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.

Should you let your kids have screen time when they're younger? How young is too young to

give them their first phone? What about sugar and

processed foods? Should they get an allowance? Should you make them get a job? Do they have to

clean up after themselves or can the parents help? Should they do their own laundry? Being a parent is,

in a sense, just an endless stream of questions. We don't know, so we ask, or we are asked by their

teachers, by the state, by fellow parents, an endless stream of policy questions. Can they watch

our rated movies? Are you okay with this or that? Is it safe to do this or that? It would be

wonderful if there was clarity on this, if there was one central authority that had all the answers.

But you have to have suspected by now, that is not true. In fact, really coming into your own as a

father requires a realization like the one that Alan Ginsburg had on his path to becoming a great

poet. He was 28 and had a job as a market researcher. He told his psychologist that he was

considering quitting his promising career to make his way into the world to become a writer.

Well, why not? His psychiatrist said. What would the American Psychoanalytic Association say,

Ginsburg, replied, and the therapist said, there is no party line. That's what you realize as a

father. There is no party line. There is no clear answer, not for having kids, not even for one

kid versus the other. As we've talked about, every situation, every child, every age is different.

You have to figure it out as you go. That doesn't mean winging it, but it does mean you

will have to answer these questions. No one can do it for you.

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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