Pull up a chair.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xtCu1-uBdyc

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open — call to order

00:42 Welcome

10:00 The board

40:00 The floor

1:00:00 The house

1:26:40 Take us out

THE BENCH — a longer table from DadTails. https://dadtails.com/gear

THE FIELD NOTES — https://dadtails.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Music from #Uppbeat — "Groove Sauce" by Stan Town.

As an Amazon Associate, DadTails earns from qualifying purchases.

DadTails is a personal project — views are our own, not our employers'.

Pull up a chair.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tjhyF-E33lk

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open — call to order

00:42 Welcome — board meeting

03:36 The board — marathon

20:36 More from the board

40:36 The floor

1:00:36 The house

1:20:36 Take us out

THE BENCH — a longer, wider-ranging table from DadTails. Pull up a chair.

THE KIT — every tool from DadTails: https://dadtails.com/gear

THE FIELD NOTES — one email a week: https://dadtails.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Got a question for the bench? info@dadtails.com.

Music from #Uppbeat — "Groove Sauce" by Stan Town.

As an Amazon Associate, DadTails earns from qualifying purchases.

DadTails is a personal project — views are our own, not our employers'. Entertainment, not professional advice.

The pour: a neighbor Labor Day drink — grapefruit Radler, a shot of tequila, and lime. A dirty, chill take on a Paloma.

Faith, family, and business through the lens of counting the cost. Pull up a chair.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/kySTiL1gEOM

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open — Count the Cost

00:27 Welcome in — flying blind

02:53 The cocktail — dirty Paloma

14:18 Faith — Count the Cost

20:19 Family — the wedding

43:49 Business — Ryan's marathon

51:44 Take us out

THE POUR — grapefruit Radler, tequila, lime. Our dirty Paloma from a Labor Day neighbor party. Tools and past kits: https://dadtails.com/gear

THE FIELD NOTES — one email a week: the episode before it's public, plus the cocktail and the kit. https://dadtails.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Roast us: info@dadtails.com. We read every email, and we'll read it live.

Music from #Uppbeat — "Groove Sauce" by Stan Town.

As an Amazon Associate, DadTails earns from qualifying purchases.

DadTails is a personal project — views are our own, not our employers'. Entertainment, not professional advice.

The pour: the Junior, a riff on a whiskey sour. Rye, lime and Bénédictine, the honey-and-herb French liqueur. Sweet, tart, and very easy to finish fifteen minutes into the show.

Faith: Luke 12, the parable of the rich fool. A farmer's harvest outgrows his barns, so he tears them down, builds bigger ones and tells himself to rest. Why that reads as a warning about quitting, not just about money, and night prayer as a way to slow down and stay grateful.

Family: as a dad you only have so much in the tank. Who got your best hour this week, and who got what was left over? A walk with no phones, running a house on logistics, and who you become on the journey.

Business: what's the number? Net worth, living with debt, the paid-off house, what's on your financial scoreboard — and how you know you're doing well.

And the kit, live: one of us makes the second round on camera. Tell us in the comments if you like the new format.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open — who you became on the journey

00:24 Welcome in — bigger houses, bigger barns

00:53 Our first comment

01:49 A big week at home

05:34 Busy weeks and sous vide

07:11 The pour — the Junior

09:08 Faith — Luke 12, the bigger barns

13:12 A long road to a short thought

14:40 In and out of the church cycle

15:41 Night prayer

19:32 Family — only so much in the tank

21:08 We live in a fallen world

21:49 Wednesday nights

24:46 Who got your best hour?

25:52 A walk with no phones

28:34 Throwing the question back

33:53 Loaves and fishes

34:55 Who you became on the journey

35:15 Pay the bills — and the kit, live

38:33 Benedictine — to God, most good, most great

40:08 Business — what's the median family net worth?

42:42 Operating debt

45:33 The paid-off house

47:01 What's on your scoreboard?

49:56 Where's the goal post?

52:52 What's good enough?

55:21 Take us out

THE POUR — the Junior. 2 oz rye whiskey, ¾ oz fresh lime juice, a small pour of Bénédictine, and Angostura bitters. Our version of the Junior from the PDT Cocktails app. Tools and past kits: https://dadtails.com/gear

MENTIONED — Luke 12:13–21 · the Liturgy of the Hours (night prayer) · the loaves and the fishes · the PDT Cocktails app · Bénédictine · The 15, our Chiefs show

THE FIELD NOTES — one email a week: the episode before it's public, plus the cocktail and the kit. https://dadtails.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Roast us: info@dadtails.com. We read every email, and we'll read it live.

