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 think about it this way. Every TV show perpetuates the stereotype. Our own memories confirm it. At some point,

parents have to have to talk about drugs, about sex, about race, about divorce. It's awkward,

it's unwanted, inevitably, it's insufficient. Of course it is, because to think a person can explain

or that a child can understand these topics in one conversation is preposterous.

It also puts way too much pressure on both sides of the conversation

for you to nail the delivery and for them to hear everything that you're telling them.

A better way to approach these complicated subjects

is to, you know, approach them as complicated subjects, something that you talk about regularly,

consistently in a low-pressure environment. It should be ongoing because things change,

because kids grow, because experiences will allow them to put meaning to words,

as well as spur important questions. As we said before, this parenting job is one that never

ends. Many of its component tasks are like that too. They are ongoing. They evolve. You only talk to your

kids about sex or race once, when they're 13 and you're 40, as if nothing You only talk to your kids about sex or race once when they're 13 and

you're 40, as if nothing else is going to happen, as if your understanding of either of those

fraught subjects hasn't changed multiple times between 13 and 40 yourself, as if neither of you

will continue to learn or grow? Be serious. Don't think of this as an unpleasant

task to get over with. Think of it as a wellspring of connection, a conversation you will be

having with your kids as long as you're both here, a conversation they'll pick up and carry on

with their own kids. So start it right and keep it going.

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