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.

Don't forget how small they are. There's a scene in the haunting novel The Sweet Hereafter, which is not to be read for

faint-hearted parents. A widowed husband is folding up the clothes of his late wife. He's struck,

holding her things, just how physically small the person he loved and missed really was. Because

men spend so much of their lives intimidated by women, he writes, they come to see them

as much bigger than they really are. In a sense, this is true for our kids too. They take up so much

space in our lives. They have such big presences. They are so loud. But we can easily forget,

as we reprimand them for knocking something over as we yell at them

for sneaking out that they are tiny, tiny people. They barely have control of themselves. They are

dwarfed by us physically in experiences and confidence. So we have to be careful. Whether they are

teenagers or toddlers, we can't forget how small they are. When they fall asleep in the car and you carry them to bed, take a second to notice their size. As you pack up their stuff and take them to college, take a look at just how little stuff they have because their life is still so new. The smaller you realize your kids are, the kinder you will be. The more protective and patient you will be.

The more you will appreciate how hard they are trying, the more impressed you will be of all

that they can do.

The more forgiving you will be of what they do wrong.

They are so small.

Do not forget it.

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