The Daily Dad

As it happens, this is good advice for fathers as well. It’s easy to go into it thinking that you know. Because you’ve read the books. Because you’re on your third kid now and have it handled. Because you and your spouse have a plan for how to do it all right. And then guess what? Unavoidable reality quickly humbles anyone with this kind of certainty.

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Across cultures, across generations, across politics and moments in time, this having kids thing–it just cuts through everything. You probably know very little about the Easter Uprising in Ireland. You don’t have to know who Michael Mallin was. You don’t have to know what motivated him to join an armed revolution against the British. You don’t have to know what he did as one of its leaders.

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You’re pretty sure you know what’s best for your kids. You’re sure something they are considering is a bad idea. You’re sure they shouldn’t drop out of school. You’re sure they shouldn’t hang out with that kid. You’re sure they should take this job instead of that one. And usually you’re right. Usually, you know better.

But do you know best? Really? How can you be so sure?

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It can feel like there is never enough time as a parent. And it’s true, there isn’t…yet part of this is our fault. As Seneca would say, it’s not just that life is short, it's that we waste a lot of it.

As parents we have to look for opportunities to save time…so we can spend more of it with the people we love.

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We’ve said before that parenting is a grind. It’s exhausting. It can all seem so humdrum, even a burden. Staying up with an overtired toddler. Staying up until curfew to check on a teenager. There will come a time that you’ll look back on even the most difficult moments of this journey and be nostalgic for it.

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On this weekend episode of the Daily Dad, Ryan recaps his trip to Disneyland with his family and how he was able to teach his kids about the importance of gratitude.

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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 ever, but what about what they read?

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You wouldn’t think of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius as a parenting book.

The former Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said all entrepreneurs, economists and politicians should read Meditations (and several American presidents have too). General James Mattis said every soldier should read Meditations. Actors recommend it to others in show business. Athletes recommend it to others in sports. Writers recommend it to other writers. Founders recommend it to others setting out to start a business.

But every parent should read it too.

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This seems like such a fraught moment in time. There was a pandemic. There’s been civil unrest. It feels like institutions are falling apart. Naturally, this scares us as parents. We’d like to look at the world before us is with fear and anger. But there's another way: gratitude, and determination.

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Today is Election Day in America (and countries all over the world will have theirs sometime soon). If you don’t vote, if you can’t be bothered to participate, then how can you say you really want your kids to have a better life? How can you really say you’d do anything to protect them?

Do this for them. It’s literally the least you can do.

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