Welcome to the Daily Dad podcast where we provide one lesson every day to help you with your

most important job being a dad. These are lessons inspired by ancient philosophy, by practical

wisdom, and insights from dads all over the world.

Thank you for listening, and we hope this helps.

Protect them from this too. You check the ingredients in their food to make sure they are not

ingesting needless chemicals. You make sure that they wear a mask when they go outside during a

pandemic. You're like every parent who ever lived. You're concerned about their safety, what goes

in their bodies, what happens to their tiny little bodies. Two thousand years ago, Plutarch

quoting an ancient philosopher,

was talking about how concerned parents back then made sure their children wore ear protection

when they wrestled so as not to damage the cartilage in their ears. But isn't it interesting,

he asked, that we're less concerned about what goes in their ears? His point was that the same parents who were worried about disfigured ears were less vigilant about what goes in their ears? His point was that the same parents who were

worried about disfigured ears were less vigilant about what their kids heard in those same ears.

Marcus Aurelius made the same point during the pandemic of his time, that a plague can take

your life, but it can also destroy your character. Sure, you don't want to get sick,

but isn't QAnon and these other

conspiracies, isn't the selfishness and stupidity we've seen just as dangerous as sickness? So yes,

protect your kids, keep them safe, lather them with sunscreen. Just make sure you're also blocking

the toxicity and vulgarity of the world as well. Keep them innocent while

you can. Keep them away from chemicals. But also make your home a place free of vice and bigotry.

Guard them from the viruses of the mind, of the soul, just as fervently as you protect them from

bacteria and germs because the former is just as deadly as the latter.

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