Dad Tired Daily: 5 Reasons Empathy Is Hard for Men (And One Simple Practice)
Dad Tired
Jerrad Lopes
5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 16 January 2026
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Most men aren’t unloving — we’re just under-trained in empathy.
In this episode of Dad Tired Daily, Jerrad shares a personal moment from his marriage and unpacks why empathy is so hard for many men. From childhood survival patterns to chronic stress and the fear that empathy equals agreement, he walks through five common blockers that keep men emotionally distant from their wives and kids.
Then he offers one simple, practical way to grow empathy this week — not by fixing, preaching, or escaping — but by learning to pause, name emotions, and stay present just a little longer than feels comfortable.
Empathy isn’t weakness. It’s a muscle. And it can be grown.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today we're talking about not agreeing with your wife, how to grow your muscles, and how to become more empathetic. |
| 0:05.7 | Welcome back to Dad Tired Daily. |
| 0:08.6 | So yesterday I mentioned that my wife was having a hard morning the other day. |
| 0:12.4 | And I hesitate to bring this up because it feels political. |
| 0:15.9 | And I promise you right up front, I'm not trying to make any political statement here. |
| 0:19.6 | Layla is Persian. |
| 0:21.8 | Her family is from Iran. My mother-in-law, born and raised in Iran. And I don't know if you've been following the news. |
| 0:26.8 | I don't actually have any news apps. And so I very rarely follow the news. But this one directly applies to |
| 0:32.6 | our family, specifically Layla's family. All of her family is still back in Iran. |
| 0:42.4 | So if you haven't been following, there's a bunch of kind of chaos going on, specifically in Iran and protest, and many people dying. |
| 0:46.9 | So we don't need to get into any kind of politics here, but lots of people are dying. |
| 0:50.6 | And Layla hasn't been able to get a hold of her family, which has been just super scary. |
| 0:54.2 | So you can imagine she feels really scared. We can to get a hold of her family, which has been just super scary. So you can imagine she feels really scared. |
| 0:57.2 | We can't get a hold of anyone to make sure that they're okay. |
| 0:59.7 | And so that was kind of the situation that was unfolding that I was referencing the other day. |
| 1:04.2 | By the way, just as a complete side note, a lot of missions organizations believe that Iran is the fastest growing underground church in the world. |
| 1:13.2 | More people are coming to know Jesus in Iran, underground, illegally, than potentially anywhere else in the world, |
| 1:20.3 | which is just incredible and super encouraging and also a reason for us to pray. |
| 1:25.4 | Along those lines, when thinking through our brothers |
| 1:28.4 | and sisters who might be suffering, as I'm sitting in the bathroom and I'm consoling my wife |
| 1:33.0 | who's feeling really sad about her family, I'm trying to grow the muscle of empathy to put |
| 1:39.6 | myself in her shoes. And this is a hard skill for me. And I think it's a hard skill for a lot of us, |
... |
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