The Daily Dad
Episodes
What Are You Playing For?
10 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It can be hard in the moment to think of anything else. You have lunches to make. Practices to get to. Birthday parties to plan. Work to do. Childhood...
Rich Is How Much You Get To See Your Kids
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There are lots of different trappings of wealth. A big house. A nice car. Exotic vacations. First-class flights? Private flights? Not everyone can aff...
Don’t Send Them In Defenseless
08 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Your kids are going to face stuff in life. Big stuff for sure–failing tests, being made fun of, getting fired, losing something important to them. W...
Ryan Holiday And Dr. Becky Kennedy On Emotional Vaccination (PT 1)
06 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this weekend episode of the Daily Dad Podcast, Ryan talks with clinical psychologist Dr. Becky Kennedy on how we emotionally vaccinate, the ability...
Show Them What They’ll Get Out Of This
05 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Most schools and most parents teach reading all wrong. They bully kids into doing it. They pressure them. They tell them, “Reading is what smart and...
This Is What We Have To Try To Get Better At
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We spend so much time at the office, trying to get better at our jobs, trying to make a little more money, trying to climb further up the ladder. We s...
You Have To Know How These Things Land
03 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It doesn’t feel like they listen. In fact, we have pretty visible evidence that they don’t. We tell them not to do this or that and then we watch ...
This is What It Costs
02 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been quoting recently from the old children’s story The Velveteen Rabbit, about a toy that’s so loved by a young boy that it becomes real....
Show Them It’s Not Too Late
01 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We talked recently about what Dr. Becky Kennedy always tells parents: it’s never too late. We’ve talked about Nell Painter’s mother, who became...
Ryan and Sam Holiday on The Importance Of Routine
30 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this weekend episode of the Daily Dad, Ryan talks with his wife Samantha on finding common ground and learning to empathize after they had kids...
Why Are You Trying To Make This Go Away?
29 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve said this before, but one of the things we need to constantly remind ourselves of as parents is that our kids are just being kids. If we’re ...
Reform is Necessary, Despair is Criminal
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You weren’t the parent you wanted to be in 2023. You weren’t the person you wanted to be in 2023. Almost no one was. Anyone who thinks or says the...
The Debt Is Paid Forward
27 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We do so much for our kids. We drive them around. We provide for them. We entertain them. And of course, there are parents who do even more. Parents w...
[Good Inside] It’s Never Too Late
26 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Every parent wishes they could have done some things differently. Maybe you wish you were around more when they were a toddler. Maybe you wish you wer...
This Is a Gift To Give Yourself (And Your Family)
25 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today we wanted to run our favorite entry from The Daily Dad: 366 Meditations on Parenting, Love, and Raising Great Kids, a helpful reminder on this d...
Ryan and Sam Holiday on Recognizing The Most Important Thing
23 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“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.”On thi...
You Must Give Them This Gift
22 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Theodore Roosevelt lived an incredible life. He was an author. A naturalist. A rancher. A police chief. A cowboy. A hunter. A governor. A soldier. ...
You’re Made Not Born
21 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There is a beautiful passage in The Velveteen Rabbit where the young rabbit asks one of the seasoned old toys in the playroom whether ‘becoming real...
Are You Modeling This?
20 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Beauty to the Stoics was far deeper than appearances. “If your choices are beautiful,” Epictetus said, “so too will you be.”It’s simple and ...
You’re Responsible Too
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Each of us is responsible for what we do as parents, but we’re also responsible for the dynamic that exists in our homes and in our relationships. J...
It’s Ultimately This That They Judge You On
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s no question Hemingway was a great writer. He was the voice of a generation—The Lost Generation. He redefined prose style in the English la...
Ryan Holiday And Whitney Cummings On Self-Awareness And Better Parenting Habits
16 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this weekend episode of the Daily Dad, Ryan talks to American stand-up comedian, actress, writer, director, producer, and podcaster Whitney Cummi...
This Is Something To Be Glad About
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It can be hard to express your feelings as a father sometimes. Not so much because men are expected to bottle up their emotions, but because the emoti...
Don’t Try To Make Them Happy
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A parent is only as happy as their unhappiest child, goes the expression. And even if that wasn’t true, even if it didn’t directly impact our own ...
Why Not?
13 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
He was a young man fresh out of the Naval Academy and a stint in the submarine service. He was being interviewed by Admiral Hyman Rickover for a covet...
Let Them Know They Have It
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We wanted it so badly and we never got it. We still haven’t got it. Dad was withholding, dad was hard to please—we wanted to make him proud, but w...
