38. 4 Reasons Our Kids Drive Us Crazy and Why Parenting Feels So Hard
Dadicated Joe
Parenting feels hardest on the days when you are already running on empty. I used to think my daughter was just being difficult. Something as small as her spilling a drink could send me over the edge. What I eventually realized was that a lot of what was driving me crazy had nothing to do with her and everything to do with what was being reflected back to me. In this episode, I break down the four reasons our kids push us the most and why those moments usually hit when we are stressed, overwhelmed, or emotionally tapped out. We talk about how kids mirror our emotional state, how the...
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37. The Dad Drift: Why Most Men Keep Failing at Home with Larry Hagner of the Dad Edge
Dadicated Joe
Survival mode, self-sacrifice, and avoidance are not strengths. They are the drift. Fatherhood doesn’t fall apart all at once, it erodes quietly. You keep showing up, you keep providing, you keep telling yourself this is just a season, and then one day you realize you’re exhausted, disconnected, and not totally sure how you got here. In this episode, I sit down with Larry Hagner, host of the Dad Edge Podcast, one of the original and most listened-to dad podcasts in the world. Larry calls this slow erosion the Dad Drift. It’s what happens when survival mode becomes normal, when...
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36. Dad’s Role in Breastfeeding: How to Support Without Making it Worse
Dadicated Joe
Moms spend between 400 and 650 hours breastfeeding in the first six months alone. When my wife, Serenity, started breastfeeding our daughter, I had no idea how hard it actually was. How many things can go wrong? I’ve always wanted to be an involved father, but like a lot of men, I assumed breastfeeding was mostly her thing and that my role in it would be minimal. Watching her deal with pain, latch issues, and the emotional weight of it all was eye-opening. I was involved in every other part of our daughter’s life, so why would feeding her be any different? Breastfeeding turned out to be a...
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35. Ben Greenfield on Forming Fitness Forward Families
Dadicated Joe
Fatherhood starts way before the delivery room, but most dads don’t realize it until the stakes get high. Sometimes conception may feel like luck, pregnancy like something mom handles, and birth like the starting line. Then we wonder why we feel behind once the baby is here. In this episode, I sit down with Ben Greenfield, a health consultant, New York Times bestselling author of Boundless and Boundless Parenting, and a dad to 17-year-old twin boys. Ben shares the framework he lives by: optimize the dad first, then design the family system around what you actually value. We talk...
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34. How I Stopped Yelling to My Kid: Reparenting Ourselves While Parenting Our Children
Dadicated Joe
It’s been said we’re the first generation reparenting ourselves at the same time we’re parenting our kids. Becoming a dad didn’t just change my schedule. It exposed parts of me I didn’t know were still running the show. A wounded inner child is desperately in need of a loving parent. My parents did their absolute best, but just didn’t have the tools and skills we have today to allow for feelings and set healthy boundaries without shame. I discovered it isn’t just my child who needs that support, but my inner child needs it as well! I found myself getting triggered by my...
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33. Can a Robot Put My Baby to Sleep? Lewis Krell on the SNOO by Dr. Harvey Karp
Dadicated Joe
It is largely just accepted that new parents don’t sleep for a year. But does it have to be that way!? Sleep deprivation does more than make us tired. It messes with our heads, our patience, our relationships, and our general sanity. When I became a dad, I accepted exhaustion as part of the deal. I assumed this was just how newborn life worked and that struggling through it was normal. Dr. Harvey Karp, a child sleep expert and the author of Happiest Baby on the Block, decided to question this assumption. He asked, why has baby sleep barely improved in decades? He then developed a safe,...
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32. Moms Don’t Get Holidays Unless...
Dadicated Joe
The workload of the holidays hits moms everywhere. Whether consciously or unconsciously, they take on the lion's share of the planning, the meals, the gifts, the travel, the traditions, the emotional labor — all while I stayed focused on logistics. And then rather than share in the fun and excitement the holidays are supposed to be about, they can end up stressed out, resentful, and just wanting it to be over. This is what happened with us, and my wife helped me learn how I could change it. I discovered that as a man, I just wasn’t taught how to see the invisible work happening, and...
