Today's episode is a Father's Day roundtable. Jon sits down with three Front Row Dads, Mike Chu, Scott Seymour, and Austin Distel, for an honest conversation about what it actually means to be a great dad.

Before we get into it, we have a quick favor. We're working on making the podcast better for you and we'd love your feedback. If you have 2 minutes, please fill out our podcast survey here: forms.gle/JnJQUZR9Pt7d7fvG7

Now to the episode.

This one isn't tactical. It's not about parenting hacks or systems. It's four men getting real about what Father's Day brings up, why self-love is the foundation of being a great dad, and the inner work most men never talk about out loud.

Mike opens up about going from a man who hated himself to one who is finally proud of who he's becoming. Scott shares his journey from being suicidal to seeing himself as divine. Austin reflects on what it means to consciously prepare for fatherhood with his wife now pregnant with their first child. And Jon brings the framework he learned recently from a father whose son was murdered by a 14-year-old, and what it taught him about restorative versus punitive energy, both with others and with himself.

If you've ever wondered why being a great dad feels harder than it should, this one will land. The hardest part of fatherhood isn't your kids. It's the relationship you have with yourself.

What you'll hear in this conversation:

→ Why Father's Day brings up grief, guilt, pressure, and complexity for most dads

→ The punitive vs restorative framework and how it changes how you treat yourself

→ Why self-love is one of the strongest things a man can practice

→ How Mike's relationship with his dad shaped a decade of self-punishment

→ Scott on why your kids only do what they see

→ Austin's unplanned solo trip to Panama and why play might be the highest form of self-love → The Azeem story and what restorative energy actually looks like

→ What each man hopes his kids will know about themselves above everything else

→ Why even lone wolves need to recharge by the pack

If this conversation moves you to want to dig deeper into the books that have shaped how Front Row Dads think about fatherhood, marriage, business, and brotherhood, our community-curated book list is here: frontrowdads.com/books

Connect with the guests:

Jon Vroman: instagram.com/jonvroman

Mike Chu: instagram.com/mike__chu

Scott Seymour: instagram.com/journey_of_man

Austin Distel: instagram.com/austindistel

What if the reason you're tired, foggy, and burned out has nothing to do with stress or sleep?

Most high-performing men assume their fatigue, brain fog, and inflammation come from doing too much. But there's another conversation happening in functional medicine that most doctors miss completely. Dr. Torrie Thompson is the founder of Meraki Wellness Center in Austin and specializes in mold, heavy metals, environmental toxins, and Lyme disease. She's spent over a decade helping people figure out what's actually wrong when their labs look "normal" but they feel terrible.

This one hits close to home for Jon. He's been dealing with Lyme, Babesia, and chronic inflammation for the better part of a decade. His CRP (a key inflammation marker) has averaged 90 for the last 10 years, with his most recent test coming in at 127. Tori told him on the podcast it's the highest she's ever seen, by a lot. If you've ever wondered why you feel off and your doctor keeps telling you everything looks fine, this conversation is for you.

In This Interview:

→ Why mold is the most common hidden driver of chronic fatigue and brain fog in men today

→ The three foods that hold the most mycotoxins (and why you can't see or smell them)

→ How to actually test your body and your home for mold (and the testing companies to avoid) → The difference between binders that help and binders that hurt

→ Why standard doctors miss Lyme disease and what to do if you suspect you have it

→ The order of operations: why you have to clear mold and metals before treating Lyme

→ Why chelation can wreck your health and what to do instead

→ How to spot misaligned incentives when a doctor pushes expensive weekly IV drips

→ The cheapest, most overlooked tools for healing (PEMF, grounding, breathwork, sleep)

→ Why your toxic bucket size determines how sick you get and how fast you recover

This Conversation Is For You If:

→ You're exhausted, foggy, or inflamed and your bloodwork keeps coming back "normal"

→ You've been to multiple doctors and nobody can tell you what's wrong

→ You suspect mold in your home or your body and don't know where to start

→ You've been bitten by a tick at some point and never felt the same since

→ You're a business owner whose energy is the engine and you need it back online

Next Step:

If this conversation made you curious about what might be sitting in your body or your home, Dr. Torrie and her team work with clients across the country. You can learn more about her practice and the work she does at drtorriethompson.com.

