Father-Daughter Insights: Brian And Libby Piper Discuss Overcoming Challenges And Celebrating Wins

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Family First Embracing the Realities of Fatherhood Fatherhood is a journey filled with joy challenges and countless learning moments In our recent episode of the Dads with Daughters podcast we had the pleasure of hosting Brian Piper and his daughter Libby This engaging conversation shed light on the intricacies of fostering a strong father-daughter bond emphasizing empathy support and mutual growth The Initial Steps Embracing the Unknown Brian Piper candidly shared his initial reaction to fatherhood Like many new fathers Brian felt a mix of excitement and fear He was initially terrified but quickly embraced the journey as a valuable learning experience Understanding the emotional and intellectual differences between men and women was one of his primary concerns when raising his daughter Libby Libby also offered her perspective on the various activities her dad encouraged her to try From cheerleading and soccer to rock climbing and snowboarding Brian s support helped Libby find her passions and joy in unexpected places Their shared skydiving experience stands out as a testament to his encouragement and her bravery Open Ears and Open Hearts Listening Versus Fixing A significant part of the episode focused on the challenges of raising daughters especially the balance between listening and solving their problems Brian highlighted the importance of listening without judgment and providing empathetic support something often more required by daughters than sons Libby emphasized that sometimes she needs her dad to listen and provide empathy rather than immediate solutions to her problems This approach has helped her feel supported and understood Fathers must remember to ask if their daughters want advice or just a sympathetic ear at that moment fostering better communication and stronger relationships Skydiving and Small Steps Overcoming Anxiety Together Libby s journey with anxiety and how her father has been there for her with unwavering support was another crucial discussion point Brian has used techniques like walking her through worst-case scenarios to help alleviate her anxiety This method allows Libby to process her emotions and face her fears more manageable The skydiving experience shared between them illustrates this dynamic beautifully Despite her initial anxiety Libby found joy and excitement in the activity thanks to her father s encouragement and support This shared adventure not only helped her overcome a significant fear but also strengthened their bond Thriving Amidst Technology Discussing AI and Social Media In today s digital age navigating AI and social media is an inevitable part of parenting Brian with his expertise as a marketer and content expert highlighted the ethical considerations and the need for open discussions about these technologies with children Libby coming from an environmental major background shared her concerns about AI s potential negative uses reflecting her thoughtful approach to the impact of technology on society These conversations around the dinner table although sometimes challenging are crucial for preparing children to make informed decisions about technology usage responsibly Finding Opportunities and Walking the Path Together Libby s approach to seizing opportunities by breaking tasks into manageable steps is a valuable lesson in personal development This method akin to how Brian taught skydiving emphasizes the importance of self-belief and recognizing personal capabilities Brian s reflections on parenting six children underscore the significance of personalized attention open communication and equitable responsibility-sharing with his partner The value of family dinners as moments of connection and fun further highlights his commitment to family values Conclusion In wrapping up the episode Dr Christopher Lewis reiterated the importance of community and shared learning as vital tools in the journey of fatherhood The insights from Brian and Libby Piper s experiences remind us to balance listening and fixing support our daughters as they face their fears and challenges and engage them in meaningful conversations about technology and personal growth Fatherhood as stressed throughout the Dads with Daughters podcast is not about finding a one-size-fits-all approach It s about being present empathetic and open to learning from our children and each other With resources like the Fatherhood Insider and the vibrant Dads with Daughters community fathers can find the support and guidance they need to raise strong independent daughters For more insights and to join the conversation visit fatheringtogether org and stay tuned for more empowering episodes on the Dads with Daughters podcast TRANSCRIPT Unedited transcript created with CASTMAGIC Dr Christopher Lewis 00 00 05 Welcome to Dads with Daughters In this show we spotlight dads resources and more to help you be the best dad you can be Dr Christopher Lewis 00 00 16 Welcome back to the dads with daughters podcast where we bring you guests to be active participants in your daughters lives raising them to be strong independent women Really excited to have you back again this week As always every week I love being able to be on this journey with you You know I ve got 2 daughters myself I love being able to talk to you