Harry Truman was not a good businessman. The clothing shop he opened with a friend was a disaster—and he was paying off the debts through his senate career and into his presidency. Most of his investments were flops. He had to sell off chunks of his mother’s farm when they couldn’t pay the mortgage. After he left office, the only safety net he had was his army pension. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Follow Daily Dad: Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , YouTube...
Nov 30, 2023•5 min•Ep. 1211
We know what we want our kids to say about us when they grow up. We want them to say that we were great parents , that we did our best. We want them to say that they knew they were loved. We want them to say that they love spending time with us–especially now that they’re older and they have a choice. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Follow Daily Dad: Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , YouTube...
Nov 29, 2023•4 min•Ep. 1210
We want happy kids, obviously. But as we talked about recently, you can’t make your kids happy. Certainly, you can’t always keep them happy. So what do you do? There’s a great exchange between Epictetus (we recommend his Discourses ) and one of his students. The student is asking Epictetus to show him what to do so he can be wise and successful. This is the wrong request, Epictetus says. It would be better to ask how to be adaptable to circumstances. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad....
Nov 28, 2023•4 min•Ep. 1209
Being a parent doesn’t mean you give up on your dreams. We’ve talked about this many times . What kind of message would it send to your kids to see their parents quit on themselves? What kind of house is it to grow up in where Mom or Dad aren’t growing, changing, aren’t taking risks, aren’t fulfilled? And yet, we also understand that it’s not about us anymore. Before, sure, we could take every risk and pursue every opportunity. But things are different now. There are people counting on us, peopl...
Nov 27, 2023•4 min•Ep. 1208
On this weekend episode of the Daily Dad, Ryan talks with his wife Samantha on breaking constraints, finding the solution to the problem, and the impacts on their household reflecting through parenting. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Follow Daily Dad: Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , YouTube...
Nov 25, 2023•16 min•Ep. 1207
It’s a world with too many problems. It’s a world with too much suffering. It’s a world with too much selfishness. We can’t fix all of this as people nor as parents. But we can try to help a little. We’ve talked before about Ron Lieber’s clever description for the goal of most parents. We’re trying, he says, to raise kids who are “the opposite of spoiled.” (he has a book of the same name ). That is to say, kids who are not just self-sufficient, but have energy and resources left over to help oth...
Nov 24, 2023•5 min•Ep. 1206
Things could be so much better. This could be a world that takes care of parents and families. It could be a world with a better safety net. It could be a world where we don’t shrug after a school shooting, or as democracy is dismantled by fanatics and nut-jobs. We could use more support. Inflation could come down. Your spouse could get their act together. Things could be better, they should be better. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Follow Daily Dad: Twitter , Instagram , Fa...
Nov 23, 2023•4 min•Ep. 1205
Kids have always been like this. They’ve always been crazy . Always had trouble sleeping at night. Always liked to play and explore. They’ve been overwhelmed by hormones. They’ve been driving their parents crazy a long time. We talked a while back about Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Children’s Games painting which depicts a loud and raucous scene of kids playing outside. It’s 463 years old and yet, with a few exceptions, it resembles almost exactly what the kids in your neighborhood were doing la...
Nov 22, 2023•4 min•Ep. 1204
It’s easy to forget it when you see them hitting a sibling. Or when you catch them in a lie. When you hear them say something mean. When the call comes in from school, or worse, the police station. It’s easy to forget that our kids are good. That they have good morals. A good heart. That they are still that same innocent and pure little thing we brought home from the hospital. It’s easy to forget because we’re so worried, so worried that our sweet innocent and pure thing will end up like most of...
Nov 21, 2023•3 min•Ep. 1203
We used to need so much to be happy, as we talked about recently . We needed things to go well. We needed excitement and success. We needed people to like us. We needed people’s approval. But now? Now, not so much. Conan O’Brien, who like any performer has some part of him that craves attention and validation, has explained how his insecurity has lessened as he got older and had a family. “Oh as long as they’re alright,” he has said of his kids, then basically everything is right. ✉️ Sign up for...
