New PN: The Daily Dad
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366 Meditations on Parenting, Love, and Raising Great Kidsby Ryan Holiday |
“Being a parent is the choice to make your children if not the center of your life, then central to your life, embracing the fact that bringing these little people into the world has changed everything about who you are, what you value, what your duties are.”RYAN HOLIDAY |
FROM THE BOOK“Parenting, like the pursuit of wisdom, is a lifelong affair.
No one is expecting you to magically ‘get it.’ In fact, that is the fundamental flaw of far too many parenting books. You’re supposed to read some book, be it in the scramble before they’re born, in the sleep-deprived toddler years, or in some crisis when they’re older, and then be good? That’s not how it works.
On a minute-by-minute basis, your kids and life put you in situations you could never have imagined on your own (and that none of the books seem to anticipate). So while there is no sudden transformation in parenting, there is still a process, a working at it, that you must take up. That’s what this book—one page per day—is built around. Not a one-time thing but a morning or an evening ritual, a checking in, a continual process.
Raising children—or, as I heard a parent once correct an interviewer, raising adults, since that’s the goal—is the hardest thing you will ever do. It will also be the most rewarding and important thing you ever do.
That’s what this book—and the hard-won wisdom of generations past—is about.
You are a parent. You are every parent who has ever lived or will ever live.
We are in this together.
Now let’s do our best, together.”
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Brian's Notes
This is the NINTH (!!!) Note I’ve created on Ryan Holiday’s GREAT books.
We’ve covered The Obstacle Is the Way, The Daily Stoic, Stillness Is the Key, Ego Is the Enemy, Discipline Is Destiny, Courage Is Calling, Right Thing Right Now, Wisdom Takes Work, and What You’re Made For (which he wrote with the late George Raveling).
As I’ve said in basically every one of those previous Notes, I’m astonished by Ryan.
The depth of his wisdom, the quality of his writing, and the fierceness with which he is committed to practicing his philosophy inspires me deeply.
I read this book during a parenting-book binge last year. I’m still working my way through all the titles but I’ll tell you that THIS book was at least tied for first as the best parenting book I’ve ever read.
Dads: READ THIS BOOK.
It’s a FANTASTIC (!!!) kick in the butt from a wise fellow dad to step up and show up as our best as we PRACTICE OUR PHILOSOPHY in THE MOST IMPORTANT (and most challenging!) DOMAIN of our lives: How we show up for our kids.
As per that intro and the title, the book is structured as a 366-day guidebook featuring “366 Meditations on Parenting, Love, and Raising Great Kids.”
Although I could literally open a page at random and pull out a Big Idea, I’m excited to share a handful of my absolute favorite Ideas and help you apply that wisdom to your life TODAY, so let’s get to work.
P.S. Get a copy of the book here.
P.P.S. Check out our Notes on The Power of Showing Up and The YES Brain by Dan Siegel and 10 to 25 by Dave Yeager, and this collection of Notes on Mister Rogers’ books for some more of my all-time favorite parenting wisdom. Plus my old-school Fatherhood 101.
P.P.P.S. This is the #1 book I’d recommend for dads. If you’re into Stoicism (or want to get into it!), Ryan’s The Daily Stoic is THE #1 book to get.
Big Ideas
01: A LITTLE FELLOW
02: CHARACTER IS FATE
03: ALWAYS BE A FAN
04: STRUGGLE AND EMERGE
05: TIME FLIES
“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”EPICTETUS |
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