talk with you walk with you as we go down this path to be able to raise our daughters and to figure this out along the way because there is no right way way to father Every one of us is gonna do things a little bit differently and that s okay But what s most important is that we are open to listening to learning not only to listen and learn from our kids but also to listen and learn from other fathers that are have gone before us are going through it right now because we can learn a lot of things a lot of tools that we can put into our own toolbox that we can then put into action So that s why this podcast exists Dr Christopher Lewis 00 01 10 It is here to help you And every week I love being able to bring you different people different guests with different experiences that help you to be able to grab some of those tools for your toolbox This week we ve got 2 new great guests that are joining us Brian Piper and his daughter Libby are with us today And we re gonna be talking about their journey together as father and daughter but also gonna be talking about some of the other experiences that that Brian s had as a father of 6 and more So Brian Libby thanks so much for being here today Brian Piper 00 01 42 Thanks so much for having us Chris Dr Christopher Lewis 00 01 43 It is my pleasure Love being able to be here to talk to both of you today And I always start off by turning the clock back in time So I Brian I wanna go all the way back I wanna go back to the first moment that you found out you were going to be a father to a daughter What was going through your head Brian Piper 00 01 57 I was terrified really I do a lot of things that you know get my adrenaline going and put me out on the edge but I really had no concept of what it was you know gonna be like to be a father and then to be a father of girl It was very daunting but you know I ve always accepted challenges and kind of you know jumped head first into them my whole life So I figured this would be a great learning experience Dr Christopher Lewis 00 02 22 It definitely is a learning experience And I know that I talk to a lot of dads that say what you just said in the sense that there s fear And I think there s fear not only with becoming a father in general but there s fear also in becoming a father to a daughter because it s an experience that we have not lived in many in for the most part and we can t we can empathize but we can t always understand But I guess as you think back and you think to the time that you ve had with Libby and your other kids too but as you think back to raising a daughter and that fear that you talked about what was your biggest fear in raising a daughter Brian Piper 00 02 55 Well first of all just making sure to to keep them alive That was a key But just being able to understand them because I grew up with a brother You know I had a great relationship with my mother but that s a very different relationship than you have with a child And just knowing that women are very different than men emotionally and intellectually And so I just wanted to make sure that I was gonna be able to connect with her and help her and you know help provide her the tools to make her a better person than I am Dr Christopher Lewis 00 03 24 So let s talk about experiences You said you wanted to build those experiences And and having memories building experiences is definitely important You talked about being an adrenaline junkie and you know you and I have talked about that and the things that you enjoy doing but I m gonna turn this over first to Libby Libby I guess as you think about experiences that that you ve had with your dad what s been the most memorable experience that you ve had thus far with your dad Libby Piper 00 03 49 I think since I was young he s always been like very encouraging to try everything like despite your interest level in it So I ve like growing up I tried everything I was put into like cheerleading soccer I have no athletic ability I m a theater kid and did not thrive in that situation But he does a lot of things and sometimes that becomes an issue but I ve tried rock climbing and I love that and I don t know if I would have thought that I would have enjoyed that Snowboarding I ve tried and there have been a lot of times in trying out these new things that at first I struggled a lot with them or like did not enjoy them at first The first time he took me snowboarding I cried and we ended up walking down the whole hill Libby Piper 00 04 44 But now I love snowboarding and I go out on my own I m in the ski club at school I skydive which is kind of shocking because I ve always been pretty filled with fear But he really just encourages me to try things that I wouldn t think I would enjoy And now this year at school I m trying all these different clubs that I don t know if I m gonna like them but we ll see Dr Christopher Lewis 00 05 06 And Brian what was your most memorable experience Brian Piper 00 05 09 Yeah I mean just doing experiencing all the activities and just watching the lights come on you know when when she finds something that she connects with or that she enjoys you know getting her involved in in theater and seeing her up on stage just glowing and you know just loving the audience and the reaction and the interaction We ve been skydiving together numerous times over the last year and a half and it s just so great to see her in in free fall just with a huge