Connect With Dr. Torrie Thompson:

Website: drtorriethompson.com

Instagram: instagram.com/drtorriethompson

Ben & Jessa Greenfield have been playing card games and board games with their family almost every night for years. Their twin sons River and Taryn just turned 18 and are now designing and selling their own card games as a business. That didn't happen by accident.

In this conversation with Jon, Ben and Jessa go deep on the small daily traditions that built their family. Not the big vacations. Not the epic annual events. The stuff that happens every single night.

What they cover:

• Why they play games at dinner almost every night and how it became their family's most important tradition
• How to pick games that actually work (15-30 minutes, easy to learn, playable while eating)
• Why the first year of playing games with young kids is boring and why you keep going anyway
• The nightly family party: games, guitar, a song, prayer, cooking together, and why guests think they planned a special evening when it's just a Tuesday
• Why making your home a fun place to be is the best alternative to screens
• Jessa on the power of solo prayer hikes for self-reflection as a mom
• Ben on why little stones make big ripples and why two miles every morning beats 46 miles once a month
• Why 90% of the time you spend with your kids is over by 18 and how they plan to defy that → How their sons went from playing games to designing them to launching a Kickstarter

If your family dinners feel rushed, if screens are winning, or if you've been wanting a simple tradition that actually sticks, start here.

🎲 We built a curated list of the best family games from our community → frontrowdads.com/games

What happens when a CEO with a young family decides to ride 2,000 miles from Mexico to Canada in 13 days to serve families he's never met?

Matt King is the CEO of GoBundance, a mastermind for entrepreneurial men, and a dad to three young kids. He wasn't a cyclist. Five and a half months ago, he had never ridden more than 10 miles on a bike. Then he stood on a stage in November and announced he was going to ride 2,000 miles from Mexico to Canada in May to raise $1 million for families along the route. He told everyone before he told his wife. Before he had ever trained. Before he even owned the right bike.

In this conversation with Jon, Matt opens up about why he's doing this, what it's teaching him about fatherhood, service, and modeling hard things for his kids, and what he's learned about himself along the way. He talks about the morning he quit at 3:30 a.m. in the middle of a training ride. The $100,000 donation that stopped him in the middle of a 150-mile day. The families he's already helped before the ride has even started. And why he believes the world doesn't give you permission to do meaningful things. You have to give it to yourself.

The ride starts May 27th. As of recording, Matt has already raised over $481,000. Every dollar goes directly to families along the route.

In This Interview:

→ Why Matt chose a bike instead of a car or plane to find families who need help

→ The morning he quit at 3:30 a.m. and what got him back on the bike

→ How GoBundance members are deploying as "secret agents" into cities along the route to find stories

→ Why his five-year-old son is his biggest fan and what that's taught him about modeling

→ The difference between living a legacy and leaving one

→ Why he tracks "return on joy" instead of return on investment

→ The role David Osborne played in shaping who Matt has become

→ How to handle the doubt, fatigue, and criticism that comes when you commit to something hard

→ Why oversharing might be costing you, and how to use your intuition to know what to share → The conversation he has with himself when he wants to quit (and the framework that gets him through)

Next Step:

The ride starts May 27th. You can follow the journey, sign up to ride with Matt at any point along the route, nominate a family who needs help, or donate to the mission at the link below. If this story moved you, the simplest thing you can do is share it with one dad who needs to hear it.

Back the Ride: gobundance.com/theride

What happens when you raise boys with earth-based traditions, rites of passage, and the wilderness as their classroom?

Tim Corcoran has spent 25 years answering that question. He's the founder of Twin Eagles Wilderness School in North Idaho, a rites of passage guide, wilderness mentor, and father of two sons.

