“Marcus Aurelius’s father died when he was young. But then this young boy who was cursed by tragedy received a great gift--a gift that the children who have received it, know to be one of the most incredible things in the world: He had a loving stepfather.” Learn why you must embody the traits that you want to pass down to your kids, 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 m...
Dec 25, 2020•3 min•Ep. 257
“Lyndon Johnson grew up poor. Like, log cabin, almost 19th century poor. He was not, like his future running mate, John F. Kennedy, unaware of the economic crises of his time. He was not sent to the best schools. Yet, he did alright for himself, didn’t he?” Ryan discusses how LBJ’s own mentality harmed him, and why you should teach your kids that they are enough, on today’s Daily Dad podcast. We created the New Year, New You Challenge to help you create a better life, and a new you in 2021. Sign...
Dec 24, 2020•3 min•Ep. 256
“Is there anything sadder than a person whose work is their life? They neglect their family, they put in crazy hours, they have no interests, no hobbies outside what they do at the office. Maybe your parents were like this. Perhaps you are like this.” Learn why you should shift your perspective to the things that actually matter, on today’s Daily Dad podcast. This episode was brought to you by Magic Spoon . Magic Spoon makes delicious cereal just like you remember from when you were a kid—only t...
Dec 23, 2020•3 min•Ep. 255
“You don’t need your kid to be a rocket scientist to be special. You don’t need to teach them 15 languages or the cello. It’s not a degree from Harvard or a perfect SAT that’s going to vault them into the elite category—not the elite category that counts.” Ryan explains how to give your kids what truly matters, on today’s Daily Dad podcast. We created the New Year, New You Challenge to help you create a better life, and a new you in 2021. Sign up for the challenge at https://dailystoic.com/chall...
Dec 22, 2020•3 min•Ep. 254
“They say it all the time. When will this be over? Are we there yet? Why is this taking so long? Do we have to? It’s whiney. It’s annoying. You ask them to stop. But in getting upset, you miss the real opportunity. To teach them. To explain to them what they’re really saying.” Learn why you should’t take the only time that you have with your kids for granted, 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...
Dec 21, 2020•2 min•Ep. 253
“In his Broadway show, Bruce Springsteen—whose songs have often focused on the painful legacy of our parents—explained the choice that all of us have as fathers. “We are ghosts or we are ancestors in our children's lives,” he said at the beginning of Long Time Comin’. “We either lay our mistakes, our burdens upon them, and we haunt them, or we assist them in laying those old burdens down, and we free them from the chain of our own flawed behavior. And as ancestors, we walk alongside of them, and...
Dec 18, 2020•3 min•Ep. 252
“When Martin Luther King Jr. took over Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL, he insisted on a small social shift after his sermons that was immediately noticed. As he mingled with his parishioners on Sundays, he wouldn’t ask them what they were doing , the way previous pastors had. Instead, he looked them in the eye and said How are you doing?” Learn more about this story and why the questions you ask your kids are so important on today’s Daily Dad podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week...
Dec 17, 2020•2 min•Ep. 251
“For his whole career, Archie Manning had been a company man for the New Orleans Saints. He was great but the team was terrible. For years, they had lost. For years, he had endured poor offensive lines, poor drafting and never even coming close to contention. So you’d think it would have been a second wind for his career to be traded to Houston and then to the Vikings. He still had years left in him, a real shot of being part—finally—of a winning team. But instead, in 1984, he retired.” Learn wh...
Dec 16, 2020•3 min•Ep. 250
“At some point in the future your kids and your grandkids are going to ask you. They’re going to say: Dad, when there were 200,000 cases and 2,000 deaths a day in America during the pandemic, what were doing?” Ryan lends some perspective to the choices we are all making about how we behave during the pandemic 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 ...
Dec 15, 2020•3 min•Ep. 249
“Why do we tell our kids stories? Why do we tell them about history? Teach them about Martin Luther King, George Washington, Cincinnatus , Florence Nightingale, Jesus, Marcus Aurelius ? Because it matters.” Ryan explains the importance of teaching kids about history’s greatest men and women 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 w...
Dec 14, 2020•2 min•Ep. 248
"There he walked, along the trail, carrying his young child pressed up against his side. Sometimes the kid would get a burst of energy and call to be put down. I want to walk. I want to walk. So the father would set the child down and they’d walk together, hand in hand. Soon enough, they’d get tired again and need to be carried. Other times, the father stopped briefly to readjust, putting the child down between his legs and then picking up him and switching sides. Walk. Rest. Walk. How long did ...
Dec 11, 2020•3 min•Ep. 247
"You read an old book and it’s pretty common: Dads didn’t used to be present for the birth of their children. Sometimes they weren’t even in town—they’d heard about it in a letter or a call, and not meet their own kids for days or weeks or months until after they were born... Things are way different now. A lot more is demanded of fathers and also of mothers. It’s hard, but also… what a gift!" Ryan explains what those parents of previous generations missed out on on today's Daily Dad Podcast. **...
Dec 10, 2020•3 min•Ep. 246
"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 week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, an...
Dec 09, 2020•2 min•Ep. 245
"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 interesting work—they showed it to their children, expanding their minds and their perceptions in the proc...
Dec 08, 2020•3 min•Ep. 244
"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 those threats that aren't physical, on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast...
Dec 07, 2020•2 min•Ep. 243
"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 in the movie Step Brothers — RUMPUS TIME IS OVER!! And yet, he didn’t." Ryan explains the lesson we ca...
Dec 04, 2020•2 min•Ep. 242
"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, on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a...
Dec 03, 2020•2 min•Ep. 241
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 Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple...
Dec 02, 2020•3 min•Ep. 240
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 go to or the profession they work. But Tracee got lucky. Her mom did it right. Find out what Tracee's...
Dec 01, 2020•3 min•Ep. 239
"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 inspire your chidlren to fulfill their highest potential on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed...
Nov 30, 2020•2 min•Ep. 238
"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’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people...
Nov 27, 2020•2 min•Ep. 237
"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 podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and th...
Nov 26, 2020•2 min•Ep. 236
"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 you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to t...
Nov 25, 2020•2 min•Ep. 235
"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 kids now, while they're young, on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, w...
Nov 24, 2020•2 min•Ep. 234
"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 on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a re...
Nov 23, 2020•3 min•Ep. 233
"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, as if they were responsible, for having a 'retarded' child. " Ryan uses the experience of Charles de ...
Nov 20, 2020•3 min•Ep. 232
"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’ll be able to do after? Hang your head." Ryan explains this lesson using a song recorded by Johnny C...
Nov 19, 2020•3 min•Ep. 231
"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 explains what it means for all of us parents, on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week...
Nov 18, 2020•3 min•Ep. 230
"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 most, on today's Daily Dad Podcast. *** If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to le...
Nov 17, 2020•2 min•Ep. 229
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 “tremendous discovery..." Find out what that discovery is, and how it can change your life and the ...
Nov 16, 2020•3 min•Ep. 228