smile on her face and just having so much fun and just so excited So that s the most encouraging part for me is just watching the lights come on and and things start to click and she s like I can do this Dr Christopher Lewis 00 05 49 Now raising kids is not always easy Brian And there can be high points There can be low points and everything in between And as you think back to raising your daughter what was the hardest part in being a father to a daughter Brian Piper 00 06 03 I think you know and this applies to being married as well It s listening without judging and also without trying to help And I know you ve talked about this on previous episodes as well We wanna fix things We wanna solve problems And a lot of times they just want someone to empathize and to listen and to know that they re going through challenging things And when I start throwing out ideas well you could do this or you could do this It s like no Brian Piper 00 06 27 I don t wanna do that I just want you to know that I m I m experiencing anxiety or fear or pain and you know I just want you to empathize with me So that s a big difference between you know boys and girls You mentioned we have 6 kids between my wife and I There s 5 boys 1 girl So it s very different providing that parenting and that emotional support for girls is much more challenging but also much more rewarding Because you give the answer to the boys and they re like oh okay You know And they go do it Brian Piper 00 06 56 And you give it to to Libby and and she thinks about it and processes it and comes back with her thoughts on it Dr Christopher Lewis 00 07 02 I don t know if I agree with you Maybe that s a nice way of saying it Brian Piper 00 07 05 Yeah A lot of that Libby Piper 00 07 06 Yeah No It happened just the other day I think I can t remember I was complaining about something I don t remember what I was complaining about But I vase I went to him and I I think my legs hurt or something This was like 2 days ago but I was like I don t feel good Libby Piper 00 07 21 My legs hurt And he s like well did you take something I m like no Just just just tell me you re sorry And he s like I m sorry you guys are I m like thank you That s all I wanted He s like I know Dr Christopher Lewis 00 07 32 So Libby give us some advice here because I think a lot of dads go right to the fixing and that being able to be on the other opposite end when you re raising daughters and being able to hear and listen and not always fix is not always the go to modality that we go to So as someone that has grown up with a father that likes to fix what are some things that you might say to other dads that also do the same thing when it comes to connecting with their daughters Libby Piper 00 08 07 I think it really depends on the situation and what you re trying to fix because sometimes I ll have a problem and I m like completely shut down to it and I don t think there s a solution and I m just like upset about it And he ll come in and be like well you can do this And I am not in the mood to change things I am not in the mood to fix things I can t process that right now I don t wanna deal with that right now Just don t fix things right now But I think if I m explaining a situation and he has ideas to fix things I think just before shouting them out and before just being like oh here s the solution Libby Piper 00 08 42 Here s why I have the answer to your problem I think that s a big thing about it It s like oh I have the answer to your no Do you do you know the problem in its entirety or do you you re just wanting to help You just wanna make it better and I know that But I think before you give me the solution that you have maybe ask me if I m open to hearing solutions or like if I m ready to hear a solution Because a lot of times I ll say 8 times that time The solution he gives me is very helpful but I m just not always open to hearing it in that moment Libby Piper 00 09 14 So I think that the solution is helpful but I m just not always ready to hear it at that moment So sometimes I need a second of empathy just before I hear the solution Brian Piper 00 09 25 And you ve given that advice on your show before Chris is to ask sometimes I do this with my I find myself doing this with my wife now more too It s like do you want a solution Do you want some you know ideas about ways to solve this or not So that s been very helpful from the podcast for me Dr Christopher Lewis 00 09 39 Well I appreciate that And and I can t take credit for that because a previous guest did bring that up to me an author from out on the West Coast and she said in her practice of being a psychologist and working with dads that s one of the pieces of advice that she gave is to talk to your daughters from the very beginning and saying is this a listening conversation or a fixing conversation And I wish I had started that at a very young age with my daughters Because if I went and said that to my daughters now they d probably look at me like I was an alien and been like what have you been reading Because that s just weird Now doesn t mean that it still can t work like you said Brian in trying to incorporate some new language into the processes that you have with your own wife but you may still get some strange looks along the way And that s okay That s okay It s a process of of learning and getting better So that s what this is Dr Christopher Lewis 00 10 33 That s what it