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 thrust them away.

Of course, they can be annoying, painfully so. They scream in your ears. They ruin your clothes

with their food and their dirt-covered hands. They can cut off your air supply as they crawl onto

your back for a piggyback ride. Yet you have to absorb this. You can't thrust them away,

even though it hurts, even though you love this shirt,

even though you can't breathe. Yes, of course, you have to explain to them what's appropriate

and what isn't. Yes, you have to protect your own well-being, but the point is they have no idea

yet how their actions affect other people. Even teenagers don't fully comprehend the concept of consequences

of cause and effect. What they do comprehend is you getting upset, you pulling away. They can

feel your energy changing even if they can't put words to what it is they are sensing or

how it makes them feel. And what's most difficult about all this, as we've said

before, is that it might be very well this painful, confusing feeling is provoked and instinctual as it

was that sticks with them forever. So work on getting control of yourself. Work on toughening yourself

up a bit. You can gently unwrap their arms

from your throat. You can get a new shirt. You can turn the game around and chase them instead.

You can make what was annoying fun. You can turn the pain into a moment of profound connection.

That's entirely up to you. That's fully within your control.

And what's more?

It's your job as a good parent trying to raise happy kids.

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