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 the fire.

You look over and ask your son why he's saving water from the bath and he tells you,

because I want to save the memory of what a great time we're having.

You're walking in the park with your daughter and she runs up and grabs the outstretched hand of a statue

and introduces herself and asks if they want to be friends.

You read that apocrypal story of the twin siblings, one of whom is very sick and in the hospital.

The doctor tells the other one that their sibling will need a blood transfusion.

And after giving the blood, the young child sits up and says,

So when do I die?

These are the moments that hit you in the solar plexus.

You don't seek them out.

You can't ask for them on demand,

but they're there. Goodness, innocence, joy, courage, selflessness. They knock the hot air out of you,

lift you up at the same time. We've talked before about helping your kids carry the fire.

These moments, this is the fire. They're what every kid

brings into the world. But the flame is delicate. It's easily extinguished. It doesn't always

make it to adulthood. Sometimes it burns out. Other times, sadly, it's snuffed out by well-meaning

enough parents who are busy or jaded or

simply have the wrong priorities nothing nothing is more important than protecting this flame

...