s all about Now I know you both just talked about the fact that some of the memories that you ve had you ve been able to do some things that may have pushed you Libby but also things that you enjoy doing Brian So let s talk about the skydiving because I know Libby you said skydiving was not something you ever thought that you would do but that you ended up doing it with your dad So talk to me about that experience What led you up to wanting to do that when you said that you were fearful and that you were willing to go and do it and what was the experience like Libby Piper 00 11 04 I really grew up around skydiving So I grew up with a pretty good like understanding of the safety of it Whereas other people look at it and they re like oh my god What are you doing You re gonna die And I grew up watching him skydive and obviously he s a pretty big role model so obviously I was gonna try it There s there s kind of this like expectation I think with all of us all of us kids that we will try skydiving Some of us have so far and some of us haven t But I knew I was gonna try it at least Libby Piper 00 11 35 But I have dealt with anxiety a lot before and just like that spiral thinking And I remember being in the car with him on the way to AFF which was like my skydiving training And I was gonna do my first jump all by myself and I was so scared because I was like who is letting me do this What how am I just like allowed to go and jump out of a plane on my own just responsible for myself How is that possible I do not have the capability to do this This is not something I can do And we like slowed things down and we would like talk through all my emergency stuff and he s been doing this forever Mostly And it was kind of just like that first push And I feel like that s typically how I work for the most part Libby Piper 00 12 31 It s like that anxiety leading up to the thing is always so much worse than actually doing it because I do it now and I love it And always in the plane I m always anxious and I will turn to my dad and I will walk him through my entire jump step by step before we go and get out of the plane because I m still anxious about it Like I still realize that it s not a completely safe activity but I feel a lot more safe definitely because I can do it with him And I think it s an even more important hobby to me because I can do it with him I think that s one of my favorite things about it is that it s something that is really special for both of us and I love that Dr Christopher Lewis 00 13 11 So one of the questions that I would ask because you were just were talking about dealing with anxiety and I think that a lot of kids today deal with mental health issues in their own ways whether it s anxiety whether it s depression There s there s a lot of things that they that compound upon themselves and parents sometimes are at a loss to how best to support their children as they re struggling through things like that And I don t know if you re willing to talk about it but I would love to get your perspective on for someone that has dealt with anxiety and mental health issues in that way how has your dad supported you through that What has he done well And what should other fathers do to be able to support their kids if they are struggling with similar such issues Libby Piper 00 13 59 I think like we were talking about earlier is just one of the big thing is like listening and just like being quiet for a second and like sitting with those thoughts And then he typically helps me realize that most of those thoughts I m like creating for myself Like I m creating that anxiety for myself So we ll go through in a lot of situations not skydiving because that s a little bit of a worst case scenario there But I ve done public speaking and I ll get really anxious beforehand and he ll talk me through He s like okay what is the worst possible outcome Like okay it s this He s like is that really that bad No Okay Libby Piper 00 14 36 So what s the best possible outcome This That s pretty great and so it s kind of finding that middle ground What do you think is the worst thing Do you think that is actually going to happen Most of the time it s not Most of the time that s a pretty small chance and it s kinda just like working backwards from your anxiety and then getting yourself back to that clear headspace which is is sometimes a really hard thing to do But I think the longer you sit with it and the longer you talk about it and the more like interested in listening you are the easier that is to kind of rewind yourself Dr Christopher Lewis 00 15 12 So it sounds like your dad s been able to provide you with a lot of tools a lot of things to be able to not only process things but also to set yourself up for the path that you re on now What are some of the things that that Brian did to be able to help you to not only get on that path but to become the woman that you re becoming today Libby Piper 00 15 33 I think one of the biggest things again like I said earlier is to try everything To just like put yourself out there so you can find opportunities for other things He s big about finding opportunities and opportunity seeking And I think now for me that s a big part of who I am I will go out and look for certain things and find situations that are gonna be the best for me find the people who are gonna be the best for me So I think I m pretty good at looking for those