Music from #Uppbeat — "Groove Sauce" by Stan Town.

As an Amazon Associate, DadTails earns from qualifying purchases.

DadTails is a personal project — views are our own, not our employers'. Entertainment, not professional advice.

The pour: the Perfect Manhattan, the Manhattan's "perfect" cousin: rye, with the vermouth split between sweet and dry. It's a drink from the Martini family tree, and one of us thinks it belongs on a cold Thanksgiving night, not a 95-degree September one.

Faith: Psalm 127. "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." Ordering things rightly, and Fr. Walter Ciszek's He Leadeth Me on the status quo that quietly carries us from one day to the next.

Family: how many activities are your kids in, and what do they cost you? When do you push a kid, and when do you let them lead?

Business: pay to play. Club teams, year-round travel ball, trainers and gear. Have parents lost the plot? Can every kid afford to play? And when a kid gets put on the wrong team, do they quit or see it through?

Give them the freedom to be kids. Be there to pick them up.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open — homie, he's eight, you got time

00:25 Welcome in — episode 10, pay to play

04:07 The pour — the Perfect Manhattan

08:51 Faith — Psalm 127, unless the Lord builds the house

12:32 He Leadeth Me — Walter Ciszek

16:40 Family — how many activities are your kids in?

17:52 The horse riding story

20:02 Let them lead

22:47 Pay to play — what's wrong with youth sports?

24:52 Club sports is big business

31:52 Have parents lost the plot?

34:22 He's eight — what are sports for?

35:18 See it through

38:10 Pay the bills — Rise and Amazing Grass

40:20 Can every kid afford to play?

43:01 Does youth sports need reform?

46:22 Best effort, every time

47:15 Take us out

THE POUR — the Perfect Manhattan. 2 oz rye, ½ oz sweet vermouth, ½ oz dry vermouth, 2 dashes Angostura bitters. Stir with ice, strain, serve up with a cherry. That's the classic split-vermouth build; the episode's recipe source is Cocktail Codex. Tools and past kits: https://dadtails.com/gear

MENTIONED — Psalm 127:1–2 · He Leadeth Me by Walter J. Ciszek, S.J. · Cocktail Codex · Rise mushroom coffee · Amazing Grass · The Bench and The 15, our new segments

THE FIELD NOTES — one email a week: the episode before it's public, plus the cocktail and the kit. https://dadtails.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Roast us: info@dadtails.com. We read every email, and we'll read it live.

Music from #Uppbeat — "Groove Sauce" by Stan Town.

As an Amazon Associate, DadTails earns from qualifying purchases.

DadTails is a personal project — views are our own, not our employers'. Entertainment, not professional advice.

The board is an idea Ryan borrowed from a viral post about a dad who brought an agenda to the bar. Pete opens with the Chiefs and the season ahead. Then the question for the table: what happened this week that you wouldn't put on social media? An AI agent that took "send it" literally and fired a very punchy email to John, and an honest conversation about a business that didn't work and why men are so afraid to say so. LinkedIn as a business forum, travelling for work, and getting handed a microphone on a conference stage.

On the floor: is AI going to kill us all, or is that the hype talking? Then 9/11, twenty-five years on — where each of us was that morning, and the stories of people showing up for each other. And back home: the first month of school, getting off your phone and showing up, and the affirmations one dad's boys say together in the car every morning.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open — the same 1440 minutes

00:10 The Bench — Opening Night

00:18 Opening night at John's barn

01:40 Where the board came from

05:13 John introduces himself

08:16 The board — Chiefs kickoff

14:34 Andy Reid in a jazz band

17:35 What you wouldn't post on social

19:52 A shameless plug, and an AI email gone rogue

24:56 Talking about a business that failed

27:07 LinkedIn is a business forum

34:02 Conference stages and trial by fire

40:21 The floor — is AI going to kill us all?

57:55 9/11, 25 years on

1:06:21 Back to the premise — show up

1:08:37 The first month of school

1:10:00 Affirmations on the drive to school

1:10:42 Last call — lead by example

THE BENCH — a longer, wider-ranging table from DadTails, once a month. Pull up a chair.

MENTIONED — Sursum, the apparel company the three families started

THE KIT — every tool from DadTails: https://dadtails.com/gear

THE FIELD NOTES — one email a week: the episode before it's public, plus the cocktail and the kit. https://dadtails.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Got a question for the bench? info@dadtails.com. We read every email, and we'll read it live.

