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.

Does it have to be hard to be your kid?

Think about the life of Randolph Churchill, who we've talked about.

Think about the life of Claudia Williams, the daughter of Ted Williams, who we've talked about.

Think of Commodus, the son of Marcus Aurelius.

These kids were privileged in many ways.

They had wealthy, powerful parents who gave them access to so many wonderful things.

But surely, if you had asked them, they'd have told you just how hard it was to be the child of someone like their parents.

Because they were gone so much, because they were so hard on them, because their parents had enormous almost Shakespearean

virtues as well as flaws, the brunt of which their poor children had to bear.

There is no person who has no issues with their parents, but we still ought to strive to be

the best we can to avoid just that.

It should not be so hard to be our children, and we should not make

it any harder. Life is hard enough. We don't need to add to it by saddling them with a desperate

sense that they have to live up to our legacy or that our love is conditional or that our presence

cannot be counted on. They should not have to wonder what our priorities are. They should not have

to take care of us. They should not have to fend for themselves when they are small and vulnerable.

Lachter et emergo, as we have said before, indeed children grow from struggle and challenges,

but we should not be one of those challenges. We should be the person that they look for, for the confidence and the

support and the advice they need to help them tackle those challenges. We should be the person there

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