opportunities and recognizing them I think the anxiety and dealing with the anxiety is a big thing It was hard for me at school and the transition from high school to college last year was really difficult for me Libby Piper 00 16 19 So he gave me the advice him and my stepmom to just take things one step at a time instead of like looking at the day as like just one day It s just like okay we re gonna get out of bed now We re gonna step out of the bed and then we re gonna get dressed and then we re gonna walk out of my door do this do this like very very breaking it like breaking it down so much that it s no longer this big scary unknown and it s oh I ve walked downstairs before Okay I can do that Let s walk down the stairs And doing that to like get yourself out of bed and to find those opportunities Dr Christopher Lewis 00 16 55 And Brian reflect on what Libby just said there What does that mean to you in what you re hearing Brian Piper 00 17 00 Yeah It s you know it s the same thing we do when we re teaching someone to skydive is you have to break it down into just the individual steps so they re not looking at the whole like they don t keep in the front of their mind that they re gonna be leaving the plane and you know just now you re just taking one more step and one more step and then you re you know and I think along that whole process just encouraging them to believe in themselves and to understand like that they have more capability than they think they do and their self doubt is preventing them from seeing how capable and how strong and how innovative and intelligent they are But once they start doing that and they start learning I mean kids are just sponges They just soak up knowledge so quickly And once they get a hold of something you know then they just grow so quickly So I think that s important to to keep the focus really small on individual things that are easy to accomplish And then that way it leads towards accomplishing those bigger goals and finding those opportunities Dr Christopher Lewis 00 18 02 Now Brian you mentioned that you ve got 6 kids between you and your wife with 5 boys 1 girl There s a lot of stuff happening in that household And so I guess reflect on being a father of 6 and I know you re a busy guy as well So talk to me about balance and how have you been able to balance being a professional a father and everything else that you want to be in your life and being able to show up and being able to be present still in the lives of your kids Brian Piper 00 18 35 Well and I think so much of that is really comes down to who who you ve chosen to be your partner Because I know my wife is a huge advocate for transparency and honesty And you know whenever things start getting out of balance or you know if I m traveling too much for work or if I m doing too many activities on the weekends and not doing enough family stuff we have a very open communication network between all of us in the family where we can just say to each other you know we really need you here for this or you know you re doing a little more of this than you should be And I think just having that communication because I get in my head oh I can do everything And I have passed that on to my children who I can do all of it I can do all the things and be very active And and sometimes someone just has to be able to say you may be overextending yourself You may be taking on too much Think about what you can bring into balance by saying no to some things Brian Piper 00 19 33 I think having that open communication and being able to talk about things So when people feel like they re being they re not getting as much time as they would like you can talk about that Dr Christopher Lewis 00 19 43 And talk to me also about with 6 kids You ve had 6 different personalities 6 different individuals with 6 different needs And I m not even talking about your wife because that s number 7 but let s talk about your kids And how did you as they have been growing up build those unique relationships with each one of them that you have to do as you are parenting Brian Piper 00 20 08 Yeah And I think a lot of that comes down to making a point of spending time with each of them individually and having that one on one connection whether it s you know I mean teaching them how to drive 1 on 1 you re in the car with them for hours at a time By finding opportunities to talk to them just about their life in general and ask them questions And not just like trying to get into what they re doing every minute of the day questions but really asking them well you know how did that make you feel And and why did you like that And you know things that get deeper into kind of their emotions and their thoughts versus just you know what they ve been up to in their activities But yeah it s definitely a challenge when you you know switch from you know 1 on 1 to zone defense You know There s only so much that you can do We really make a point of trying to have family dinners where we all sit down and we all share And you know those are some of my favorite times Brian Piper 00 21 08 We re just just laughing and having fun and being goofy and silly with each other I think that s critical as well Dr Christopher Lewis 00 21 14 Now professionally I know Brian you ve been working as a marketer as a content expert as someone that really knows artificial intelligence working within higher education at this point And and