Music from #Uppbeat — "Groove Sauce" by Stan Town.

As an Amazon Associate, DadTails earns from qualifying purchases.

DadTails is a personal project — views are our own, not our employers'. Entertainment, not professional advice.

Ryan pours the Naked and Famous: equal parts mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, Aperol and fresh lime, shaken. It's the drink that closes out our run of Chartreuse Last Word riffs.

Then the stories neither of us is proud of. A sick kid, a red plastic bowl left on the nightstand, a dad who said the wrong thing first and then spilled the carpet-cleaner water on himself. A three-year-old's first stomach bug. Nine months in a one-bedroom apartment during a house build that nearly broke one of us, in front of a one-year-old. What our kids actually learn from those moments isn't that Dad is perfect. They learn how Dad repairs.

Faith: John 21. After Peter's denial, a charcoal fire, a breakfast on the beach, and "do you love me?" three times. Repair, from the One who never had to.

Business: a wave of layoffs, plenty of open jobs, and plenty of people out of work at the same time. Why? Is the work beneath us, or are we living on one paycheck?

It's okay for your kids to see you fail. How you repair it is what they'll copy.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open — it's okay for your kids to see you fail

00:21 Welcome in — nine episodes in

02:03 The pour — the Naked and Famous

04:05 Let them see it — have your kids seen you fail?

04:56 The puke bowl, and owning it

10:27 A terrified three-year-old

12:49 Nine months in a one-bedroom apartment

16:18 Faith — John 21, breakfast on the beach

19:44 When they fail — repair at home

23:30 Pay the bills — Sursum apparel

25:49 The Elevated Craft shaker

28:36 Business — have you ever been laid off?

33:07 Open jobs, people out of work — why both?

37:12 Don't build your life on one paycheck

42:02 Take us out — repair is what they'll copy

THE POUR — the Naked and Famous. Equal parts mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, Aperol and fresh lime juice, shaken and served up. Created by Joaquín Simó at Death & Co in New York, a riff on the Last Word and the Paper Plane. Tools and past kits: https://dadtails.com/gear

MENTIONED — John 21:1–17 · the Elevated Craft cocktail shaker · Sursum apparel (our new apparel line; first drop in October) · SideKart, our new segment

THE FIELD NOTES — one email a week: the episode before it's public, plus the cocktail and the kit. https://dadtails.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Roast us: info@dadtails.com. We read every email, and we'll read it live.

Music from #Uppbeat — "Groove Sauce" by Stan Town.

As an Amazon Associate, DadTails earns from qualifying purchases.

DadTails is a personal project — views are our own, not our employers'. Entertainment, not professional advice.

Ryan pours the Sharpie Mustache — equal parts gin, rye, Meletti and Bonal, three-quarters of an ounce each, stirred, with bitters and an orange peel — and explains the name, which anyone who went to college can probably guess. Then Proverbs 27:17: iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. The group chat named Toxic that roasts you and then shows up to help you move. Why men would rather inconvenience themselves for a week than make one phone call.

The theory that there is only one man on the planet who wants you to be better than him — your dad — and what that looks like on a driveway basketball court and parents still in love decades in. The friends you pick right back up with after a year. The one who told a heartbroken high-school senior to stop being mopey and come have a beer. A cousin who never said a word when a nine-year-old punted the ball — just a look that said you're better than this.

Then the numbers on men and friendship, what phones have and haven't done to it, and the only fix either of them has: pick up the phone. We can't do life alone.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open — we can't do life alone

00:10 DadTails — EP 8

00:18 Welcome in — no facts tonight

01:45 The pour — the Sharpie Mustache

06:10 Who sharpens you — the group chat called Toxic

10:10 Faith — iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17)

15:59 Family — the one man who wants you better

17:32 A dad who is still the hero — watch the example

20:34 Tom, and the friends who pick right back up

25:00 Who haven't you called in ages?

