This episode is sponsored by Better Health.

Welcome to the Daily Dad podcast, where we provide one lesson every single day to help you with your most important job, being a parent.

I'm Ryan Holiday, and I draw these lessons from ancient philosophy, modern psychology, practical wisdom,

and insights from parents just like you all over the world.

Thank you for listening, and we hope this helps.

This is what it costs.

None of this was free.

You knew that intellectually, and it hit you, especially if you're an

American, when you first saw that bill from the hospital. But of course, parenting takes a lot more

from us than just money. It wears on us. It steals sleep and energy. It taxes our patients. It

covers us literally in bruises and scars. It keeps us up at night worry. It takes

time, so much time, so much time in the car, waiting in waiting rooms, watching their

little league games or recitals. And, as we've said before, it's a wonderful part of the process.

We've been quoting recently from the old children's story,

The Velvetine Rabbit, which I actually just read for the first time. We have a great addition

at the painted portraits to check out. It's a story about a toy that's so loved by a young boy

that it becomes real. This is a great metaphor for parenting in a way, because that's what's

happening to us.

We made a decision to have kids many years ago and then for years that decision works on us,

shaping and changing and transforming us.

No part of that is more powerful than the love and energy of our children,

whose joy, whose innocence, whose pain, whose growth is always working on us,

...