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.

This is a tough balance.

We've talked about being a fan of your kids.

We've talked about believing in them. We've talked about being a fan of your kids. We've talked about believing in them.

We've talked about encouraging and supporting them. We talk about these things because they're

important. But of course, it's a, it's a tricky balance because being a supportive,

encouraging fan doesn't mean you never point out where they can get better. As parents, we have to figure out this

balance of supporting our kids and pushing them, just like those early days at the park, and they found

their way to the swing set for the first time. In the beginning, it's all about providing support

while they get comfortable with the back and the fourth of the swing. Then you start pushing a little more,

but only as hard as your hands and their grip on the chains can support. Push too hard too soon,

and they'll fly off in front or whip themselves off the back when the swing comes flying back

towards the bottom. Eventually, though, your kids get used to the ebb and flow of the swing,

and they find their grip

confidently on the chains. They know how to anticipate the force of ever bigger pushes and resulting

swings the other direction. And when that finally happens, when they start pumping their legs on their

own, sending themselves as high as they can higher than you ever thought they would be comfortable

reaching for, this is the shifting balance we must find

and keep at all times as parents who are to do right by our kids because no one improves in life

...