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 not an excuse. Parenting is a wonderful excuse. It gets you out of things you don't want to do.

You can always tell people, sorry, I've got to take care of my kids, and most of the time they'll

understand. But this blessing is also a curse, or rather the power of the excuse has the power to

corrupt. How many people, as we've talked about, use their family as a way to rationalize whatever it is that they want to do?

This is what the parents were doing in the Varsity Blues scandal, telling themselves they were helping their kids when really they were in a status competition with other parents.

This is the logic that Gus Fring used to manipulate Walter White with in Breaking Bad.

A man provides, he tells Walter. But really,

this was a means of rationalizing genuinely evil and criminal behavior that they both did for reasons

that had very little to do with anyone but themselves. Your kids are not an excuse to be a monster.

For those of us well above the poverty line, your kids are not why you are gone all the

time. You're gone for you. There are lots of ways to make a living. You chose this one. Your kids would

rather have a parent work in some industry that isn't destroying the environment. They would gladly

forego private school in exchange. You can bet on that. Your job is to provide, sure, but it's not your only job.

Your job is also to be an example. Your job is to do the right thing as the new book is about.

Right thing right now, good values, good character, good deeds. Your job is to be available to

your kids. Your job is to make the world a better place, not simply be able to afford them nice things,

especially if you had to get your hands dirty to afford those things.

Don't use your kids as an excuse. It's embarrassing.

And look, the new book is coming out June 11th. I think you're really going to like it.

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