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31. What Schools Get Wrong and How Holistic Education is the Answer with Michael Carberry
Dadicated Joe
The school system really messed me up. I would not fit into the standardized box they try to jam kids into, and was deeply wounded by them trying to hammer me into it. This left me passionate about changing the way we treat kids. I tried to create my own school for Della, but it was VERY HARD. So I was so lucky to find the Whole Life Learning Center, founded by Micheal Carberry for his two boys, now ages 8 and 10. In this episode, Micheal explains how kids learn best when their nervous system feels calm and supported, yet schools rarely center around emotional safety. He expands on what...
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30. How to Choose the Right School with Michael Carberry
Dadicated Joe
Parents often have so many questions when it comes to choosing a school, and it’s easy to get confused about what is important and what isn’t. These days, kids are usually measured by report cards and behavior standard benchmarks that rarely reflect who they are or how they’re actually growing. But underneath all of that is the real question we should be asking as parents: What is school actually for? And, How will we know if it’s fulfilling that purpose? To speak to this, I bought on Michael Carberry, the visionary founder the Whole Life Learning Center in Austin, which the school my...
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29. Dad’s Guide to Starting Solids
Dadicated Joe
This is a subject my wife and I became accidental experts on when we went looking for foods for our baby and didn’t like what we found. We (meaning my wife) did enormous research on infant nutrition, which became the foundation for our baby food company Serenity Kids. Starting solids is an exciting time that dads can help with a ton! Doing the research, purchasing ingredients, mashing up soft foods, or making purees are all ways dads can literally put food on the table! In addition to being essential nutrients for our child’s rapid growth and development, first foods can play a...
info_outlineThe workload of the holidays hits moms everywhere. Whether consciously or unconsciously, they take on the lion's share of the planning, the meals, the gifts, the travel, the traditions, the emotional labor — all while I stayed focused on logistics. And then rather than share in the fun and excitement the holidays are supposed to be about, they can end up stressed out, resentful, and just wanting it to be over.
This is what happened with us, and my wife helped me learn how I could change it. I discovered that as a man, I just wasn’t taught how to see the invisible work happening, and then was confused and angry about her stress and resentment “ruining” the holidays. I was always helping. I believed I was doing my part. But she was carrying everything behind the scenes, even doing things none of us even really wanted her to do. She wasn’t getting a break, and all we really wanted was to spend fun, restful time with her.
In this episode, I walk through the step-by-step holiday playbook that changed everything for our family. We get into how to plan the season together, why simplifying meals matters, how the Fair Play system of household management can end duplication and confusion, and why clear agreements help your partner feel supported instead of overwhelmed. I also share what finally shifted my mindset as a dad — from “I’ll jump in where needed” to actually owning parts of the holiday, so my wife could breathe.
It’s not about getting it perfect. It’s about presence, partnership, and the small decisions that make the holidays calmer, happier, and more meaningful for everyone.
👇 In this episode, we explore:
• How can dads help moms enjoy the holidays by reducing the mental load?
• What is the step-by-step process for planning a stress-free season together?
• How does the Fair Play system actually work during the holidays?
• What helps moms feel supported, appreciated, and able to enjoy the season?
• How can dads prevent resentment, overwhelm, and last-minute chaos?
The Fair Play Deck: A Couple's Conversation Deck: https://amzn.to/44iV3Zv
The Fair Play Book: https://amzn.to/4ltfKsm
👉 Get 15% off your first Serenity Kids order with code: DADICATED15 https://myserenitykids.com/
Being Dadicated isn’t about having all the answers.
It’s about showing up.
It’s about committing to the kind of dad—and man—you want to be, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.
Joe Carr is a dad to Della, husband to Serenity, co-founder of Serenity Kids baby food, and the voice behind Dadicated Joe.
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