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.

Take their pain seriously.

We all have some version of this memory. We didn't feel well. We

felt awkwardly on our wrist. We hit her head. We told their parents, but they didn't believe us.

They told us we would be fine. They told us we'd feel better soon. Then a few days later,

it turned out we had scarlet fever or shingles. Our wrist was broken. We'd sustained a concussion.

Of course, we don't remember the times we whined or complained or were scared and it turned out to be nothing, but we remember the moments

we didn't feel listened to because we were doubted because our pain was denied. We swore we'd do it

differently with our kids, and now here we are debating. Is this really worth a trip to the

emergency room? Now we're telling them that they're fine, not because we don't think they're hurt,

but because we really don't want them to be hurt. It's not intended as a denial. It's wishful

thinking. It's an attempt at comfort. It's remembering that they told you they didn't feel

well last week and we're fine a few hours

later. But it is a denial. And we know this from experience. We were on the other side of this

exchange when we were their age and it still stings. We talked recently about taking children

seriously. Well, one place to do that is when they tell you they're hurt. You have to take their

pain seriously, physical and

emotional. If they're sad, don't brush it off. Really hear them. It could be depression. Consider that

the arm could be broken, that the cough could be more than a cold, because it could be. And if it isn't,

...