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.

Teach them to choose. It makes sense that you and mom would make most of the decisions for your kids.

You guys know more.

Your kids basically know nothing about life,

about what the weather is going to be tomorrow, about how the world works.

You, on the other hand, have been seven as well as 17 years old before.

Not only does that give you a lot more experience, but it's also pretty obvious that most

decisions don't matter. You've got places to go and more important things to worry about,

so you pick their clothes out to be done with it to move things along. The problem with this is that you're depriving their kids of a very important skill, the ability to make decisions.

Is it any wonder that so many teenagers are utterly overwhelmed when it comes to choosing where to go to college or what to major in?

For most of them, it's the first real decision they've ever made in their lives. That's why, as a dad,

you have to actively work to not choose everything for them. Ask them whether they want to go to the

park or play catch in the yard. Ask them what movie they want to see. What should we cook for dinner?

Do you want to take a shower tonight or a bath? Would you rather go out for the

baseball or the basketball team? If you don't like mowing the lawn, what's another chore you'd like to

do to contribute around the house? Shorts or pants today. Go pick out something to wear. Teach them

to choose, empower them, make sure they know how to decide and to be okay with it, even if they

decide wrong. It doesn't matter that you know more. Let them learn. Life is decisions. Prepare

them for that. Hey, you're listening to the Daily Dad podcast, one meditation a day inspired to help you do your most important job, which is be a great father.

These are meditations inspired by ancient wisdom, psychological research, and just great strategies from normal dads just like you. Thanks for listening.

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