The Daily Dad They Don’t Know How It Works
Mar 4, 2026
A reflection on how young children find the world bewildering and developmentally different. A look at infants’ lack of object permanence and how that shapes fear. Oddities of language that confuse early learners. The sudden, jarring shifts when kids enter adolescence. A reminder to practice patience and explain things repeatedly.
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Childhood Is Naturally Bewildering
- Children experience the world as bewildering because they lack developed understanding and many basic concepts like object permanence.
- Ryan Holiday lists concrete surprises kids face: no object permanence, sudden school desks, confusing homophones, and escalating teenage consequences.
Examples That Reveal A Child's Perspective
- Ryan Holiday imagines concrete scenarios to show how strange everyday life can be for kids, like falling asleep in a stroller and waking in a dark room.
- He uses examples such as lacking object permanence and encountering identical-sounding words like Mary, Mary, and Mary.
Explain Things Repeatedly To Children
- Give children grace and patience as they learn social rules and language that adults take for granted.
- Ryan Holiday instructs parents to explain things repeatedly and answer questions because kids are trying to get up to speed.