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 this impulse.

Henry Cartier-Brensen was a pain in the ass to his teachers. He was bored by

what they were teaching in school. He didn't pay attention. He was always being caught reading something

that had nothing to do with his schoolwork, books that were often very inappropriate for his age.

One day when he was about to start sixth grade, he was caught by the principal by reading

two books by great French poets. At first, the principal seemed to be quite upset, like he'd finally

had enough. Let's have no disorder in your studies, he barked, using the formal French. Every other time

Henry had been addressed this way, it was followed by a beating or a punishment.

But then the principal's voice turned to kindness. You are going to read in my office, he said,

and led the boy there where he returned over and over again as a precocious, curious reader

for the rest of his school days. It was this conversation, this little bit of protection that helped Henry carve

out the intellectual foundation and freedom that would lead him to becoming one of the greatest

photographers in history. It's conversations like this that have helped shape thousands of

independent, self-driven entrepreneurs, thinkers, artists, and scientists over the centuries.

We have to remember that our job as parents,

as educators, is not to keep our kids in line. It's not to crush their initiative because it's

disruptive or uncomfortable or difficult for us. We have to encourage them. We have to make space

for our kids. If they want to read, by God, let them. They want to skip ahead or deviate from the

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