Of course, you want tough kids. You want boys who are active and resilient. You want girls who are active and resilient. You want them to be healthy, you want them to be able to overcome obstacles, you want them to know how to defend themselves, you want them to be prepared for the ups and downs of life.
One of the ways to do this is by creating challenges for them. Theodore Roosevelt was famous for taking his kids on long walks and leading them over boulders and through thick woods. He wanted to get them used to exerting themselves and solving problems. Cato the Elder, the great-grandfather of the towering Stoic Cato the Younger did the same thing with his son.
Plutarch writes that he trained his son Marcus “in athletics, and taught him how to throw the javelin, fight in armour, ride a horse, use his fists in boxing, endure the extremes of heat and cold, and swim across the roughest and most swiftly flowing stretches of the Tiber.”
You can’t just want tough kids. You have to make tough kids. And you make them tough by challenging them and teaching them the rewards of those challenges. You make them tough by toughing things out, together.
P.S. The 10th anniversary edition of The Obstacle Is the Way out today! It’s a great roadmap for any parent who wants to show their children that obstacles are not the end of the road, but a way forward.
If you’ve read the first version of the book (thanks for that!), the 10th anniversary edition has been updated and expanded with insightful lessons (including a new foreword), fresh stories, and practical strategies forturning our toughest trials into our greatest triumphs.
And if you’ve been following this newsletter for a while but haven’t read The Obstacle Is the Way yet, this is a fantastic time and place to start—it will advance your understanding of the lessons of the Stoics and how to apply them to you and your family’s life.
We have a limited number of signed, numbered first-editions exclusively available at the Daily Stoic Store. Head here to learn more and get your copy today!