Nov 20, 2023•3 min•Ep. 1202
On this weekend episode of the Daily Dad, Ryan talks with his wife Samantha on staying consistent to the system, the results to bad decision making, and comparing ourselves against ourselves. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Follow Daily Dad: Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , YouTube...
Nov 19, 2023•16 min•Ep. 1201
“This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/dailydad and get on your way to being your best self.” Sometimes it can feel like being a dad is just an endless series of errands. It’s the call from the bedroom that they need a glass of water. It’s the call from college for you to come to take them shopping for something they need for their apartment. It’s the running around town getting soccer cleats, or picking up concert tickets, or bringing them the home...
Nov 17, 2023•3 min•Ep. 1200
We talked recently about some of the folks who comment on the Daily Dad Instagram (do follow us!) or reply to these emails. Sure, some of the responses are nice, but so many of them are self-righteous and hectoring, judgmental and superior. There is something profoundly sad about these commenters too. Because, whether they know it or not, they are the punchline in that famous old cartoon , “Sorry, honey, I can’t come to bed right now, someone is wrong on the internet!” ✉️ Sign up for the Daily D...
Nov 16, 2023•13 min•Ep. 1199
Gandhi was a saintly man, but he was not a particularly great father. He was too demanding of his children, too controlling, too quick to push them away when they were not exactly what he wanted them to be (which was impossible). It is sad that the man who was so kind and patient and forgiving, such a father figure to so many, could not be those things for the people who loved him the most , who most deserved that from him. But this is why we study the lives of the greats and not-so-greats–they ...
Nov 15, 2023•4 min•Ep. 1198
“This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/dailydad and get on your way to being your best self.” The author Rinker Buck (he has an amazing book called Life on the Mississippi where he travels the entire river in a homemade flat boat) remembers vividly what would happen when his father came home. We talked recently about what kind of feeling the sound of a parent at the door springs up for you . Well for him, it was partly fear–because he knew he was go...
Nov 14, 2023•3 min•Ep. 1197
The thing about parenting is that it’s always thrusting us into situations we have to deal with, we have to solve, we have to correct, we have to stop. Our kids aren’t listening . Our kids did something dangerous. Our kids failed a class. Our kids are drifting in a direction that worries us. Of course, there are some parents who are oblivious to all this , just generally hands-off. But the rest of us, who are just doing the best we can, struggle with these situations. We don’t want to yell, but ...
Nov 13, 2023•4 min•Ep. 1196
On this weekend episode of the Daily Dad, Ryan speaks with organizational psychologist and book author Adam Grant on seeing things in the context of where they actually sit, learning to be pleased but not satisfied, current sports culture, perfect parenting and his new book Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Follow Daily Dad: Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , YouTube...
Nov 11, 2023•13 min•Ep. 1195
What gives you the right? What’s your purpose on this planet? Why do you work so hard, why do you fight for the causes you fight for, why do you put up with all the crap you have to put up with in this life? ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Follow Daily Dad: Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , YouTube...
Nov 10, 2023•2 min•Ep. 1194
You think it’d be pretty non-controversial. Over on the Daily Dad Instagram (you should follow us!) we’ll post something about having fewer opinions and judgements when it comes to your kids. We’ll talk about loving them unconditionally –even when you don’t understand, even when you disagree. We’ll put up a video about letting your kids be who they are , not trying to make them into something you think they should be. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Follow Daily Dad: Twitter ...
Nov 09, 2023•3 min•Ep. 1193
You give your kids a lot. You pay for everything. You sacrifice so much –parts of your career, your health, your hobbies. You drive them around, you build your schedule around them. And you give them your most precious resource –time, so much time. No one is questioning that. It’s indisputable. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Follow Daily Dad: Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , YouTube...