He's mentored kids from age 6 through adulthood, taken over 100 men through vision quests, and built a community where families stay for 15 years because of the impact on their children. In this conversation with Jon Vroman, Tim breaks down what rites of passage actually are, why boys need challenge and mentorship from men beyond their fathers, and what 25 years of nature-based mentoring has taught him about raising grounded, confident, capable young men.

Front Row Dads is partnering with Tim for an exclusive father-son wilderness adventure this fall. → https://frontrowdads.com/fatherson

In This Interview:

→ Why earth-based traditions are needed now more than ever to raise boys into men

→ What a rite of passage actually is and why the term is widely misused

→ The difference between initiation and rite of passage and why it matters

→ Why Tim said no to leading rites of passage for 7 years until the community was ready

→ What the father-son wilderness adventure looks like (5 days, no screens, no phones, real challenge)

→ The developmental path from age 6 through vision quest and why each stage builds on the last

→ Why boys need a village of men and not just one father to model after

→ What happens when you initiate emotional maturity in boys at 13 instead of waiting until 45 → Jon's personal experience at the father-son trip and what it revealed about his own edges

This Conversation Is For You If:

→ You're a father raising boys and you want more than sports and school to shape who they become

→ You've been looking for a meaningful father-son experience that goes deeper than a vacation → You want your son to be grounded, emotionally mature, and ready to lead before he leaves home

→ You believe boys need challenge, nature, and trusted men in their lives → You're an entrepreneur or business owner and you want your son to see you do hard things

Next Step:

Front Row Dads is partnering with Twin Eagles Wilderness School for an exclusive father-son wilderness adventure this fall. Limited to 10 families. If you want to experience what Tim has been building for 25 years with your son, details are here: → https://frontrowdads.com/fatherson

Connect With Tim Corcoran:

Twin Eagles Wilderness School: twineagles.org

Purpose Mountain (adult vision quests & purpose discovery): purposemountain.com

What does mature masculinity actually look like in fatherhood, marriage, and leadership? Jeddy Azuma of Rising Man joins Front Row Dads to talk about rites of passage, masculine presence, and why boys need initiated men.

In this Front Row Dads interview, Jeddy Azuma shares a grounded and honest look at mature masculinity, fatherhood, rites of passage, and the role men play in creating safety, stability, and leadership at home.

Jeddy is the founder of Rising Man and helps men step into deeper responsibility, purpose, and masculine presence. In this conversation, he and Jon Vroman explore the difference between containment and control, why masculine leadership is often about having "the lowest heart rate in the room," and how men can stop making everything about themselves — even when they think they are serving others.

A major theme of the episode is initiation. Jeddy explains why fathers may not be the ones to initiate their own sons, why boys need trusted men and "uncles" in their lives, and why modern men still need rites of passage to mark important transitions.

This conversation is especially relevant for fathers, husbands, and business owners who want to lead with more presence, emotional maturity, and strength — without bringing battle energy into the home.

In this interview:

• What mature masculinity looks like in fatherhood, marriage, and leadership

• The difference between containment and control in masculine energy

• Why fathers may not be able to initiate their own sons into manhood

• How rites of passage help boys and men mark major life transitions

• The hidden cost of bringing warrior energy into the home

• Why men need brotherhood to process emotions before they spill onto the family

• How fathers can model courage by doing hard things themselves

This conversation is for you if:

• You're a father who wants to raise strong, emotionally grounded sons

• You're a husband trying to lead at home without controlling everyone around you

• You're a business owner who carries pressure, intensity, and battle energy into family life

• You're a man who knows he needs deeper brotherhood, challenge, and initiation

• You want to become more present, steady, and mature for the people you love most

Next Step: If you're a family man with a business and you want to become more intentional as a father, husband, and leader, Family First is the next step. frontrowdads.com/familyfirst

Connect with Jeddy Azuma: Website: risingman.org/compass Instagram: @JeddyAzuma

#Fatherhood #RitesOfPassage #MatureMasculinity #MensWork #FrontRowDads

Kyle Cease is a New York Times bestselling author, former stand-up comedian, and creator of Evolving Out Loud. He's done over 15,000 one-on-one coaching sessions and spoken to crowds of thousands completely unscripted. He and Jon met 20 years ago at a Tony Robbins event and recently reconnected through their mutual friend Hal Elrod when Kyle moved to Austin.

