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 have to let them struggle.

No father wants to see their kids suffer. It's almost more

painful for you than it is for them to watch them trip over their words, to scratch their

heads in front of their homework, or to bumble their way through the early years of their

career. Biologically, this makes sense. You're designed to want to save them, to empathize on almost

a self-destructive level. But evolutionarily, it also doesn't make much sense if they never

struggle, they can't grow, they can't learn, and they can't get better. Thomas Edison, a genius

and a business success, if there ever was one, himself had trouble with this exact

issue. He was so brilliant, so headstrong, so clear about what he wanted that he could not quite

give his son's room to develop and learn. He couldn't quite figure out the line between boss

and father. His wife wrote him a great letter once that stands as advice to all fathers,

especially important or successful ones. You've made a success of your life, she wrote,

built up tremendous industries successfully, so you have nothing more to prove to the world

that you are capable. All know it. But can't you just be happy in letting the boys struggle along with you to guide them?

Forget that you are Charles manager and be a father, a big father.

Remember, your job is to guide your kids, not solve all their problems.

Your job is to make learning possible for them, not to spoon-feed them

their education. It might seem crazy. It might even physically pain you, but you have to let them

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