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.

In one of F. Scott Fitzgerald's funniest stories, head and shoulders, a certifiable genius falls in love with a showgirl.

The plot and the moral of the story aren't relevant for today's message, though the story is highly recommended.

Instead, there is a little passage in that story that introduces a concept worth thinking about. Fitzgerald writes,

I was a why child. I wanted to see the wheels go round. My father was a young economics professor at

Princeton. He brought me up on the system of answering every question I asked to the best of his

ability. A why child. What a delightful phrase.

Isn't that what we're trying to raise? We've talked about raising a child who knows how to figure things out.

But this is part and parcel of that. A why child isn't content to take things at face value or simple

explanations. They not only want to see the wheels

go round, they want to know why. They want to know how. They want to know where they came from

in the first place. Can this be annoying? Absolutely. It can even get them into trouble. Isn't that the

whole message of the Curious George series? But curious is better than complacent, annoying,

it's better than ignorant.

You must see this habit.

You must make sure you water it too and do your best,

never to stamp it out just because you're tired

or because the question is inappropriate.

The more questions they ask, the better,

not just to their parents,

...