Nov 08, 2023•3 min•Ep. 1192
“I do it all for them,” we say. We tell ourselves that’s why we’re getting on the plane, that’s why we’re spending another long night at the office , why we’re taking that big risk, why we’re starting that next venture. It’s for them, we’re doing it all for our family…those people we rarely see. It’s a good motivation to be sure, and it’s also a very flattering one. It’s ironically, a rather self-serving one too. Because by dressing our actions up in selflessness, we don’t actually end up thinki...
Nov 07, 2023•3 min•Ep. 1191
It sort of sneaks up on you, doesn’t it? For years, you literally fell asleep next to this person. They fell asleep on you. You were the last thing they saw, the last person they talked to, the one they begged for one more story , one more kiss, to do the blankets right one more time. And then suddenly, they’re like “Goodnight, Dad.” “Goodnight mom, close the door on the way out, will you?” ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Follow Daily Dad: Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , You...
Nov 06, 2023•4 min•Ep. 1190
On this weekend episode of the Daily Dad, Ryan talks with his wife Samantha on the difference between expressing pride and relief, and practicing motivated intrinsically vs extrinsically with our kids. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Follow Daily Dad: Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , YouTube...
Nov 05, 2023•15 min•Ep. 1189
Stoicism 101: Philosophy for Your Actual Life It’s an awesome, accessible, and practical two-week deep dive into philosophy that every parent (and even older kids) can benefit from. We’re teaching the Stoic secrets to success, resilience, and productivity, as well as how a Stoic masters their emotions (something useful for both parents AND kids!). The course includes 2 live Q&As with Ryan Holiday where you can ask all your Stoicism related questions. And you will have access to a private discuss...
Nov 04, 2023•5 min•Ep. 1188
On their deathbeds, fathers think about a lot of things. They think about the world they’re leaving to their sons and daughters. They think about how they parented. They think about the mistakes they made. They think about what they did right. They are warmed by the thoughts of their children, and, if they are lucky, they find themselves surrounded by them, the hospital bed serving as the final crowded table we have talked about here. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Follow Da...
Nov 03, 2023•4 min•Ep. 1187
We all have some version of this memory: We didn’t feel well. We fell awkwardly on our wrist. We hit our head. We told our parents, but they didn’t believe us …they told us we’d be fine. They told us we’d feel better soon. Then a few days later it turned out that we had scarlet fever or shingles. Our wrist was broken. We’d sustained a concussion. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Follow Daily Dad: Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , YouTube...
Nov 02, 2023•4 min•Ep. 1186
Aristotle wrote his famous Nicomachean Ethics for his son, Nicomachus. Seneca was given a philosophy teacher by his father. Cato too, was given the philosophical education his parents felt the promising boy deserved. Marcus Aurelius tried to give Commodus a group of philosophical advisors, and we can imagine that one of his great disappointments in life was that his philosophy and his example didn’t seem to rub off on his son. Stoicism 101 ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Foll...
Nov 01, 2023•5 min•Ep. 1185
Being a parent is terrifying. Joan Didion’s famous line, as we talked about recently, is that once you have kids you are never not afraid . We are hostages to fortunes now, always worried that something could or will happen to our kids. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Follow Daily Dad: Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , YouTube...
Oct 31, 2023•5 min•Ep. 1184
You are not perfect. Nobody would argue that–least of all your kids. But are you better? Better than you were when they were younger? Better than you were a couple years ago? Better than yesterday? ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Follow Daily Dad: Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , YouTube...
Oct 30, 2023•3 min•Ep. 1183
On this weekend episode of the Daily Dad, Ryan talks with his wife Samantha on the unexpected things in life we can’t prepare for, the anticipation of things often being worse and solving the problem first. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Dad email: DailyDad.com 📱 Follow Daily Dad: Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , YouTube...
Oct 28, 2023•15 min•Ep. 1182