26:19 Cousin Matt — you're better than this

28:32 A faithful friend — Christus Vivit

31:20 Pay the bills — meet the SideKart

37:31 The stats — men with no close friends

39:33 Why? Phones, doom-scrolling, and connection

43:48 Back to episode one — AI

45:21 We can't do life alone

46:53 Thank you — and next week

THE POUR — the Sharpie Mustache. Equal parts gin, rye whiskey, Meletti amaro and Bonal, three-quarters of an ounce each. Stirred, served with bitters and an orange peel. Created by Chris Elford at Amor y Amargo in New York; Ryan found it at Swordfish Tom's in Kansas City. The full kit and every tool: https://dadtails.com/gear

CORRECTION — the close-friends figures around 37:45 are from the Survey Center on American Life: 15% of American men reported having no close friends in 2021, up from 3% in 1990.

MENTIONED — Proverbs 27:17 · Christus Vivit, Pope Francis (2019) · Sirach 6:15 · Cocktail Codex and Meehan's Bartender Manual · SideKart, our new segment · McCoy Custom Carts

THE FIELD NOTES — one email a week: the episode before it's public, plus the cocktail and the kit. https://dadtails.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Roast us: info@dadtails.com. We read every email, and we'll read it live.

Music from #Uppbeat — "Groove Sauce" by Stan Town.

As an Amazon Associate, DadTails earns from qualifying purchases.

DadTails is a personal project — views are our own, not our employers'. Entertainment, not professional advice.

Pete pours The Silent Order — 110 proof Chartreuse standing alone, named for the Carthusians who have been making it in silence since long before any of this. Then Luke 10, the Good Samaritan, and the part people skip: a lawyer asked Jesus who counts as a neighbor, and the answer was a story. Ryan's version is a broken mailbox post, a neighbor in a Facebook group who asked the same question he'd just answered for himself, a friend's flooded yard and a borrowed tamper, and eighty people with chainsaws the morning the trees came down. The world globalized; the place you can actually show your kids how to care for someone is still the street you live on.

Then the grocery store. The checkout aisle and the fast no. The thing Ryan's family does instead — grab it, hold it, take a picture, it goes on the birthday list — and Pete admitting it would not survive first contact in his house. Why the milk is at the back. What a life-size Kerplunk is doing in a basement. Tariffs, and two dads who don't care where you land politically saying the quiet part: the end customer pays, and prices that go up do not come back down.

It lands on a children's book. Maddie's Fridge, by Lois Brandt — two best friends, and one of them has an empty refrigerator. Sometimes the guy on the side of the road isn't beaten half to death. Sometimes it's an empty fridge, and you don't know what anyone else is going through.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open — sometimes it is that empty fridge

00:12 DadTails — EP 7

00:20 Welcome in — back from Pittsburgh

03:15 Fact check — the teacher-salaries thing

04:45 The pour — The Silent Order

11:16 Faith — who is my neighbor? (Luke 10)

19:02 Neighbors who show up

22:40 Family — not no, not right now

23:13 The Costco Kerplunk

26:48 Grab it, take a picture

30:32 Business — tariffs are taxes

39:40 Pay the bills — RYZE mushroom coffee

40:58 What a good living costs now

42:51 Maddie's Fridge — hidden hunger

45:22 Next week on DadTails

THE POUR — The Silent Order. Two ounces of green Chartreuse, half an ounce of lime, half an ounce of water, seven sweet basil leaves. Shaken, never muddled — muddle the basil and it turns bitter — then double-strained into a coupe. Green Chartreuse is made by Carthusian monks from around 130 plants, and it is the only liqueur that gives its colour its name. Their motto translates as: the cross is steady as the world turns. The full kit and every tool: https://dadtails.com/gear

CORRECTION — the steel and aluminium tariffs mentioned around 38:58 were enacted in 2018 under Section 232, not 2016, and they applied broadly rather than to China alone; the China-specific action that year was Section 301.

MENTIONED — Luke 10:25-37, the Good Samaritan · Maddie's Fridge by Lois Brandt · Cocktail Codex and Meehan's Bartender Manual · RYZE mushroom coffee · the Carthusians and Stat crux dum volvitur orbis

THE FIELD NOTES — one email a week: the episode before it's public, plus the cocktail and the kit. https://dadtails.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Roast us: info@dadtails.com. We read every email, and we'll read it live.

Music from #Uppbeat — "Groove Sauce" by Stan Town.

As an Amazon Associate, DadTails earns from qualifying purchases.

DadTails is a personal project — views are our own, not our employers'. Entertainment, not professional advice.

Ryan brings Matthew 6 — the lilies of the field, the birds that get fed — in a week where his two-year-old was supposed to start preschool and instead threw up every night, no fever, no answers. Pete's oldest got swimmer's ear before she'd been in the pool once. None of that goes on Instagram, which is the point. The weeks that don't make the feed are the ones where your kids watch what "I love you" looks like: waking up at 2:00 AM, getting puked on, changing the sheets, being there.

