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 must love the kid you have.

Whether you're an introvert and your daughter turned out to be an extrovert, maybe you always

hoped for a daughter and ended up with three sons, maybe you wanted an athlete, or you wanted

someone to hand over the family business to. Maybe, sometimes in secret, you wish you had a kid

who was easier, who didn't struggle as yours does, who is closer in this way or

that way to some image you always had in your mind? Well, guess what? That's a you problem.

It's certainly not their problem, so you have to get your shit together. You have to figure out

how to get over this because it's not fair and it's not right.

I talked to hundreds of thousands of kids about the things they want their parents to hear,

the best-selling author Jessica Leahy recently told us.

And this, by far, is the number one comment I get, she said.

I am not my brother. I am not my sister. I am not my parents

when they were my age. I don't know who my parents think they are raising, but it's not me.

My parents think they know who I am, but it's all their expectations of me, and they actually

have no idea who I am. Isn't that heartbreaking? We've talked before about things you'd

never want your kids to think or feel. Those responses, which Jessica says get emailed to her

almost every day, are right at the top of the list. No kids should feel like their dad wants them to be

different. No kid should feel like they are in some way a disappointment.

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