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.

Have you seen their perspective?

We think they're making excuses.

We think they're making stuff up. We just want them to go back and

sleep in their bed or listen to their coach or get their work done. It's fine, we tell them. Just give

it a try. Wear your jacket. It's not that uncomfortable. Do your homework. It's not that difficult.

Do you remember reading to Kill a Mockingbird where Gem talks about

climbing into somebody's skin and walking around in it? Well, have you actually done that? Not with someone

you pity or someone you wish to be, but with someone you aspire to lead and to teach and to nourish,

someone like your own children. Your kid wakes up and comes into your bed

at night. Try sleeping in their bed. Maybe it really is scary in there. Watch soccer practice. Maybe

the coach really is a jerk. How do you think that jacket feels to a kid? Maybe it really is way too

hot in there. Did you like doing your homework? Let's talk about trigonometry or

Hamlet or the crustaceous period. Did your parents understand how much you were struggling?

We want to teach our kids empathy and for some reason it doesn't occur to us to really apply it

at home. We just want them to follow our instructions. We know they can, so when they don't, we think

it's a challenge to our authority. No, it's an issue of perspective. It's us not understanding

what it's like to be them, what it's like to be in their skin or sleep in their bed, literally.

See their perspective, crawl inside it, walk around it, and take a step back and parent accordingly.

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