Then the money. 45.7% of US households have no retirement account. The median balance for the ones that do is $87,000. 37% of US adults couldn't cover something over $400 in cash. 65% of non-retirees say they're not on track. Ryan says he'll retire at 60 and hopes to see 80; Pete asks whether $87,000 covers twenty years. And the wild card neither of them can size: if AI changes what work is, what does retirement even mean? Pete, speaking broadly: if you think future you doesn't need money, you're an idiot.

But then a Great Wolf Lodge day pass, a $6.50 churro at Disneyland, and where they land. Save for tomorrow. Spend on the things your kids are still talking about ten days later. And be right there where your feet are, because presence beats the money either way.

THE POUR — The Hemingway Daiquiri, also called the Papa Doble. White or silver rum, maraschino liqueur, grapefruit and lime, no simple syrup. Shaken, because shaking is what wakes the citrus up. The story goes Hemingway wanted his daiquiri with less sugar and more rum so he could put a few more away. The classic and the Hemingway are both in Meehan's Bartender Manual. The full kit and every tool: https://dadtails.com/gear

MENTIONED — Matthew 6, the lilies of the field · Mr. Sloth, the book Pete reads to his kids · Cocktail Codex and Meehan's Bartender Manual · Great Wolf Lodge, Kansas City · Disneyland churros · The Bench, a new format launching soon

THE FIELD NOTES — one email a week: the episode before it's public, plus the cocktail and the kit. https://dadtails.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Roast us: info@dadtails.com. We read every email, and we'll read it live.

Music from #Uppbeat — "Groove Sauce" by Stan Town.

As an Amazon Associate, DadTails earns from qualifying purchases.

DadTails is a personal project — views are our own, not our employers'. Entertainment, not professional advice.

The numbers turn out to be the smaller half. Pete walks through the prodigal son — the son who wasted all of it and still believed he could go home — and Ryan lands on what's underneath it: home has to be the place where the porch light stays on. From there it's a daughter asking her dad to help with her swim strokes for the first time ever, Toy Story and "When Somebody Loved Me," and the line neither of them lets go of — you never stop needing your parents. You just need them differently.

Then back to the houses, and an answer they arrive at from two directions at once. Stop caring about the stuff. Start caring about the people. Be the Joneses.

Recorded on a Monday, because Thursday's take wasn't good enough.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open — someday they're not gonna ask you

00:18 DadTails — EP 5

00:26 Welcome in

01:25 The pour — The Last of the Oaxacans

05:06 Faith — the prodigal son

16:47 Family — they need you differently

20:00 The Royals detour

23:17 Pay the bills — Yoto and Big Bible Stories

25:32 Toy Story — when somebody loved me

30:09 You never stop needing your parents

32:57 Business — the starter home is gone

41:48 Be the Joneses

45:33 Next week on DadTails

THE POUR — The Last of the Oaxacans. Equal parts mezcal, maraschino liqueur, green Chartreuse and fresh lime; shaken, double strained, served up. A riff on The Last Word (Detroit, 1910) with the gin swapped for mezcal — about 85–90% of mezcal comes from Oaxaca, which is where the name comes from. Green Chartreuse is still made by monks; only three know the whole recipe. The full kit and every tool: https://dadtails.com/gear

MENTIONED — Yoto, the screen-free audio player · Big Bible Stories for Little Hearts · City Brim Co. and the Ball Boy tee (not sponsored, Pete just wears it) · Toy Story and "When Somebody Loved Me"

THE FIELD NOTES — one email a week: the episode before it's public, plus the cocktail. https://dadtails.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Say hello: info@dadtails.com

Music from #Uppbeat — "Groove Sauce" by Stan Town.

As an Amazon Associate, DadTails earns from qualifying purchases.

DadTails is a personal project — views are our own, not our employers'. Entertainment, not professional advice.

Ryan brings back something a coworker in Germany told him — Sunday noise laws, no mowing, no vacuuming with the windows open. Out here, everyone and their mother is cutting grass on a Sunday. That opens Mark 2:27: the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Then they split. Pete says sitting still feels like squandering a gift, and that getting the house in order and the kids settled is rest. Ryan answers with St. Augustine — our hearts are restless until they rest in you — and argues there's a spiritual rest underneath the physical one. Neither lands it cleanly, and Pete tells Ryan to his face that he just restated Pete's position in different words so he wouldn't have to be wrong.

