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.

If you want them to listen.

You want them to listen.

You want them to respect you, as we've talked about.

What's the secret? The great Musonius Rufus, who had some very ahead of his time advice about raising girls versus boys, reminded the kings, he advised that towards subjects one should strive to be regarded with awe rather than with fear.

Reverence attends the one, he says, bitterness, the other.

This calls to mind not just Machiavelli's advice to leaders

1500 years later, but Abraham Lincoln's parenting philosophy 300 years after that.

Lincoln came to believe that love binds families together better than fear.

It was a position he arrived at through experience in reaction to an upbringing under a tyrannical

father. If you want kids who listen to you, you have to strive to be worthy of being listened to.

If you want kids that spend time with you, be someone they want to

spend time with. If you want respect, command it by what you do and who you are. Do not demand it,

like some of those figures from history or even in our own lives who impotently beg for it or

futilely expect it. Strike awe, not fear, by realizing your own potential,

by having their act together, by pushing yourself, show them what an adult looks like,

show them what they can be, show them something they'll want to be. This will get you what you

want to in more ways than one. Hey, thanks for listening to The Daily Dad podcast. You can get this

via email every day as well at Daily Dad.com. Please leave us a review in iTunes. Most importantly,

if you know any dads or parents who would benefit from these messages, please spread the word.

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