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

These are lessons inspired by ancient philosophy, by practical wisdom, and insights from dads all over the world.

Thank you for listening, and we hope this helps.

Did this teach you something about time?

The last 17 months were not created equal for all of us. Some of us suddenly

spent more time with our kids than we ever imagined. Schools were shut down. Child care options

were limited. They couldn't go out and be with their friends, whereas other parents were suddenly

separated from their kids because borders were closed because they were essential workers,

because travel was more difficult because someone was sick. In either case, the lesson was there.

Life is fragile. The world is unpredictable, and you cannot take time with your kids for granted.

While others have flippantly talked about looking forward to things going back to normal,

we know now that such a thing should never happen.

We know that we don't want that to happen because normal was not only what caused this,

but the old normal involved so many of us taking things for granted.

It involved us living reactive lives instead of proactive ones,

assuming at every turn that we'd always have time with our kids whenever we wanted it.

The many months we've spent with our families or the months we spent apart from our families

should teach us that we have to be intentional about our relationships.

And this time should remind us, as Epictita said, that we

never truly possess those who are precious to us, that we must cherish them while we can,

that we must put them first while we can, that we should come out of this stronger, more

connected, and more present. Forget going back to normal. Make a new, better normal out of this.

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