On faith at home: it isn't a program you teach, it's ambient. Your kids are copying what you do, not what you say — which is why performing it in front of them does the most damage. And Pete on what being a godparent actually means: tethering your soul to another, and standing at the gates to make sure she gets in.

Then, where work ends. 87% of new professional job postings are fully on-site. 36% of US employers added required on-site days this year. The debate stopped being about butts in seats and became about boundaries — and the wall that used to separate work from home is gone and isn't coming back. So who draws the line, your employer or you? Pete tells the handshake story from a $6M deal in the thick of the pandemic.

Nobody has it figured out. That's the show.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open — Sunday noise laws

00:20 DadTails — EP 4

00:25 Welcome in

01:33 The pour — The Boulevardier

04:45 Faith — rest vs. sloth (Mark 2:27)

16:51 Family — faith in the home

28:14 Pay the bills — Grüns

29:31 Business — where work ends

50:59 Next week on DadTails

THE POUR
The Boulevardier — bourbon, Campari, sweet vermouth. Named for the "man about town," credited to American expat Erskine Gwynne in 1920s Paris. The original is equal parts; we build it whiskey-forward at an ounce and a half. The bar kit we actually use: https://dadtails.com/gear

MENTIONED
Mark 2:27 · St. Augustine, Confessions · Grüns · Scott O'Neil, "Be Where Your Feet Are" — Ryan doesn't name the book on the show, but that's it, and the title is the phrase we keep coming back to.

THE FIELD NOTES
One email a week — the new episode before it's public, and the cocktail from the show: https://dadtails.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Got a cocktail you want us to pour, or something you want us to argue about? info@dadtails.com

Music from #Uppbeat — "Groove Sauce" by Stan Town
As an Amazon Associate, DadTails earns from qualifying purchases.
DadTails is a personal project — views are our own, not our employers'. Entertainment, not professional advice.

Pete and Ryan pour a Paper Plane and get into the squeeze every provider feels: the worry that shows up at 2am, the Mary & Martha trap, and the quiet drive to school that changed how Pete thinks about mornings. Plus: why you will never be as important as you are inside the four walls of your own home.

Nobody has it figured out. That's the show.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open — Be where your feet are

00:35 DadTails — EP 3

00:43 Welcome in

01:30 The pour — The Paper Plane

04:14 Faith — worry vs. providence

13:35 Family — the four walls

24:32 Pay the bills — Rise Mushroom Coffee

26:58 Business — daycare math

44:30 Next week — Where Work Ends

THE POUR
The Paper Plane. Equal parts bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino, fresh lemon. Shake it cold. The bar kit we actually use: https://dadtails.com/gear

THE FIELD NOTES
One email a week — the new episode before it's public, and the cocktail from the show: https://dadtails.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Music from #Uppbeat — "Groove Sauce" by Stan Town
As an Amazon Associate, DadTails earns from qualifying purchases.
DadTails is a personal project — views are our own, not our employers'. Entertainment, not professional advice.

Pete and Ryan open with the cocktail that started it all, then get into the thing every father recognizes and nobody names: the fast no. The reflex answer you give your kid — not because the answer is no, but because your head is already five steps ahead, and the quickest way to quiet it is to say no.

From there: the Parable of the Talents and what it costs to sit on a gift. What our own dads modeled, the good and the bad. And a real disagreement about AI — whether it takes the entry-level jobs our kids are walking toward, and what you'd actually tell them if they graduated tomorrow.

Nobody has it figured out. That's the show.

CHAPTERS

00:00 The fast no

00:21 Pull up a chair — the Old Fashioned

03:37 Faith: the Parable of the Talents

07:00 Why we restarted DadTails

09:20 Our own dads

12:45 The fast no, in full

16:28 Our kids don't need us to be perfect

20:28 AI — and not the fun kind

32:57 What would you tell your kids?

37:18 No job is too small

43:16 Pull up a chair with us

THE POUR

The Old Fashioned. Bourbon or rye, a sugar cube, Angostura, a splash of water. That's all you need. The bar kit we actually use: https://dadtails.com/gear

THE FIELD NOTES

One email a week — the new episode before it's public, and the cocktail from the show: https://dadtails.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Music from #Uppbeat — "Groove Sauce" by Stan Town

DadTails is a personal project — views are our own, not our employers'. Entertainment, not professional advice.