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 Holliday, 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 your fault there this way. F. Scott Fitzgerald

knew the long-term damage of being spoiled rotten. Not only was he a prime and painful example

of this himself, as we've written about, but as he observed and studied the rich men and women of the

jazz age, he saw how indulgent people quickly became the careless monsters he portrayed in the

Great Gatsby. In Fitzgerald's stories, the rich are always expecting life to be easy, expecting

their money to exempt them from consequences. They're selfish, naive, insufferable, and superficial.

As the subjects of his stories, this makes them fascinating heroes and anti-heroes. But Fitzgerald also

wanted us to know who the real villains were, the parents and the families that

raised them. As he depicts in one memorable exchange in the offshore pirate, a story about a young,

beautiful girl who refused to listen to her guardians, you've grown unbearable, your disposition.

You've made me that way. She says, no child ever had a bad disposition unless it's her family's

fault. Whatever I am, you did it. The truth applies to all of us, not just fathers and families

whose incomes put them in the 1%. We must blame ourselves or no one, remember? If your kid's not a hard

worker, that's on us. If your kid's a bully or

acts like they have an advanced degree from Dick's school, that's on us. If your kid has an

attitude or gets into trouble, that's on us. They're kids. It's not our fault for not teaching them

better. And it's even less excusable if we throw our hands up and say, that's just the way they

turned out. No, whatever they are,

we did it. And it's not too late to make improvements.

Hey, you're listening to the Daily Dad podcast, one meditation a day inspired to help you do your most important job,

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