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.

What's more important? Yes, it costs money to heat a house warmer than it needs to be. Yes, rooms should be clean. Yes, it's annoying when shoes are left in a pile. Yes, you told them to knock that all off already. But? But what is more important? There are rules, and then there's real rules. The question is, which one is this thing you're nagging

them about? Is it important enough to threaten your happy, peaceful home, your relationship?

Recently, we started a new long-form podcast here about parenting at Daily Dad. It runs on

Saturdays. But I was talking to Neil's Parker on the podcast, and he tells the story of the constant fights

his sister and his mom would have almost every day about the plates his sister would leave

under the living room chair after her afternoon snack. His mom was right. His sister wasn't

listening, but to this day their relationship still simmers with mutual

resentment. Over what? A plate. You have to ask yourself, why are you making such a big deal out of this?

Is it really worth it? You can also ask yourself another question, one that Niels' sister wished

deep down for their mother to ask.

Why are we struggling with this in the first place? What if we had a conversation instead of another

argument? Years from now, you're probably going to want to get along with your kids as adults,

as parents themselves. You're going to want them to have happy memories

of their childhood. You're not going to care about the little things that took up so much of your

energy when they were younger. So don't make such a big deal about them. Don't ruin the present

and possibly the future over it. For the last year, I've been hard at work on my newest book, a way to tell the incredible

story of the life of Marcus Aurelius.

2,000 years ago, Marcus Aurelius was plucked from obscurity to become the emperor of Rome.

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