You Don't Have To Be Perfect
The Daily Dad
Daily Dad
4.8 • 602 Ratings
🗓️ 22 November 2022
⏱️ 3 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We sweat so much. Whether we’re on our phone too much, when we could (and should) be playing with our kids. Whether their lunch yesterday was perfect. Whether we attend every dance recital and graduation. Whether we’re doing enough. Whether they’ll hate us forever for not letting them go to this school trip or that sleepover. Whether they’re scarred forever because we lost our temper or forgot something they needed or couldn’t afford something they wanted because everyone else has one.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | 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. |
| 0:12.4 | 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. |
| 0:24.1 | Thank you for listening, and we hope this helps. |
| 0:32.3 | You don't have to be perfect. We sweat so much, whether we're on our phone too much, |
| 0:41.4 | whether we could and should be playing with our kids, whether their lunch yesterday was perfect, |
| 0:46.2 | whether we attend every dance, recital, or graduation, whether we're doing enough, |
| 0:50.9 | whether they'll hate us forever for not letting them go on this school trip or that sleepover, whether they're scarred forever because we lost our temper or forgot something |
| 0:59.9 | they needed or couldn't afford something they wanted, something that everyone else had. |
| 1:05.6 | We're hard on ourselves because we want to be great at this, because we want them to have |
| 1:09.6 | great lives and to be great. Well, if that's really what we want, we have to be great at this, because we want them to have great lives and to be great. |
| 1:11.7 | Well, if that's really what we want, we have to stop because it is impossible to be perfect, |
| 1:16.7 | and it doesn't help anyone or anything when we beat ourselves up when we inevitably fail to meet |
| 1:21.6 | these impossible standards. Instead, let us try for something much more reasonable. |
| 1:27.1 | What if we just tried to make sure that more often than not, our interactions with our kids |
| 1:32.3 | were positive? |
| 1:33.3 | If more often than not, we were present and not distracted. |
| 1:37.0 | If more often than not, what we fed them was nutritious and healthy. |
| 1:41.2 | If more often than not, we found a way for them to do fun things and pursue |
| 1:45.9 | their interests. If more often than not, we were able to be there for the special moments for the |
| 1:52.4 | times when they really need us. If we can do that, if more often than not, we can be the parent we'd |
| 1:58.0 | like to be, then guess what? Then we are that parent. No one is asking |
| 2:02.0 | you or expecting you to be perfect. We're asking you to be good, consistently, regularly, |
... |
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