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.

What a great idea. Things used to be different. We know this. Women gave birth without their husbands present.

Men barely lent a hand with the day-to-day parenting responsibilities. Families used to rule over their

children's life with an iron or worse, a raised fist. In fact, as we know, it was this way not that

long ago. Perhaps your own childhood was defined by these commonly accepted practices.

Perhaps you turned out okay, but that doesn't mean it was the best way to do things.

We used to put kids in cars without seatbelts. We used to send them to work in factories.

We used to decide who they were allowed to marry. Every generation has about two or three

great ideas and a dozen or so terrible ones, Zadie Smith recently wrote.

For example, Gen X nudged forward the idea that men should be encouraged to be fully involved in the

raising of their own children. Also, love is definitely love. It's lovely, no? Not every new thing

we've rolled out as far as parenting goes as an improvement, as we've

talked about here with snowplow and helicopter parents.

We've talked about tiger moms and parents who try to do an inhuman amount.

But it's worth reiterating and celebrating these positive and shockingly recent developments

because they are positive and very recent.

Gen X is 65 to 80.

Both parents should be involved and present for their kids. And the second part is even more important and essential than the first part. Love is love.

Whomever you love, whoever you are. Tell your kids that you love them. Tell them that you're proud of them.

Accept them for who they are. Accept everyone for who they are. Love, love.

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