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.

The stakes are high. It's hard to picture Fred Rogers as a parent. Of course, we can easily recall him as Mr. Rogers patiently and lovingly explaining things to generations of young viewers at home. But that was his work. Could he have really been like that at his home? Or was he much less perfect there, losing his temper stressed about money involved with

himself? Obviously, no one really knows this answer but as kids, but from the recent documentaries

we were told that Fred Rogers actually was a great dad. We know that he tried very hard to be

the same kind and understanding man that he was for other people's children with his own.

Did he have his own issues, his own flaws? Absolutely. But who doesn't? Fred Rogers also knew that the

stakes were simply too high to leave at that. He said, when we choose to be parents, we accept another

human being as part of ourselves, and a large part of our

emotional selves will stay with that person as long as we live. From that time on, there will be

another person on this earth whose orbit around us will affect us as surely as the moon affects

the tides and affect us in some ways more deeply than anyone else can. Our children are

extensions of ourselves. It's beautiful. Our responsibilities as parents extend far beyond just

putting a roof over their head and packing lunches for school. It includes working on our own

emotional issues and ourselves so that the little

people in our orbit don't get thrown out of whack. Remember John Wooden's advice that a little

fellow follows you. We can't be consummate professionals at work only to come home, loosen our

tie or our belts, and then just wallow in our personal status quo.

We have to be growing, improving, actively working to provide a good example and a safe

place for our kids to grow and learn. We choose to bring them in the world. They depend on us and

watch our every move. Now we owe it to them to live up to the stakes of the situation we have created

...