I know you ve got a brand new podcast that s talking about AI in higher education as well And I wanna talk a little bit about social media AI and parenting as well because as a con as someone that has been working in this area I m sure you have some thoughts about there s a lot of concerns right now about social media social media use incorporating that or having kids being able to be having that as a part of their lives but then also with AI now and incorporating that into school and good case usage and when can they use it when can t they use it And it was a lot to unpack there But as you think about the work that you re doing to aid higher education and in people with these type of struggles that they re having in their own organizations As you think about as a parent and as we re struggling with these what do you say what would you say to other parents as we re looking at social media or AI and talking to our kids about these things and helping them to maneuver in this ever changing space Brian Piper 00 22 29 Well I think I think you actually just said it Chris is is talking to your kids about these things Because you know among our six different kids we have wide ranges of social media usage We have wide ranges of thoughts about AI As you know I m a big proponent of AI but my conversations with Libby make me think very carefully about the ethical uses of AI I mean there s some great ways that it can help us to be more human and more authentic and not just replace you know tasks that we re doing or get rid of jobs that we have that actually lead to more complicated jobs If we have AI doing everything that entry level lawyers do how are we gonna get more experienced lawyers who are gonna be able to do the more complicated things that AI can t do And that s the same in in higher ed and in research and every job field So it s really about trying to understand their opinions and their thoughts and not just dismiss those but really think about yeah you got a good point there and we shouldn t be doing this with these tools And you know these tools do cause a lot of anxiety and stress and social issues Brian Piper 00 23 40 So let s look at how we can use this technology in a a practical way but also in a ethical moral way that s gonna elevate humanity and not just make us lazy people with it sit around and let the robots do all the work Dr Christopher Lewis 00 23 54 And Libby as you hear your dad talk about that what is your reaction and what would you say to parents Libby Piper 00 24 01 I think he kinda hit the nail on the head I think all of my siblings and I have very different opinions on these things And like he said some of us use social media more some of us use it less Some of us are really interested in how AI works and some of us just find it like very scary and I find it more scary I feel like there s a lot of negative uses So I think that most of our conversation around AI is I m afraid of this because of x y z and this is why it scares me and this is why it s not all like oh this is cool that these people have like a high functioning robot in their house Like this is a little scary This is a little like apocalyptic almost and it freaks me out Especially like being like an environmental major see a lot of scenarios that end badly and so that s hard for me to come to terms with or a lot of our conversation around the dinner table will be about AI and so it s sometimes like hard for me to Libby Piper 00 24 56 listen to around the dinner table will be about AI And so it s sometimes like hard for me to listen to that and be like oh yeah this is great Oh yeah let s keep talking about this because I ll be sitting over there Oh this is a little scary But I think we do a pretty good job of talking about this and we were just in the car the other day and I was telling him like oh I don t think this is ethical Actually taking it in and I can see him actually taking it in which makes me feel more validated and makes me feel like I m not just like being crazy about it which is very helpful to me So I think he s pretty good about listening to how we all feel about it And to my brothers who are like oh wait tell me more about this Libby Piper 00 25 34 Like tell me how I can use this And he s pretty good about seeing our individual point of views Dr Christopher Lewis 00 25 40 Well there s so many ways in which AI touches our lives that some people don t even realize So I ve been having conversations at my own workplace about the use of AI in applying to college And the questions that arise are you ve get you ve got some people that say you can t use it at all in the application But then I say well what about Grammarly Is someone able to grammar check what they ve written and use Grammarly for that What about spell check That s an AI You know there s different pieces like that that makes it very gray and the ethical concerns are out there And I think that it is important to have these conversations with our kids to be able to help them to think about things and make their own decisions about it in the end Now we always finish our interviews with what I like to call our fatherhood 5 where I typically ask questions of dads but because I ve got both of you here both of you are gonna get some questions So first and foremost Libby in one word what is fatherhood Libby Piper 00 26 41 I d say encouragement Dr Christopher Lewis 00 26 42 And Brian Rewarding Now