Fourth quarter Dad energy
PLUS – 100k why’s
October 02, 2026 | Read online
Friday is here. We dropped a 60-mile October challenge in the Dad Day Slack this week. More on that below.
Get outside, do something fun, and enjoy the weekend.
See ya Monday.
If you’re new here, we mix it up on Fridays with a quick recap from the week and a few extra gems to head into the weekend right.
“Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived, or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?”
Hunter S. Thompson 
THE DIGEST
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Wisdom of the Week: One of the best parts of being a dad is getting to feel like a kid again. You get to see this stuff through their eyes, and it reminds you that staying young at heart doesn’t just happen. You have to work at it a little.
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Most Clicked: Stuff You Suddenly Care About After Kids
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Gear of the Week: 260lb Economy Olympic Bumper Plate Weight Set
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Apparel of the Week: Relwen Sailcloth Tanker Jacket
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For the Kids: 100,000 Why’s For Kids Encyclopedia of Answers
Read, Watch, Eat, Listen
A few things to get into this weekend if you have a moment
📕 Read: The Happiest Man on Earth — Eddie Jaku
📺 Watch: 18 Affordable Watches For Cool Guys
🍔 Eat/Drink: The Only 3 Chicken Thigh Recipes You’ll Ever Need
🎧 Listen: Guys Being Dads — Fourth Quarter Energy
IN THE TRENCHES
Topic: How Patient Are You With the Kids?
We asked dads to grade their patience this week.
The top two answers were basically a tie: “Depends on the day” and “Usually pretty good.” Behind those was a healthy group of guys who admitted they’re definitely working on it.
That tracks.
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A rough day at work came up a lot
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So did being tired
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Toddlers
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Teething
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Homework
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Asking someone to put their shoes on for what feels like the 48th time
One dad said he’s realized that when he’s rushing, he expects his kids to move at his speed too. Another said seeing his own impatience show up in his kids has been a pretty effective mirror.
And then there was the dad trying to help his kid with homework:
“Drives me nuts to see my own self in them…I suppose it’s payback time now ;)”
There were dads with babies and dads with grown kids chiming in on this one. One guy whose oldest just turned 20 said his fuse is a whole lot longer now than it was when his kids were little.
So maybe there’s hope for the rest of us. Thanks for contributing y’all.
PROJECTS
Show us your space or something you’re working on…
Backyard bar vibes! Thanks for sharing.
WEEKEND BURNER
Set a timer for 15 minutes and let it rip:
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10 push-ups
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15 air squats
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10 reverse lunges each leg
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20 mountain climbers
-
30-second plank
KIDS VITAMINS FOR THE WIN
There’s a reason pediatricians recommend a daily multivitamin for most kids. Even the best eaters have gaps, and a chewable in the morning is the easiest way to close them.
Hiya’s Kids Daily Multivitamin covers 15+ vitamins and minerals kids actually need, no sugar, no gummy junk, just one chewable a day. Our kids take one every morning, no fuss.
Ships as a 30-day supply in a refillable glass bottle, plus a sticker pack for the kids to decorate it. 6,700+ five-star reviews from parents who feel the same way.
Dad Day readers get 50% off their first order + Free Shipping using link below.
Sponsored. We only work with brands we actually use.
ONE LAST THING
🍻 60-Mile October Challenge: 60-Mile October Challenge: Run, ruck, push the stroller. Doesn’t matter. Just hit 60 miles this month with the Dad Day crew and log it on Strava. Free version works. Shout-out to Earl on this one!
🍻 Weekend Assignment: Buy something from a kid this weekend. Lemonade stand. School fundraiser. Bake sale. Whatever you come across. And don’t ask for the change.
🧠 Worth Knowing: The “WD” in WD-40 stands for “Water Displacement.” The “40” is because the formula finally worked on the 40th attempt.
dad shower thoughts: The confidence boost from carrying every grocery bag inside in one trip is completely undeserved.
We ❤️ Coffee
Dad Day will always be free, but coffee helps with the early mornings and late nights that go into it. Grab us a cup here.
———
The Dad Pact
We’ll keep showing up with the emails. All we ask? If you’re digging it, share it with another dad who’d be into it.
👉 [Forward to a fellow dad]
Want More?
-
Check out the community
-
Listen to our ‘Guys Being Dads’ podcast
-
Work with Dad Day: We only partner with brands we’d actually use. Think there’s a fit? Hit us up.
*Heads up: some links in our emails are affiliate links. We only recommend things we’d use anyway.
Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here
© 2026 Dad Day Media LLC
237 King Street
Charleston, South Carolina 29401, United States
Powered by beehiivHow’s the weather?
Plus – try these movements
September 30, 2026 | Read online
Hey guys. Halfway through the week.
Here’s what’s on tap today:
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Find you some stoke
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70 new toys
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A camping flex
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Compound movements
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And more…
Let’s get into it.
If you’re new here, welcome. Happy to have ya!
📕 DAD WISDOM
Get You Some Stoke
My 8-year-old caught his first fish over the weekend. A redfish, maybe 15 inches.
You would’ve thought the kid landed a 700-pound bluefin.
He hasn’t stopped talking about it. How he caught it, how big it was, what it felt like. He’s fired up.
Somewhere along the way we lose a little of that. Stuff that used to be a big deal just becomes normal, and it takes a lot more to get a reaction out of us.
Meanwhile he’s getting 4 days of mileage out of a 15-inch redfish.
That’s one of the best parts of being a dad. You get to see this stuff through their eyes again, and it reminds you that staying young at heart doesn’t just happen. You have to work at it a little.
So when’s the last time something got you that fired up? If you have to think about it, it’s probably been a while.
Go find it. Try the thing you’ve been putting off, or pick back up the one you dropped when the kids came along. Get you some of that stoke.
SMALL TALK
A couple random facts you probably don’t need to know… but might come in handy the next time you’re standing around at a kid’s birthday party making awkward conversation with another dad you barely know.
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The average American child receives about 70 new toys a year. Yet somehow the cardboard box they came in still has a fighting chance of being the favorite. 😂
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The hole in the middle of a spaghetti spoon can double as a portion guide. On many designs, the opening holds roughly one serving of dry spaghetti.
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The first product ever scanned with a UPC barcode was a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum. It happened at an Ohio supermarket in 1974. That pack of gum is now in the Smithsonian.
DAD GEAR
Iron Grill Table Camp
Fall is here, which means it’s finally a great time to get back out camping. The IGT Camp Kitchen Starter Set packs a stove, prep space, storage, cutting board, knife, and even a sink into one modular setup. Definitely overkill for some, but pretty damn cool if you spend a lot of weekends outside.
🛒 WHAT ELSE WE’RE ADDING TO CART
» CAP 260lb Bumper Set
» Marshwear Saluda Puff Shacket
» Road Trips in the USA — Coffee Table Book
DAD BOD
Compound Moves
Watched a video with Dr. Mike Israetel recently that made a strong case for 30 minutes, twice a week, full body. The key is choosing movements that do a lot of work at once instead of bouncing around between isolation exercises.
Think:
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Underhand pull-ups for back, biceps, forearms, and grip
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Close-grip bench press for chest, shoulders, and triceps
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Bent-over rows for back, biceps, rear delts, and forearms
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Squats or lunges for quads, glutes, and the rest of your lower body
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RDLs or stiff-leg deadlifts for hamstrings, glutes, and spinal erectors
The whole idea was to pick a few movements that train three or four things at once, then get stronger at them over time.
JUNK DRAWER
» 😉 Stuff You Suddenly Care About After Kids
» 🎥 How to Slow Down Your Life
» 📕 We Fathers Must Not Let the Fire Die
DAD HUMOR
Something to chase
Plus – don’t wait for the new year
September 28, 2026 | Read online
Hey guys. Hope you had a good weekend.
Here’s what’s on tap today:
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The old you
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A fresh jacket
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Don’t wait ‘til 2027
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Rate your patience
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And more…
Let’s get into it.
And if you’re new here, welcome aboard. Glad you found us.
📕 DAD WISDOM
The Old You
We had a dad recommend the Derek Grant podcast in a Saturday Send a while back.
Tuned into his latest episode on a run over the weekend (link below) and found myself stopping to jot down two things he said:
“Growth eventually is going to ask you to betray an old version of you.”
And: “The old you is gonna stop working.”
A lot to unpack there.
The stuff that got you through one season of life isn’t necessarily what you need for the next one. The way you worked, spent your time, handled stress, thought about money, whatever.
Dad life has a funny way of speeding some of that up.
I know there are parts of the guy I was before kids that I still really like. There are also parts that just don’t work with three of them running around.
And I’m sure five years from now I’ll say the same thing about the guy writing this. Growing probably requires leaving a few versions of yourself behind along the way.
RAD DAD
Ben Kanute
Ben Kanute is a professional triathlete based in Loveland, Colorado, and a dad of two kids, ages three and five.
