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.

You are the toy.

Your son asks you to play train so you get the track down from the shelf.

Your daughter wants to do a puzzle, so you start laying out the pieces.

But for some reason, it seems like every time you do this, every time you do what they say they want,

they suddenly lose interest.

Or they won't play by the rules or ask for something else.

Now they want to move to a different room.

The problem here is a miscommunication or at least a

misunderstanding. You see, you are the toy. What they want is to play with you. They don't want to be

given a puppet. They want you to be the puppet. And when you understand this, everything is easier, no matter what age they are.

Why is your teenager rebelling? In part, it is to get a rise out of view. Why is your middle

schooler being a smart aleck to see how they'll respond? Why is your toddler calling for water

from their bedroom, only to change their mind to juice, only to explain they meant

the other juice, only now to ask to go to the bathroom. Because it's funny, because it's a game,

because they are playing with a little bit of power they have in this crazy, uncontrollable world.

Their power over adults who have power over them. So relax. Just go with it. Understand what's happening.

It's not about the puzzle. It's not about anything. It's about you because you are a toy.

One of the best parts about being a kid, of course, is cereal. And if you grew up like me, it's sort of the golden

age of your parents letting you eat the most unhealthy but utterly delicious cereal in the world.

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