There’s a lot going on in the world, a lot going wrong. There’s so much we’d like to change, so much we’d like to be better.

Where do we start? How about with our kids?

Sure, you could start a company. You could start a non-profit. You could go on social media and blast your views. But what are the chances that any of that will have a multi-generational impact? What are the chances that will change how human beings act in the world for decades and decades?

Think of your grandparents—think of the values they taught you, the impact they had on your life. They did that through their children and then through you. And now you’re passing many of those lessons on to your own kids. That’s one person having an impact on three generations. They quite literally changed the world. And they did it with just a few conversations, they did it in how they went to work everyday, they did it in the books they read in the evening and the manners they had at dinner. They did it in the conversations they had when their kids made mistakes, they did it in how they treated their neighbors and mowed their yard.

There are lots of things we can do to change the world. We should try to do all of them. But we have to know—we can never forget—how much impact we can have right here at home. A little fellow follows you. Through our children, their children and their children’s children, we have profound multi-generational impact.

That’s an incredible power. Don’t neglect it.

P.S. This was originally sent on October 8, 2020. Sign up today for the Daily Dad’s email and get our popular 11 page eBook, “20 Things Great Dads Do Everyday.”