His job is literally swimming, biking, and running, but fatherhood has been the thing with no set course map. That’s the part he keeps coming back to. No one really knows exactly what they’re doing. Every kid is different. You make mistakes, own them, adjust, and keep going.
There’s also the guilt that comes with leaving for training or races, even when it’s the right thing. Ben gives a lot of credit to his wife for carrying more so he can do what he does at the highest level.
What he’s learning is that the same things that make parenting hard are also what make it good. It changes every day. The kids grow fast. They see the world differently. And if you slow down enough, you can learn a lot from that.
His reminder for dads is simple: be patient, stay intentional, and remember that hard things are usually worthwhile.
Follow him at @benkanute.
DAD GEAR
Relwen Sailcloth Tanker Jacket
This is the kind of jacket you’ll end up grabbing all fall. Relwen’s Sailcloth Tanker is lightweight, wind and water-resistant, and easy to layer over just about anything. Rugged without looking overly outdoorsy.
🛒 WHAT ELSE WE’RE ADDING TO CART
» Zebco Kids Fishing Rod
» Stainless Steel French Press
» Braun Series 7 All-In-One Men’s Trimmer, Shaver & Razor (24% off)
DAD BOD
Start Now
It’s officially fall, which means there’s still a lot of year left. Research on the “fresh start effect” shows we naturally like using dates like New Year’s, birthdays, or even Mondays as a reason to finally start something.
But you don’t need January 1. Pick something now (for real) a race, a strength goal, a workout streak, and put it on the calendar.
Research on goal-setting also shows that deciding when, where, and how you’ll do something makes you much more likely to actually follow through. Give yourself something to chase before 2027 gets here.
JUNK DRAWER
» 👀 Asking Kids Questions As Soon As You Pick Them Up?
» 🎥 Justin Verlander Seeing His Daughter Run to Mound For Last Game 💯
» 🎧 The Messy Middle w/Derek Grant
Weekly Poll👇
How would you rate your patience as a dad right now? –
Pick one and let us know why
Pretty damn patient
Usually pretty good
Depends on the day
Definitely working on it
Other
DAD HUMOR
The morning chaos
PLUS – park shade and kids’ pace
September 25, 2026 | Read online
Fall is officially upon us. Texas takes on Tennessee at noon tomorrow, then Ole Miss and Florida kick off at 3:30.
Have a great weekend, fellas. Get out there and have some fun. We’ll see ya Monday.
If you’re new here, we mix it up on Fridays with a quick recap from the week and a few extra gems to head into the weekend right.
“Wherever you are, be all there.”
Jim Elliot
THE DIGEST
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Wisdom of the Week: Kids move at kids’ speed. Trying to experience a little more of life at their pace is usually the right call.
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Most Clicked: How to Handle Being Around Parents Who Do Everything Differently Than You
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Gear of the Week: Shibumi Park Vista shade
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Apparel of the Week: Relwen Shag Snap Zip
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For the Kids: Franklin Sports Blackhawk Pop-Up Soccer Goal (4×3)
Read, Watch, Eat, Listen
A few things to get into this weekend if you have a moment
📕 Read: Four Thousand Weeks | Oliver Burkeman
📺 Watch: A Feel Good Motivational Short Film: How to Run 100 Miles | JAŸ-Z in 8 w/Rick Rubin
🍔 Eat/Drink: Award Winning Homemade Chili Recipe
🎧 Listen: The One-Skill-A-Year Plan For An Interesting Life
IN THE TRENCHES
Topic: Who Runs the Morning Routine?
We asked who handles most of the morning chaos at your house. Hundreds of dads replied.
The dads took this one (let’s go!), but not by much. “Mostly me” finished on top, followed closely by “pretty even” and “mostly my partner.”
Reading through the comments, though, it sounds less like anyone is keeping score and more like everyone has found their lane.
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Some dads own breakfast and drop-off because their wife leaves for work early.
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Others take the older kids so mom can sleep with the new baby. A few handle mornings because their partner takes bedtime.
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And plenty just divide and conquer: one packs lunches, the other gets kids dressed, everybody somehow gets out the door.
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One dad called their routine “a great dance that works well for our family.”
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Another was slightly less poetic: “My wife takes hours to really be someone.” 😂
Fair. Seems like the best systems have less to do with 50/50 and more to do with knowing who’s doing what before somebody starts yelling that they can’t find their shoes. Stay strong, gents!
PROJECTS
Show us your space or something you’re working on…
Eric H. from Asheville, NC, with the ultimate playhouse build. This is rad. Thanks for sharing, Eric. Well done.
