Hey Stoked Dad,

Welcome to weekend - grind the beans, fill the mug, and soak up the Sunday routine.

1. **Shaping our kids' identities through small actions**: I often remind my oldest daughter who we are as a family and as people, even in simple contexts like the grocery store. We are the kind of people who always return our shopping cart, no matter how busy we are or how far away the cart return is. It costs nothing to be kind and helpful, and it shows that everything isn't just about us. People who don't return their carts often have an undercurrent of self-centeredness. That's not who we want to be. As dads, it's our job to help shape our kids' developing identities through our words and actions, even in the smallest of ways.

2. **Setting intentions for the day**: Every morning before I drop off my oldest at her classroom, I ask what kind of person she's going to be that day. She always responds: helpful, patient, and kind. I tell her I'll be the same. These little primers help us both get in the right mindset for what lies ahead.

3. **The power of repetition**: You'll develop your own key phrases and actions to repeatedly instill in your kids. Maybe it's a cliche saying like "winners never quit," a special family prayer, or a morning affirmation. We have to be intentional and consistent with our words and actions. Those repeated messages will shape their reality, at least until the teenage years hit and they start questioning everything. But that's a topic for a different newsletter.

"Place an extinguished piece of coal next to a live one, and either it will cause the other one to die out, or the live one will make the other reignite" — Epictetus

Be stoked my friend,

Kris