You Have This Freedom Now
11 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There are things you would have never done before. You’d never have sung a crazy song in public. You’d never have painted your nails. You would ha...
How To Raise A Resilient Child
10 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“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.”On thi...
Don’t Let Your Kids Be Worse
08 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve talked about this before: Being a father is a second chance. It’s a fresh start. It’s an obligation to work on yourself so your kids pick ...
It Doesn’t Happen All At Once
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
No one is the parent they want to be. That’s the bad news. The good news is that most of us are better parents than we were.We’ve talked a lot ...
This Will Make Your Life (And Kids) Better
06 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Most times, we’re in need of all the help we can get. We read parenting books, or watch parenting videos, trying to find those keys to make our live...
They Are Doing Their Job
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been talking about Dr. Becky’s wonderful book Good Inside recently (a must read!), and she has a great little section where she’s talking ...
They Deserve To Know
04 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s dark stuff. It’s not pleasant. We wish it wasn’t true.But that doesn’t mean we can hide it from our children. Because it did happen. And ...
Ryan And Sam On Who Makes The Decision
03 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this weekend episode of the Daily Dad, Ryan talks with his wife Samantha on understanding the alternatives later and making the decision, while t...
You’re Making Them Hungry
01 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It does work. We have to concede that. For generations, some parents have tried withholding praise, withholding pride, withholding approval so that th...
What Legacy Are You Providing?
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
What Do You Want Them NOT To Say?
29 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Teach Them This To Give Them That
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 wha...
You Gave Up This Right
27 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Ryan and Sam On Reflecting Through Parenting And Solving The Problem
25 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
How To Raise Generous Kids
24 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
No One Has It Better Than You
23 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
It’s Been Like This A While
22 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 o...
This Is What To Train Them In
21 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 co...
How To Care Less What Others Think
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 l...
Ryan & Sam On The Right Way To Praise
19 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 makin...
It’s Not Annoying, It’s The Job
17 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“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.”Someti...
You Don’t Have The Time
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 response...
Only They Can Say
15 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 aw...
You Can’t Fault Them For Your Hypocrisy
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“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 au...
Try To Get To This Place
13 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 st...
Ryan Holiday And Adam Grant On Creating Your Own Momentum
11 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Do You Know Your Purpose?
10 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Beware This Energy
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 opinio...
How Much Of This Do You Give Them?
08 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
It’s The Worst Lie
07 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“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 t...
It Will All Be Past Tense Soon
06 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Ryan & Sam On Emotional Vaccination
05 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this weekend episode of the Daily Dad, Ryan talks with his wife Samantha on the difference between expressing pride and relief, and practicing mo...
They Need This, Whether They Know It Or Not
04 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Stoicism 101: Philosophy for Your Actual Life It’s an awesome, accessible, and practical two-week deep dive into philosophy that every parent (and ...
You Still Have Time To Avoid Those Regrets
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ho...
Take Their Pain Seriously
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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’...
It’s For Parents Too
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Aristotle wrote his famous Nicomachean Ethics for his son, Nicomachus. Seneca was given a philosophy teacher by his father. Cato too, was given the ph...
There’s Enough To Worry About Already
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ho...
Can Your Kids Say This?
30 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 yo...
Ryan & Sam On Solving The Problem First
28 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 anticipatio...
You Need To Calm Down
27 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Your kids are going to make bad decisions. They are going to do things you disagree with. They may well grow up into someone you don’t understand.Th...
You’ll Only Hear It If You’re Really Listening
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a noisy world out there… and most of us add to the din. We chatter on social media. We chatter on the phone. We chatter over email.Even as pa...
If You Can’t Do That, Do This
25 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Maybe someday, you’ll get there. It’ll probably be too late–your teenager will be grown up, the phase will be over, things will have calmed down...
This Power Corrupts
24 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It happens so often that you hardly even notice it anymore. Your kids said they weren’t hungry and now of course they are. You told them to go to th...
What Do They Think When You Come Home?
23 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Here’s a test of your own childhood: Imagine you’re sitting on the couch watching TV. You’re in the kitchen making a snack. You and a friend are...
Ryan And Wife Samantha Holiday On Emotionally Matured Parents
21 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this weekend episode of the Daily Dad, Ryan talks with his wife Samantha on starting with the idea that your kids are good inside, what truly i...
Our Kids Owe Us Nothing
20 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Family is wonderful. None of us would be here, the writer Aaron Thier once put it, if people hadn’t taken care of us when we were small. Somebody bi...
