This show is sponsored by Better Help.

Welcome to the Daily Dad podcast, where we provide one lesson every single day to help you with your most important job, being a parent.

I'm Ryan Holiday, and I draw these lessons from ancient philosophy, modern psychology, practical wisdom,

and insights from parents just like you all over the world. Thank you for listening,

and we hope this helps.

Is this a family habit? Even a hundred years ago, it was an argument at plenty of dinner tables.

They didn't have TVs then, let alone iPads, but families were still fighting about what was

happening at mealtime, what was allowed at the table. Parents were still comparing themselves

against what they thought the neighbors were doing, what kind of behavior they were

letting their kids get away with. But not the Carter's. Jimmy Carter's family had settled this issue.

His mother liked to read, and after getting dinner ready, she wanted to sit down and enjoy her

food with a book. The kids were encouraged to follow suit. It wasn't considered rude, Jimmy would

later reflect. Reading at

the table was a Carter family habit. What a beautiful scene that must have been, even if it was

a little untraditional. Each of their faces buried in a book, each of them learning, entertaining

themselves, widening their horizons, each of them building the habit, the habit that

turns a child into a lifelong reader. Now, maybe this is a little ambitious these days or for your

family. Screens are slightly more exciting to a kid than a book in the 21st century,

but we can still encourage the habit. Indeed, we must. And the best way to do it is the way

that Jimmy Carter's mother did, by example. Her habit was a contagious one. She modeled what it meant

to be a reader. And she was also smart enough to bend some rules and dispose of some manners to encourage

that habit. She was willing even to trade conversation in order to get it. As we say in the Daily Dad, we have to raise readers. We have to encourage, make a family habit. We have to do it by whatever means is necessary. And that's my kids coming in the front door right now. So check out the Daily Dad. The new book is out now. Everywhere Books are sold, if you haven't seen it already. And they are hammering at the door. So I'm going to go, you grab that book, and we're going to go read at dinner. Sometimes we feel uncertain. Sometimes I've certainly felt that way. I felt like I was struggling with something. I didn't know the way out of it or through it. And obviously, stoicism is there, but this is also what therapy

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