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.

Tell them before it's too late.

It's one of the most beautiful and haunting songs ever recorded.

The version written and recorded by Sting is pretty good, but the Johnny Cash version,

it's like he was meant to put that track down. The song is, I hung my head. It's the tragic story

of a boy who steals his brother's rifle and playing cowboy shoots a man riding by. The horror of what he's done

is almost incomprehensible. He thinks it's a dream at first, but unfortunately it's not. As the lyrics go,

the sheriff, he asked me, why had I run? And then it come to me just what I had done. And all for no

reason, just one piece of lead, I hung my head,

I hung my head. That refrain, I hung my head, I hung my head. It repeats through the song up until

the boy is executed for his crime. And it's worth listening to today, not just because guns are

no plaything, but because it captures the stakes

of this parenting thing we're doing. An accident, a mistake, no matter the intention, no matter how

sweet the child or loving the parent, can irrevocably change a life. A kid playing with a gun,

a father who leaves the pool gate open, a mother who foregoes the car seat because it's a short trip,

the teenager taking risks with their friends. In an instant, everything can be blown apart,

one choice, one bad call, one shortcut, and all you'll be able to do after, hang your head, hang your

head. To say this is not to scare you. It's not to scare your kids, but it's to remind you

of the stakes. Life is not a dream. There are no do-overs. What's done cannot be undone. And you need

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