’t stop that, I’m going to turn the TV off. If you don’t start being nicer to your brother, we’re going to go…
- The Daily Dad
There Is Nothing Better Than This
Falling in love with your spouse is great. Making a lot of money is awesome. Crushing it at work is too. It’s nice to have a big house or to go out and have a…
- The Daily Dad
Kids See Through To What Matters
You can sit your kids down to watch what you think is the greatest movie of all time, and they’ll get bored and fall asleep. You can get floor seats to an NBA…
- The Daily Dad
Always Think About How Other People Are Doing
Perhaps you’re familiar with the scene in the Bible where Moses—aided by God—parts the Red Sea. It was a miracle of epic proportions that allowed the…
- The Daily Dad
Teach Them It's Figureoutable
There’s a story that occurs constantly in the biographies of many creative and brilliant people. It goes something like this: As a kid they had a…
- The Daily Dad
Don’t Just Protect Yours
We take care of our own, we say. Family is family. Blood is thicker than water. These are noble sentiments that have encouraged beautiful sacrifice…
- The Daily Dad
There Are Things Better To Just Not Think About
Emily Oster is a writer and a thinker after our own heart. Frustrated with all the bad parenting advice—most of which seems to be based on old wives’ tales and…
- The Daily Dad
Curb Sometimes, Spur at Others
Seneca was a father, though we don’t know much, if anything, about his son. We know he was a wonderful uncle, and that he struggled valiantly as a tutor to…
- The Daily Dad
Don’t Give Them an Ego
You love your kids more than anything. You think they’re God’s gift (which they are, to you!). You want them to know how you feel about them, and you feel bad…
- The Daily Dad
Let ‘Em See You Work
One of the unusual side effects of our modern lives is how siloed work is for most people. “Work” is a place you drive to in the morning and come home from in…
- The Daily Dad
Teach Them to Choose
It makes sense that you and mom would make most of the decisions for your kids. You guys know more. Your kids basically know nothing. About life. About what…
- The Daily Dad
They Don't Feel as Old as They Look
Do you remember when you were in fourth grade and you looked across the playground and saw the sixth graders? They looked so much older. So much bigger. Their…
- The Daily Dad
Who Cares What That Idiot Thinks?
There are going to be moments in fatherhood—when you’re dancing to Baby Shark to entertain your kid, or you’re way into the third book in the Twilight series…
- The Daily Dad
Your Kid is Not a Status Symbol
Did you know DJ Khaled has a son? And his name is Asahd? Of course you did, because if you’ve heard of DJ Khaled even once in the last couple years, it’s…
- The Daily Dad
Blow Their Nose, and Your Own
Because women can seem so much better at this parenting stuff, because historical gender roles have often decided for them that most household duties are their…