WEEKEND BURNER
4 Rounds. Pick a weight you can move with for the thrusters.
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400m Run
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10 Burpees
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15 Thrusters
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20 Sit-Ups
KEEP THE SCHOOL YEAR STRONG
Week one of school is easy. Week six is the real test.
That’s why a daily multivitamin is worth locking in early, before the routine falls apart. Hiya’s Kids Daily Multivitamin covers 15+ vitamins and minerals kids need, no sugar, no gummy junk, just one chewable a day. Our kids take one every morning, no fuss.
Ships as a 30-day supply in a refillable glass bottle, plus a sticker pack for the kids to decorate it. 6,700+ five-star reviews from parents who feel the same way.
Dad Day readers get 50% off their first order + Free Shipping using link below.
Sponsored. We only work with brands we actually use.
ONE LAST THING
🍻 Weekend Assignment: Let your kid pick the entire car playlist for one full ride. No skipping. Just commit. 🎧
🧠 Worth Knowing: The tiny pocket on your jeans was originally made for a pocket watch. Levi Strauss added it to jeans in the 1800s.
dad shower thoughts: Why does the smoke detector only need a new battery between the hours of 1 and 4 a.m.?
We ❤️ Coffee
Dad Day will always be free, but coffee helps with the early mornings and late nights that go into it. Grab us a cup here.
———
The Dad Pact
We’ll keep showing up with the emails. All we ask? If you’re digging it, share it with another dad who’d be into it.
👉 [Forward to a fellow dad]
Want More?
-
Check out the community
-
Listen to our ‘Guys Being Dads’ podcast
-
Work with Dad Day: We only partner with brands we’d actually use. Think there’s a fit? Hit us up.
*Heads up: some links in our emails are affiliate links. We only recommend things we’d use anyway.
Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here
© 2026 Dad Day Media LLC
237 King Street
Charleston, South Carolina 29401, United States
Powered by beehiivYou might need more of this…
Plus – building and chasing
September 23, 2026 | Read online
Hey y’all. Happy hump day. Hope the week is going well.
Here’s what’s on tap today:
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Finding purpose
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The bottom of a wine bottle
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Your new shade?
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Fiber is important
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And more…
Let’s get into it.
If you’re new here, welcome. Happy to have ya!
📕 DAD WISDOM
Purpose
We featured Josh Bridges as a Rad Dad a while back. The dude is a unit. Former Navy SEAL, finished second at the CrossFit Games and ya, a dad.
I saw a recent video where he was asked about guys trying to find their purpose.
After everything he’s done, he said his purpose now is pretty simple: be a great dad.
“I’m not in the limelight anymore.”
Purpose can feel like it has to be some big thing we’re building or chasing. Something people can see. Meanwhile, there’s this other job waiting for us at home. No podium. Nobody keeping score.
Some days it’s awesome. Some days it’s a complete slog fest.
But hearing a guy like Bridges say this is my purpose now is a good reminder that the biggest thing you’re working on might not look all that big from the outside.
SMALL TALK
A couple random facts you probably don’t need to know… but might come in handy the next time you’re standing around at a kid’s birthday party making awkward conversation with another dad you barely know.
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Kids have kneecaps when they’re born…they’re just mostly cartilage. They gradually ossify into bone during childhood.
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The little groove on the bottom of a wine bottle is called a “punt.” Despite plenty of theories, a deeper punt does not mean better wine.
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The first text message ever sent said “Merry Christmas.” A 22-year-old engineer named Neil Papworth sent it in 1992 to a Vodafone executive. He had to send it from a computer because phones couldn’t actually type texts yet.
DAD GEAR
A Shade for the Grass
Powered by Shibumi
You’ve seen Shibumi’s blue shades all over the beach. Now they’ve made one for the grass.
We set up the new Park Vista at the kiddos’ soccer game this past weekend and it was a game changer. No poles to fight, no tent that takes ten minutes to figure out. Works at practice, backyard hangs, park visits, wherever you need it.
Same easy setup you already know from the beach version, just built for grass instead of sand.
🛒 WHAT ELSE WE’RE ADDING TO CART
» Marine Layer Saturday Ripstop Utility Pant
» SKIL Corded Multi-Function Detail Sander (20% off)
» Suunto Race 2 Watch
DAD BOD
Fiber Y’all
Protein gets all the attention, but fiber might be the thing most guys are actually missing.
About 97% of men don’t hit the recommended amount, and most Americans get only around 15 grams a day when the target is closer to 25–35+ grams.
