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.

You'll want them to come to you with problems.

When your kids mess up, what is your reaction?

Do you freak out?

Or are you calm?

Do you make the situation better or worse?

Can you actually listen?

Or are you halfway through a solution before they've even gotten two words of explanation out of their mouths?

The answers to these questions matter if, you, like a good dad, want to be the kind

of father who your kids turn to when they have a problem. You want them to come to you with their

fears, with their secrets, with their dilemmas, don't you? Well, then you better make yourself

the kind of parent that has earned that honor, that has earned that respect, because it's a privilege

and not a right. Need proof? Well, think about your own parents and how many things you kept from them.

Even more, think about why you kept it from them. Sure, some things we hide because we know it's stuff

we're not supposed to be doing. But a lot of it is stuff

we could have used their advice on that we ached to connect over, but we knew that we couldn't. Because

they would rush to judgment, because they wouldn't let us explain because it would trigger their

anxiety or their temper or their moralizing reminders. You want them to come to you with problems?

You want to help them?

Then show them.

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