You Need So Little Now
19 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We had this idea of what we wanted, needed our lives to be. How much money we wanted to make and through what career path. We wanted a new house. We w...
No Need To Make Excuses
18 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Yeah, some people won’t get it. Yeah, some people think it’s weak.But you? You know it isn’t.Which is why you make no secret about your other li...
Every Step Comes With This
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“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.”There ...
How Long Can They Hold Out?
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We all want better for our kids. We want them to have a better life than we had. We want them to have better parents than we had. That’s why we’re...
Ryan Holiday And Steven Rinella On Recapturing Important Moments With Your Kids
14 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this weekend episode of the Daily Dad, Ryan talks to Steven Rinella about the sense of wonder, respect & adventure for nature, spending time ...
Teach Them To Put Their Energy Here
13 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There is so much we want to teach our kids—so much that fathers are expected to teach their kids. How to ride a bike. How to swim. How to throw a pu...
It’s Made You Stupid (But Better)
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The last book you read was Goodnight Moon. The last series you binged was Harry Potter. You know more about the latest scandal at your daughter’s hi...
This Is Everything You Ever Wanted
11 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The two boys who look just like you. The daughter who lights up when you pick her up from school. The teenager who wears your old band t-shirts. The m...
Are You Good At Hearing?
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“She’s not good at hearing people,” the musician Mikel Jollett writes of his mother in his haunting memoir Hollywood Park. “If we tell her we’...
They’re Probably Just Tired Of This
09 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When they’re grouchy, when they’re glass-eyed, when they’re stuck, when they’re making choices that don’t quite make sense…there could be ...
Ryan Holiday And Christina Pazsitzky On Making Kids Priority
07 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“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.”On thi...
You Were Given Something Special
06 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You knew it that day in the hospital. You felt it the first time they threw their arms around you. You are reminded of it every time they do something...
This Is Always The Goal
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When your teenager sits you down to come clean to you about something…When you’re on vacation and wondering whether you should try to squeeze one ...
It Can All Go Away In A Second
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“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.”It’s...
This Is How To Hold Them To You
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you want to spend more time with your kids, as we said recently, the important thing is that you don’t drive them away. Yet that’s what so many...
You’re Going To Regret This
02 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine you’ve come to the end. You’re leaving this world, leaving your kids behind. Or worse, more unthinkably, your kids are leaving you. They’...
Ryan And Wife Samantha Holiday On Being Challenged More In The Parenting Domain
30 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this weekend episode of the Daily Dad, Ryan talks with his wife Samantha on stepping outside of our own upbringing and challenging the conversati...
Store These Moments In Your Soul
29 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This change we’ve made, this decision to become dads—it has uprooted everything. It’s like we were hit, suddenly, with a crossfire hurricane. Th...
You Won’t Be Able To Get It Out Of Your Head
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You weren’t wrong. You did have some experience on the matter. You only wanted what was best for them.You wanted them to stay in school. You didn’...
Do They Get To See This Too?
27 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
They see you disheveled and groggy. They see you busy and preoccupied. They see you argue with your spouse. They see you burned out after a long week....
It’s Just Too Much For Them
26 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The amount of choices we have today is not normal. Certainly, it’s quite new. When you were a kid–which was not that long ago–there were how man...
This Is Something You Should Do
25 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When they’re young, when they’re asleep, when they’re older, when you’re old, when you’re on vacation, after a big Thanksgiving meal, early ...
Ryan And Wife Samantha Holiday On The ability To Handle Frustration
23 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this weekend episode of the Daily Dad, Ryan talks with his wife Samantha on being the model for our kids and the ultimate skill on the ability to...
Don’t Let Your Curiosity Atrophy
22 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
By now, you’ve almost certainly lost count of how many questions you’ve been asked by your kids. From the moment they can talk, that’s what fath...
Are You The Splendid Or The Vile?
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1940, as Nazi bombs rained down on London, an observer noted the contrasts between the “natural splendor and human vileness.” This idea (which ...
It’ll Come To You Later
20 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the moment, it seemed like a big deal. In the moment, you just needed them to understand your concerns. In the moment, the phone was ringing. In th...
There Are Only Hard Decisions
19 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Wouldn’t it be nice if everything was simple and straightforward? That’s what we’d like the job of a parent to be. We’d like there to be a blu...
This Is A Very Underrated Skill
18 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There are parents who pay for music lessons so their kids can play an instrument. There are parents who tutor their kids in a foreign language. There ...