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.

Don't just protect yours.

We take care of our own, we say.

Family is family.

Blood is thicker than water.

These are noble sentiments that have encouraged beautiful sacrifice,

forgiveness, and accomplishments.

One problem with it, though,

is that it too easily justifies provincialism and nepotism.

A recent social critic observed that not so long ago

when people talked about getting together to do something for our kids, whether it was build a

swimming pool or invest in education, it was obvious that they meant everybody's kids, or at least

they meant more than just their biological kids. But unfortunately,

that's changed. When we say our own, we don't think Americans or whatever country we live in,

we think race, or we think blood relatives, and that's awful. This system we live in demands that we

think of ourselves as more than just our parents to our own kids. We have to think

generationally. We can't just think about getting ours or protecting ours. We have to think

like a village, like a group. The Stoics remind us that we are made for each other. Marcus Aurelius

spoke dozens of times about the common good. He didn't just care about his

kids. He cared about everybody's kids because that's what justice doing the right thing demands of us.

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