What starts as a conversation about Kyle's work turns into a real-time coaching session where Jon opens up about patterns he's been carrying for years. This is not a polished interview. It's two men letting the conversation go wherever it needs to go.

What they get into:

→ Why your triggers are mirrors showing you something about yourself

→ The shadow of achievement and the wound of unworthiness underneath it

→ What happens when you stop needing your wife to hear you and start hearing yourself

→ The difference between agenda-driven living and soul-driven living

→ Why the patterns that made you successful are the ones ready to go → How Kyle lets his 8-year-old daughter lead their adventures by listening to her heart

→ The healing process: catch the pattern, stop feeding it, find the core wound, bring love to it

→ Why letting everything fall apart might be the most powerful thing you can do

→ Love liberates. It doesn't bind. What that actually means in a marriage.

If you've done years of personal growth work and still feel stuck in certain patterns, this conversation might crack something open.

🌐 kylecease.com

________________________________________

You don't need another thing on your calendar. You need the one thing that makes everything else better. Family First is a live weekly call for dads who protect their priorities → https://frontrowdads.com/family-first/

FRD members Jason Lee and Taylor Frame sit down for a real conversation about what's actually working at home right now. Jason has a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old and is deep in the sleepless years. Taylor has a 10-year-old, a 6-year-old, and a 3-year-old and has been through it. Different phases, same mission. Two dads comparing notes.

What they get into:

→ Why both of them filter all productivity and business advice through one question: do you have kids?

→ Why every kid is a different project and you can't parent them the same way

→ How Taylor built systems around outdoor living (e-bikes, outdoor showers, gear stations) because his family falls apart the minute they go inside

→ Why Jason is learning to stop resenting the middle-of-the-night wake-ups and start seeing them as moments he'll miss

→ The question Taylor asks instead of "be careful" that gives his kids room to think before they jump

→ How Jason uses a harness to let his kids learn to run and fall without smashing their face

→ Taylor gave his 10-year-old $100 at a mall and what she did with it surprised him

→ Why a good life isn't a life without problems and why the hard parts are usually the best parts

If you're in the early years and feeling like you can't see straight, this one's for you. If you're past them, it'll remind you how far you've come.

FRD member Mike Green with a quick one for dads before Mother's Day. If you've ever scrambled at the last minute, grabbed flowers from Trader Joe's, and hoped for the best, this is for you.

Mike breaks down the Platinum Rule, which is not treat her the way you want to be treated, but treat her the way she wants to be treated. Sounds simple. But how do you actually know what she wants? Mike shares three curiosity tools that replace guessing with intention:

→ Ask — but ask thoughtfully and early, not the night before → Observe — watch for the patterns, what drains her, what lights her up, take notes months ahead → Empathy — step into her world and feel what this season of life actually feels like for her

Then he gives you a simple past, present, future filter to design a day that's actually about her experience, not just your effort. Short, practical, and worth 6 minutes of your time before Sunday.

FRD member Mike Green sits down with fellow FRD member Danny Mulvihill for a conversation every dad needs to hear. Danny is a father of two daughters (10 and 14) and has been married for 17.5 years. For most of his adult life, he was the master of "I'm sorry, but." The words were there but the energy was off.

Two years ago, after a heated argument with his older daughter, his wife pushed him to go upstairs and repair it before bed. He didn't want to. He climbed those stairs, fighting it every step. But what happened when he got there changed how he shows up as a father.

They get into:

→ How to name the specific thing you did wrong and then stop talking

→ Why you can be right or you can be connected, but rarely both at the same time

→ How the repair process actually shortens the gap between blowing up and catching yourself

→ Why proper repair is sometimes better than never having the rupture at all

→ The long-term stakes of how you apologize to your daughters and what it teaches them to accept in future relationships

→ How learning to repair opened the door to showing real emotion in front of his kids for the first time