Fiber helps keep the pipes moving by adding bulk to stool and supporting regularity, while also helping with cholesterol, blood sugar, and staying full.
Easy fix: more beans, berries, oats, nuts, whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Or get something like this from Momentus.
JUNK DRAWER
» 📕 33 Side Quests Before the End of 2026
» 🎥 Sitting All Day? This One Exercise Might Fix It
» 🎧 Main Character Energy w/Derek Grant
DAD HUMOR
Picking your battles
Plus – no cold plunge required
September 21, 2026 | Read online
Right back at it. Hope the weekend was a good one.
Here’s what’s on tap today:
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Their speed, not yours
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A Dad and the NYC Marathon
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Fall gear
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Morning routines
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And more…
Let’s get into it.
And if you’re new here, welcome aboard. Glad you found us.
📕 DAD WISDOM
Their Speed
I was talking to a neighborhood dad over the weekend who just had his fourth kid, so I figure the guy has earned at least a little dad wisdom.
He said with his first two, everything felt rushed. Getting out the door. Bedtime. Meals. Pretty much all of it.
With three and four, he’s tried to get better at experiencing life at his kids’ speed.
I jotted down ‘kids’ speed’ in my notes app because I thought it was a great way to frame it.
Kids have no idea we’re running five minutes late. They don’t know about the email we need to answer or the ten other things we’re trying to get done before dinner. They’re just doing whatever they’re doing, usually at an unbelievably inefficient pace.
And we’re usually trying to speed them up.
Obviously, life doesn’t suddenly stop being busy because you have kids. Sometimes everybody really does need to get their shoes on and get in the damn car.
But there’s probably something to experiencing a little more of life at their speed. They seem to be pretty good at it.
RAD DAD
Tucker Piner
Tucker Piner just had his second kid. His toddler, Liam, is already logging miles in the stroller. He’s got a full-time gig, a nonprofit to run, the NYC Marathon on the calendar, and a run club he’s trying to grow to a hundred dads.
Somehow, he doesn’t seem stressed about it…just stoked. That’s what we loved about Tucker’s story.
When Liam was born, Tucker wanted to run, spend time with his son, and give his wife a break. Doing all three separately wasn’t happening, so he stacked them. That became Dumbo Dads Run Club.
The pitch is simple: strollers welcome, Saturday and Sunday mornings, let mom sleep in.
Now he’s logged 250+ miles with Liam in the stroller, and the run club has become something bigger than training. Dads are swapping sleep advice, feeding tips, apartment leads, and the kind of real conversations that are easier when you’re moving side by side.
This November, Tucker is running the NYC Marathon with a new baby at home and a toddler cheering him on. It’s all about showing his kids that dad can do hard things.
We teamed up with Mack Weldon to follow his road to race day. Full story on the site.
DAD GEAR
Aer Go Pack 2
Lightweight, packable, and way more useful than it looks. The Aer Go Pack 2 has enough organization for everyday stuff without feeling bulky, and it even took home Carryology’s Best Packable Bag award. Easy one to throw in a suitcase or keep around as your everyday backup.
🛒 WHAT ELSE WE’RE ADDING TO CART
» Relwen Shag Snap Zip Up
» Weight Storage Organizer Rack
» Path Projects Century Short
DAD BOD
Morning Routine
Shaan Puri from My First Million shared his ‘life-changing morning routine,’ and it’s almost too simple not to try:
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3 minutes stretching
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3 minutes thinking about people who make you happy
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3 minutes deciding the one thing you need to get done that day.
No cold plunge. No supplements. No 14-step routine. Just move a little, get your head in a good place, and pick the day’s win. Nine minutes, then get on with it. We dig.
JUNK DRAWER
» 📕 How to Handle Being Around Parents Who Do Everything Differently Than You
» 🎥 Too Busy Chasing What’s Next?
» 💪 How to Step Up Your Plant Game
Weekly Poll👇
Who handles more of the morning routine in your house?
Pick one and let us know why
Mostly me
Mostly my partner
Pretty even
Depends on the day
Other
DAD HUMOR
TGIF
PLUS – more reps and a corner bar
September 18, 2026 | Read online
Happy Friday. Summer officially ends next Tuesday, so get after it this weekend. The marquee college football matchup appears to be LSU vs. Ole Miss — 7:30pm ET, Saturday.
See ya Monday.
If you’re new here, we mix it up on Fridays with a quick recap from the week and a few extra gems to head into the weekend right.
“Forever is composed of nows.”
