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.

Easier or harder, which is it?

What is expected of you will change with time?

When they were tiny, you needed to do everything, lest they not survive the night.

When they got older, what was needed was different.

Food didn't need to be literally put in their mouth, but you still had to do so much.

And one day, they'll be older, much older.

Someday they'll even be the age you are now,

and hopefully you'll be there for that. What will be required of you then? What's the through line

to judge a good parent from the early days to the glory days through the golden years? It's simple.

Do you make their life easier or harder, better, or worse? That's your job. That's what

dad is. Dad is a guy who is there to help get them things. Not everything, as we have discussed,

but to do the things that need to be done. Does your visit to see the grandkids help reduce

some of the burdens of being a new parent, or does it just add to stress and

conflict? Does helping with homework make your daughter feel more capable like she can figure

everything out, or do you make her feel more insecure and less smart? Do the weekends with you as part

of the custody split provide a safe space, or is it an obligation, a source of disruption? Parenting is complicated,

but in the end, it's past fail. Do you make their life easier or harder, better or worse? Which is it?

Because that's the question you've got to be able to answer and the changes you have to make

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