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.

Who should make who proud?

We say it casually, and we mean well.

Make me proud out there, kiddo. We say as they trot on to the soccer field. Make your parents proud, you say, as they head off to college. And when

they do great stuff, we reward them by letting them know that they have made us proud. We want this

to motivate them. We want it to hold them accountable. But is this really

the way it should go? Because doesn't it sort of imply that they owe us something that our

approval is not unconditional or implicit? As we've said before, our kids don't owe us anything.

It is us who is obligated to them. Yet how often do we as parents

think about whether we are making our kids proud? How often does it haunt us that we are letting

them down with how we eat, what we say, where we work, or even the choices we make in our

personal lives? We need to turn this around.

Each of us should live as if it is our child we were trying to make proud.

Each of us should act as if we are being watched, judged, and scrutinized.

Because we are.

You are not entitled to your child's respect or undying admiration. You may get it for free now or for many years. Some parents may even manipulate them or guilt them into giving it for a very long time. But in the end, this is something that must be earned day in and day out. We should be proud of them always for everything. We should also be

trying always and in everything to make them proud, to live up to what we are capable of for

their sake to be great for their sake. Hey, thanks for listening to the Daily Dad podcast.

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