Emily Dickinson
THE DIGEST
-
Wisdom of the Week: We can make being a good dad pretty dang complicated sometimes. A much simpler way of looking at it: be there.
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Most Clicked: 8 Things Your Kids Might Actually Remember
-
Gear of the Week: Red Wing’s Classic Moc
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For the Kids: Self-Launching Motorized Air Rocket
Read, Watch, Eat, Listen
A few things to get into this weekend if you have a moment
📕 Read: Greenlights | Matthew McConaughey
📺 Watch: Slow Horses (Apple TV) New Season | Why Do More Reps
🍔 Eat/Drink: The Best Dang Quesadillas You’ve Ever Had
🎧 Listen: 50 Marathons in 50 States in 24 Days | Rich Roll Podcast
IN THE TRENCHES
We asked how often you actually sit down and have dinner as a family.
This one wasn’t particularly close. Almost every night ran away with it.
The comments made it clear that for a lot of dads, dinner has become one of those parts of the day worth protecting. Breakfast is chaos. Everyone scatters for school and work. But dinner is a chance to get everybody back in the same place for a minute.
Of course, “family dinner” looks different depending on the house.
Some are phone-free around the table every night. Some are eating around the kitchen island while mom and dad stand. Toddlers are taking three bites and wandering off. Sports families are eating in shifts. One dad said his toddler eats before them…and then again with them.
A few dads called it a non-negotiable. Others said they know sports and activities will eventually make it harder, so they’re taking advantage of it while the kids are young.
One line probably summed up why so many guys make the effort:
“It’s a must. Only time we really sit down together all day.”
Everybody in roughly the same place, eating roughly at the same time, seems to count.
PROJECTS
Show us your space or something you’re working on…
This guy turned his yard corner into a corner bar. Cheers to him.🍻
WEEKEND BURNER
Set a timer for 40 seconds of work, 20 seconds of rest and run through these five moves for 4 rounds:
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Bodyweight squats
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Push-ups
-
Reverse lunges
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Mountain climbers
-
Plank shoulder taps
ONE LAST THING
🍻 Weekend Assignment: Teach your kid something completely useless. How to skip a rock. Flip a coin off your thumb. Make a paper airplane. Whistle with two fingers. Important life skills.
🧠 Worth Knowing: The Dodgers got their name from Brooklyn pedestrians who had to dodge the city’s trolley cars. They became known as “Trolley Dodgers,” eventually shortened to Dodgers. The name followed the team to LA in 1958.
dad shower thoughts: When did checking the weather stop being practical and become entertainment?
We ❤️ Coffee
Dad Day will always be free, but coffee helps with the early mornings and late nights that go into it. Grab us a cup here.
———
The Dad Pact
We’ll keep showing up with the emails. All we ask? If you’re digging it, share it with another dad who’d be into it.
👉 [Forward to a fellow dad]
Want More?
-
Check out the community
-
Listen to our ‘Guys Being Dads’ podcast
-
Work with Dad Day: We only partner with brands we’d actually use. Think there’s a fit? Hit us up.
*Heads up: some links in our emails are affiliate links. We only recommend things we’d use anyway.
Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here
© 2026 Dad Day Media LLC
237 King Street
Charleston, South Carolina 29401, United States
Powered by beehiivPull-up bars are one of those things where you either buy cheap and regret it, or buy right once. We put the Bullbar 2.0 in our office and haven’t looked back. Here’s the honest take.
What It Actually Is
The Bullbar 2.0 is a freestanding pull-up and dip station. No drilling, no assembly, no bolting into a wall you don’t own. You unfold it, it locks into place, and you’re ready to go. Setup takes about a minute. Folded, it’s 45 x 13 x 11 inches, which fits a closet, slides under a bed, or rides in your trunk.
400 lb weight rating. 16-gauge industrial steel. Certified by Intertek to ISO 20957-1 and ASTM F2276-23, which are the actual standards for training equipment, not just marketing language.
It’s been featured in Men’s Journal, Muscle & Fitness, and Forbes. 896 reviews averaging 4.8 stars.
The Dip Situation
Most pull-up bars treat dips as an afterthought. A narrow attachment bolted on, or nothing at all.
Bullbar built the dip bars into the frame. Same 400 lb rating. Dip bars taper from 21 to 24 inches apart so you can set your own width depending on whether you’re going chest dips or triceps. Bar height sits at 36 inches off the floor. You finish a set of pull-ups, step down, and dip. Nothing to swap or add.
Beyond Pull-Ups and Dips
The frame also supports inverted rows, push-ups with handles, hanging leg raises, and band work for assisted or resisted variations. It’s a legitimate home gym setup on one frame that disappears into a closet when you’re done.