Libby when was a time that you would say that Brian succeeded at being a father to you Libby Piper 00 26 51 I think my mind just goes back to skydiving really and being able to share those experiences together And I think when I was telling him about my anxiety he told me that he feels anxiety about it too Like it s not just me He still feels it at how many years have you been skydiving Brian Piper 00 27 12 34 years Libby Piper 00 27 13 34 years of skydiving He still feels that anxiety and it s a completely valid feeling He never invalidates my feelings He always tells me like it s understandable that you feel this way but you don t need to And so I think that for all the time that I m fearful he s a very good father and helps me get out of that Dr Christopher Lewis 00 27 31 And Brian when was the time that you feel that you finally succeeded at being a father to a daughter Brian Piper 00 27 36 Anytime I watch my kids face challenges and then make good decisions or overcome things and particularly with Libby last summer 2 summers ago when she was studying in Spain she was so far away It s her first like time kind of really on her own And you know we were calling each other and she was calling me and she was super sad and she was homesick and she was feeling a lot of anxiety But we were just able to talk through it I listened a lot I did give her some tried to give her some helpful resources that she could use And I knew that if she just hung on and just waited it out and just let herself kind of adapt to the situation that she was fully capable of turning the situation around which she did And she ended up having a fantastic time and loved it so much that she wants to go back Dr Christopher Lewis 00 28 25 Now Libby if I was to talk to you and your brothers how would you describe your dad Libby Piper 00 28 31 I d say motivated or encourages us to like motivate ourselves and I think we could all agree Dr Christopher Lewis 00 28 38 Now Brian who inspires you to be a better dad Brian Piper 00 28 41 My mom and my wife for sure and then my father as well and and mostly my kids It s means everything to me to watch them doing well and to watch them have fun and it s great Dr Christopher Lewis 00 28 52 Now we ve talked about a lot of different things things within your own relationship things that you both learned in the relate in the in the fatherhood journey that Ryan that you re on and and I m gonna say that through the childhood that you ve had Libby into adulthood now Libby if there was one piece of advice you d wanna give to every dad what would that be Libby Piper 00 29 11 Find ways to individually connect with your daughter and to really seek out one on one time and to just genuinely spend as much time as you can together because that time creates memories and just creates a general oneness for each other And I tell everyone my dad is like my best friend and I just really enjoy spending time with him and doing things with him So I think that makes our relationship a lot better Dr Christopher Lewis 00 29 39 And Brian Brian Piper 00 29 39 Yeah I d say just enjoy every minute of it and laugh and have fun and it s gonna change so fast And you know they re gonna be off on their own before you know it But also set goals and give yourself priorities so that you re you know while you re having fun you re still always taking those small steps towards a bigger goal that you ve set for yourself Dr Christopher Lewis 00 30 00 Well I appreciate both of you being here today Brian Libby thank you for your time for sharing your journey I know it is not over It it continues on a day to day basis If people wanna find out more about you Brian where should they go Brian Piper 00 30 15 Go to brianwpiper com or you can find me on most social channels at Brian w Piper Dr Christopher Lewis 00 30 20 Well I just wanna say thank you Thank you for being here and I wish you both the best Brian Piper 00 30 24 Thanks so much for having us Chris This was great Dr Christopher Lewis 00 30 26 If you ve enjoyed today s episode of the dads with daughters podcast we invite you to check out the fatherhood insider The fatherhood insider is the essential resource for any dad that wants to be the best dad that he can be We know that no child comes with an instruction manual and most dads are figuring it out as they go along and the fatherhood insider is full of resources and information that will up your game on fatherhood Through our extensive course library interactive forum step by step roadmaps and more you will engage and learn with experts but more importantly dads like you So check it out at fathering together dot org If you are a father of a daughter and have not yet joined the dads with daughters Facebook community there s a link in the notes today Dads with daughters is a program of fathering together We look forward to having you back for another great guest next week all geared to helping you raise strong and powered daughters and be the best dad that you can be Dr Christopher Lewis 00 31 24 We re all in the same boat And it s full of tiny screaming passengers We spend the time we give the lessons we make the meals We buy them presents and bring your a game Because those kids are growing fast The time goes by just like a dynamite blast calling astronauts and firemen carpenters and musclemen Get out and be the world to them Be the 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