Transcript
A (0:00)
Hey, welcome to the All Pro dad podcast. I'm Ted Lowe. We got a big question to start us off. Are we coddling our kids? I'm joined today by BJ Foster and Bobby Lewis and we're digging into why comfort has quietly replaced resilience. How that affects our kids confidence, and what dads can do instead to raise capable, grounded adults. If you've ever wondered whether helping your kids might actually be hurting them, this conversation is for you. Let's get into it, guys. We're just going to dive in. What do you think the difference is between your childhood and your kids childhood?
B (0:38)
I think the biggest difference for me is driving. Like teaching them how to drive and becoming getting their license. I, I kind of thought it was going to be easier for me. Getting my license was one of the greatest days ever. I just remember the, the immense amount of freedom that it brought and, and it's been a lot harder for my kids. Like they kind of consider it a burden. They would rather I drive. And I mean, I'll never forget when I got my permit, my dad asked me, he's like, hey, I gotta take some stuff to your sister's at college, which is a couple hour drive. This is the first day I had my permit. And he's like, do you wanna drive? And I was like, yeah, I would love to. And he did his crossword puzzle in the passenger seat and only looked up once. Like, he finally like looked up and he was like, he saw me doing 80 and a 55 and he was like, you might want to slow down a little bit. You might want to. And then went back to doing his crossword. And so it's just, and, and my kids are just, they would rather I drive. They would rather, you know, not be the one.
C (1:48)
Yeah.
B (1:49)
And so, you know, that's, that's just sort of a little shocking to me. But I think that, I think the big thing is like, it was easier for me because from age seven on, I was riding my bike in the neighborhood, I was exploring on my own, and I was out there falling off my bike and doing all this, you know, stuff and keeping it in control. And then when I was a freshman in high school, I used to just spend my time backing the car at the end of the driveway and pulling it forward and all that. So I was very comfortable by the time it came around to that. But it's just a different, they didn't spend their time doing that. And so taking control of a big vehicle is a transition.
C (2:29)
I asked my teenager, who doesn't have her license yet. I was like, hey, can you really help me out right now? Can you just back the car to the driveway? And she's like, what? I was like, it's fine. Like there's no one around. Just back it out of the driveway. And she thought she was going to get hauled off to jail. I'm like, no, it's fine, it's okay. No one's going to get run over. Just move it. And she wouldn't do it because she's afraid to get, you know, in trouble or something.