What We Actually Think
We have ours in the office. It fits, it’s stable, nobody’s questioned it. The dip attachment was the part that actually surprised us because most bars this size don’t pull it off. At 6’9″ standing height on the 2.0 and up to 7’10” on the EXT version, it works in standard ceiling rooms without issue.
In Bullbar’s own owner survey of 193 verified buyers, 80% said the folding feature was the main reason they chose it. Only 18% cited price. People aren’t buying this because it’s cheap. They’re buying it because it actually solves the problem other bars don’t.
For $399 it punches above its weight. Comes with free shipping, a 100-day trial, and a lifetime warranty.
Dad Day stamp of approval.
[Check out Bullbar at bullbarfit.com →]
Watch the full review:
So many questions
Plus – a sleep trick worth trying
September 16, 2026 | Read online
Hey y’all. Hope the week is going well. We’re halfway through it. Let’s go!
Here’s what’s on tap today:
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Drop off
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The Ms in M&Ms
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Your next watch
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Can’t fall back asleep?
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And more…
Let’s get into it.
If you’re new here, welcome. Happy to have ya!
📕 DAD WISDOM
Drop-off
Our office is right near a college campus.
Yesterday morning I dropped my 8-and 5-year-old off at school, and then a few minutes later I saw what had to be a college student saying goodbye to her parents. Her dad had her in one of those hugs where you could tell he didn’t want to let go.
It’s wild how being a dad softens you up. New dads, if it hasn’t happened to you yet, just wait.
Anyway, it legit got me. I had just done my version of the exact same thing.
Obviously my kids still need me for almost everything right now. But little by little, the job is to make sure they need me less.
That’s such a weird part of being a dad. You spend all these years helping them become independent, and then one day it actually works.
I’m sure that dad was proud as hell. Still didn’t look like he wanted to let go.
SMALL TALK
A couple random facts you probably don’t need to know… but might come in handy the next time you’re standing around at a kid’s birthday party making awkward conversation with another dad you barely know.
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The average 4-year-old asks around 390 questions a day. One study found kids can fire off a question about every 1 minute and 56 seconds during their waking hours.
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The tiny hole in a pen cap is there for safety. Many manufacturers design caps with airflow so that if one is accidentally swallowed, air may still be able to pass through. Turns out somebody actually thought through the thing you chewed on for all of middle school.
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The “M”s in M&M’s stand for Mars and Murrie. Forrest Mars partnered with Bruce Murrie, son of Hershey’s president, to launch the candy in 1941. Murrie reportedly got a 20% stake in the deal. Not bad for one letter.
DAD GEAR
Casio A168WA – The OG
The Casio A168 has been around long enough to earn iconic status. Stainless steel, super simple, and somehow still looks cool decades later. You get the time, date, alarm, stopwatch, backlight, and a seven-year battery for not a whole lot of money. Currently 25% off, too.
🛒 WHAT ELSE WE’RE ADDING TO CART
» DEWALT 20V MAX XR Oscillating Tool Kit with Blades (25% off)
» Diono Booster Car Seat (10% off)
» The Eastmoor Sweater in Spruce Wool
DAD BOD
Fall Back Asleep
Andrew Huberman shared this one and, anecdotally, it’s been money on those nights when a kid wakes you up and your brain decides the day has started.
Try it: Keep your eyes closed and slowly move them left, right, up, down, then make a circle in each direction and finish with a long exhale. Huberman says doing that sequence a couple times can help you drift back off.
There’s some research linking slow eye movements with increasing sleepiness, although this exact trick hasn’t been put through a big clinical trial yet.
Very much worth trying next time you’re staring at the inside of your eyelids at 3:17am.
JUNK DRAWER
» 📕 Why Your Kid Acts Like They’re in Charge (And How to Actually Fix It)
» 🎥 15 Movies for Millennial Parents to Rewatch W/Their Kids
» 🎧 5 Ways to Kill Your Envy and Get Happier
DAD HUMOR
😂
If you’ve ever felt like you’re living in a house run by a tiny, irrational dictator, you’re not alone. And more importantly, it’s fixable.
The Raising Good Humans podcast had Claire Lerner on to walk through her book, Why Is My Child in Charge? She’s a child development specialist who has spent 35 years working with families in the thick of exactly this. Not a theory person. A in-your-living-room-watching-it-happen person. The episode is worth your full time, but here are the takeaways that landed hardest.
Listen to the full episode here.
