Welcome to the Daily Dad podcast where we provide one lesson every single day to help you with your most important job, being a parent.

I'm Ryan Holiday, and I draw these lessons from ancient philosophy, modern psychology, practical wisdom,

and insights from parents just like you all over the world.

Thank you for listening, and we hope this helps.

Can your kids say this?

You are not perfect, and nobody would argue that, least of all your kids. this? You are not perfect.

Nobody would argue that, least of all your kids.

But are you better?

Better than you were when you were younger, better than you were a couple years ago, better than yesterday.

Rinker Buck wrote a fascinating book about traveling the Mississippi River on a flatboat.

It's an amazing story.

You can pick up at the painted porch.

But the book begins with some reflections about his mother who was dying. He tells the story about how she came out of her shell in the decades after his father died, how she became active in

all these organizations and causes, and even made amends for some things that happened during

Rinker's childhood. After his mother died,

Rinker's friend captured the uniqueness of his mother's journey perfectly. She changed, the friend said.

Not many of us can say that about our mothers. Will your kids be able to say that? That you got

better as you aged, as opposed to, sadly, the way people hardened their

hearts and their habits, that you kept working on yourself, that although you made mistakes,

you tended not to make the same ones more than once, that although you didn't always get it

right as a parent, you were better as a grandparent? That's basically what we're trying to do here

at Daily Dad. That's the journey that the Daily Dad book is supposed to help you with. And that's why

...