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 how to ask them.

When Martin Luther King Jr. took over his first church in Montgomery, he insisted on a small

social shift after his sermons, and it was immediately noticed. As he mingled with his parishioners on

Sundays, he wouldn't ask them what they were doing the way previous pastors had. Instead, he looked

them in the eye and said, how are you doing? In the segregated south, where

opportunities were short and times were tough, the implications of the former question made people

uncomfortable, made them insecure. But to be asked how they were doing, how they were feeling,

whether they were okay. That meant everything.

It was a subtle and generous bit of social grace,

one of many that made King such a great leader.

It's also something we can pick up on as parents.

Our kid comes home from school.

Did you ask them how they did on their math test?

Or did you inquire how they feel about it? Did you ask your

college-age daughter if she's picked a career yet, yet being loaded with implications, or can you

just talk to her about her interests? You can say, what did you do? Or you can say, is everything okay?

Life is hard enough when you're a kid. Nobody needs somebody assuming the worst. Nobody needs your loaded words or your assumptions. They want to feel

like you care. They want to connect. They want to know that you see. Can you do that, please?

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