The Daily Dad

Before you had kids, “I love you” was that powerful three-word phrase. But now there is another phrase even more beautiful...

Jet Li thought being a good father meant working hard and providing for his daughters. In today's episode, he talks with Ryan about realizing money couldn't give them everything they needed, how they challenged his ego, and why learning to listen changed their relationship.Watch this section of the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00uPIh6mi_YWatch the FULL episode with Jet Li here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DpUjksFv9wGrab signed copies of Beyond Life and Death by Jet Li at The Painted Porch | https://www.thepaintedporch.com/

Deal with it later, when everyone is in a better state of mind.

Don't hold it back. Don't make them fight for it.

You have work. You have your spouse. You have your kids. You have all the obligations of adulthood. All these things are important. How do you fit it all in?

Your spouse, your kids, want you to try. Is that so hard?

Our own homes arenot for displaying antiques or art but for living.

Ryan told the story of running 50 kilometers through Rome, but what was the experience like for Sam and the kids waiting for him? In today's episode, Sam shares what the day looked like from the family's perspective.VIDEO OUT NOW | Watch Ryan run the Stoic 50k: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2LNSVXbsaI

Inevitably, it will catch us by surprise. It always does–even though we know our kids are growing up.

Not all readers are great parents but all great parents are readers. We have to be.Turn the words into works

This is where the core memories are made, where the moments you won't forget (and the stories you'll tell) are created.

How did the last month, the summer, go by so fast?

“It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person,” Ralph Waldo Emerson once recounted, “‘Always do what you are afraid to do.'”

Ryan thought the chaos of traveling with kids was over once his family made it home. Then his son was admitted to the hospital. In this Part 2 episode, he shares what the experience reminded him about listening when your kids say something is wrong, taking a scary situation one moment at a time, and not taking ordinary family life for granted.VIDEO OUT NOW | Watch Ryan run the Stoic 50k: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2LNSVXbsaI

Taking your kids to Rome means showing them the Colosseum, the Vatican, and 2,000 years of history. It can also mean travel delays, brutal heat, and more trips to McDonald's than you planned. In this episode, Ryan shares what a family vacation to Rome reminded him about compromise, curiosity, and letting kids experience a place in their own way.VIDEO OUT NOW | Watch Ryan run the Stoic 50k: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2LNSVXbsaI

It takes forever. For them to make up their minds. For them to get over whatever they're upset about. This is life with kids, isn't it?

We need redundancies. We need backups. We need flexibility.

You can do this without overreacting. You can do this without being anxious or needlessly stressed out. Treat what they're telling you with good faith.

We should try to get better at not doing this, but we also should be kinder to our kids when they're doing not only something pretty natural, but something they've seen us do plenty of times.

You wish your parents could have been different. Well, that wishing isn't going to get you far.

We spend years trying to give our kids what we didn't have, only to turn around and worry that maybe they have it a little too good. Ryan talks with comedian David Cross about raising kids who have more than you did, keeping them grounded without making them feel guilty, and what actually builds character.David Cross is a comedian, actor, writer, and producer best known for co-creating and starring in HBO's Mr. Show, playing Tobias Fünke on Arrested Development, and his decades-long stand-up career.David's latest comedy special, The End of the Beginning of The End, is available to watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfqMkJwVgmoHe also recently teamed up with longtime friend Bob Odenkirk for Bob and David Climb Machu Picchu, a documentary about their 2024 trip on the Inca Trail. David won a Primetime Emmy for his writing on The Ben Stiller Show and has received multiple Emmy and Grammy nominations for his television and comedy work.Follow David | @DavidCrossOfficial.Watch David's full episode on The Daily Stoic Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faJAvHq9hwE

Don't you see how lucky you are? Don't you see how rich you are?

As we chase wealth, we often forget that we are rich.

There is a wall between you and your feelings. A wall between you and your family. It's time for it to come down.

Whoever you are, whatever you do, you can be someone your kids respect, someone they can be proud of.

Slow down. Be present. Be safe.

Every parent wants to raise a kid who can handle hard things. But resilience isn't built by protecting our kids from every struggle. In today's episode, Ryan shares how parents can help their kids become more adaptable, emotionally steady, and capable of figuring things out for themselves.

They are still so young, still figuring stuff out, still trying to make sense of their bodies and the world, still doing their best (even when they're screwing up, even when they're driving you crazy).

You have to decide that the kids are the center of your life—not conferences, not meetings, not being ‘in the room where it happens.'

In a world full of misinformation and misdirection, isn't this the inheritance we want to pass down? To show our children how to master their minds and hold onto their inner freedom no matter the situation?

You want to make good time. You don't want to be delayed. You don't want to linger. But why?

Make sure they know how to decide, and to be OK with it, even if they decide wrong.

Of all the things parents have to worry about, their kid picking up a banned book shouldn't be one of them. In today's episode, Ryan and Sam talk about banned books, what happens when kids discover something adults have labeled “inappropriate,” and the parenting opportunity hidden inside that moment.

You work all day. What you do is important…and more important, it's what pays for your whole life. But what happens when you get home?

Who cares? Not you…because you assume someone else will care.

It can be revealing, when you put it all down on paper. Whether it's looking at your monthly spending or your daily eating habits, sometimes you don't know until you see it all recorded.

Sure, more money is better than less…but only to a point, only within reasonable boundaries. Full episode with Ron Chernow: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube

Our job is to support our kids, to root for them, to let them become who they are. But that's not a blank check.

Kids approach creativity with a freedom most adults have forgotten. In this episode, Ryan talks with bestselling author Austin Kleon about why having children can enrich your creative life, finding time for creative work, and why parenting and creativity do not have to compete with each other.Austin Kleon is a writer, author, artist, speaker, and blogger. He is most known for his New York Times bestselling books Steal Like An Artist:10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative, Show Your Work!, Keep Going, Steal Like An Artist Journal, Newspaper Blackout, and now his new book: Don't Call It Art: 10 Ways To Create Like A Kid Again

While we don't have our families as much as we like, as inevitable as partings are, as constant as the missing is, we do get to carry them with us

Right now, you have them. That does not last forever.

Our kids don't always need another lecture. They don't always need us to explain it one more time. They need us to help them see it.

Where could you be more affectionate and connected and loving? And more importantly, what do you think it would change if you did?

You don't have to spoil your kids, but as we've said, you can and must take them seriously.

Long walks, travel delays, upset stomachs, public meltdowns, and at least one parent swearing they are never leaving the house again. In today's episode, Ryan and Sam talk about why the hardest trips often build the most character and somehow become the memories everyone wants to relive.

We all wrongly think of these milestones as points our kids will reach someday, as opposed to transitions that are already ongoing.

You deserve time with them. But you're going to have to fight for it and protect it.

You only get so much time with them. This is how you're going to spend it?

Constantly fretting and being anxious about your kids does not make them feel like you care about them and doing it now certainly doesn't compensate for any neglect in the past.

Your emotions, moods, choices and the examples you set are affecting your kids, always.

A family road trip will test your patience, your plans, and your ability to stay calm when everything starts going sideways. In today's episode, Ryan reflects on the unexpected problems, meaningful moments, and parenting lessons that came from driving the West Coast with his family. He also shares the rule he tries to follow so that, no matter what happens, everyone still wants to take the next trip.