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.

It's like this for everyone.

Very few of us leave the house confident about the impressions we cut as a parent. In fact, most of us leave the house with a tiny bit of fear. What are these animals going to do today, we think? What fresh idea do they have for embarrassing me? It's strange that we're so self-conscious about something that we share with literally every parent

because basically nobody's kids behave. We're all riders on the same out-of-control horse.

And if you're not or if you see someone who isn't, you can rest assured it's because the kids

are the ones who are afraid. We talked about Lincoln recently, who used to bring his brats to the

office and the words of his law partner.

As much as he hated the noise, William Herndon actually seemed to admire Lincoln's ability

to deal with this. The boys were absolutely unrestrained in their amusement, he noted.

If they pulled down all the books from the shelves, bent the points of all the pens,

overturned inkstands, scattered law papers over the floor, bent the points of all the pens, overturned inkstands, scattered lawpapers

over the floor, or threw the pencils into the spittoon. It never disturbed the serenity of their

father's good nature. The lesson here is twofold. First off, it's a reminder that you're not

alone in raising absolute hellions. That's just what kids are, and they never really stop being them.

They just find new ways of stirring stuff up when they're older. Two, really the only part of this

that reflects on you is how you respond to it. If it turns you into a monster, if it makes you mean or

nasty or makes you throw a fit in response to their fit, well, that's the real problem. Of course, we have to do our best to

restrain our kids. We can't let them destroy other people's property or leave a huge mess behind

when we get off an airplane. We also don't need to walk on eggshells or be mortified. Even if some

people judge you, most other parents empathize. They know what you're going through. So relax.

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