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.

Teach them how to notice.

When Robert Lovett, the future State Department official and Secretary of

Defense was a kid, it happened that both father and son took similar routes in the morning and

evening, although at different times to work and to school. Lovett and his father would then play

an interesting game based on this coincidence. At night after dinner, according to the

biographer Walter Isaacson, the father would ask the son questions about what he had seen.

How many horses were pulling the car, he would ask about a midtown construction project.

How many girders were in the cart? How were the horses hitched to the cart? And there would be a few

quarters as a reward if young

Robert was right, but he would be deducted a quarter from his winnings if he got anything wrong.

This was more than just a silly activity to do together, although such things are wonderful. What his

father was teaching him was the art of paying attention. Robert was learning to notice, to focus on the

details, and not to take his surroundings for granted. He could have just as easily ridden to school

fantasizing about this or that oblivious to the city around him. Instead, because of his father's

care and creativity, he was actually present. Those rides became an opportunity to learn and an opportunity

to develop a skill that far too few of us have, the ability to truly see what is happening

around us. Of course, you don't have to play the same game with your kids, and few of us today

would let our kids ride their bike to school alone in New York City, but you can find your

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