The Root of Almost Every Power Struggle
Lerner’s core argument is that parents get into power struggles not because their kids are bad or manipulative, but because of eight specific mindset traps that cause them to misread what’s actually happening. Once you see the situation differently, you respond differently. And when you respond differently, the whole dynamic shifts.
Here are the ones worth keeping.
1. Your Kid Is Not Doing This on Purpose
The single most important reframe in the book.
When a kid hits, throws something, or says something awful, it looks intentional. It isn’t. No child wakes up and decides to make your morning miserable. What you’re actually seeing is a kid who hasn’t yet developed the tools to manage what they’re feeling, so the feeling comes out sideways.
When you interpret the behavior as purposeful, you go punitive. You go harsh. You go down a road that escalates the situation instead of resolving it.
When you see it as a kid who’s struggling and doesn’t know what else to do, you respond completely differently. Same behavior, completely different outcome depending on the lens.
2. Your Kid Is Not Manipulating You
The bedtime snack scenario Lerner describes is one most parents will recognize immediately. Kid barely eats dinner. Bedtime routine happens. Lights go out. Five minutes later: screaming hunger. Parents feel completely played.
Lerner’s reframe: the kid isn’t manipulating. She’s being strategic in the way every three-year-old is wired to be strategic. She figured out that screaming about hunger gets her more time with her parents. That’s not sociopathic. That’s actually pretty clever.
The job isn’t to get angry at the cleverness. The job is to change the system so that strategy stops working. Once those parents saw it that way, they stopped being angry at their daughter and started being able to set a clear, loving limit. Last-chance food before lights out. Done.
3. You Cannot Control Your Child
This one is humbling and also genuinely freeing. You cannot make a kid fall asleep. You cannot make them eat. You cannot make them stop having a tantrum. You cannot make them pee and poop on the potty. You can create conditions, you can set up expectations, but you don’t control their bodies or their emotions.
What you control is how you respond.
That shift in focus, from trying to control the kid to controlling your own response, is where things start to turn around. The families Lerner works with who make this shift see the biggest changes, and the fastest.
The car seat is her example. No parent says, “You know what, today we’ll just skip the car seat.” That limit happens, no matter what. You use it as a proof point: you can set a limit, hold it, and your kid will be uncomfortable but fine. That same capacity exists everywhere else.
Join the Family
4. Your Kid’s Difficult Feelings Are Not Harmful
When a kid is scared about school, the instinct is to reassure. “You’re going to love it! Your teacher is so great! They have those magnetiles you love!”
The kid hears: you’re wrong to feel what you’re feeling.
Lerner is clear that trying to cheerlead a kid out of their feelings doesn’t make the feelings go away. It makes them fester. The kid stops feeling heard and starts acting out instead.
What actually works: acknowledge the feeling first, fully, before you do anything else. “I get it. Starting something new feels scary. Of course you feel that way.” Once the feeling is acknowledged, the kid is actually open to hearing what comes next. Until it’s acknowledged, they’re just trying to convince you the feeling is real.
5. Limits Don’t Need Your Kid’s Agreement to Be Appropriate
This is the one that’s quietly wrecking a lot of bedtime routines. Parents explain, negotiate, and try to convince their kids to agree with limits. “You need to sleep because otherwise you’ll be tired.” “We’re only doing three books because it’s late.” What they’re doing is waiting for the kid to agree before they enforce the limit.
And no kid is going to say, “You know what, you make a great point. Let me cooperate.”
The limit is the limit regardless of whether the kid likes it. “I know it’s never enough. I totally get it. But it’s time for bed.” That’s it. You don’t need their buy-in. You need their compliance, and compliance comes from a clear limit calmly held, not from a negotiation they keep winning.
6. Failure Is Not Harmful
When a kid gets frustrated with a puzzle and you swoop in and help, you’re not showing love. You’re inadvertently communicating that you don’t think they can handle it. Lerner’s recommendation: pause before you rescue. Acknowledge the frustration first. “Puzzles are really hard. I totally get it.” Then: “Would you like some ideas?”
Asking permission before you give advice changes everything. It shows respect. And most of the time, once you ask, they’re actually open to hearing it.
The “Two Great Choices” Framework
This is the practical tool that runs through the whole book. Whatever limit you’re setting, give the kid two options. One is cooperating with the plan. The other is something you can actually control and enforce.
“You can get in the car seat on your own, or I can help you get in. What would you like?”
The key: option B has to be something you will actually follow through on. If you can’t enforce it, don’t offer it. The gray zone, the place where you’re pleading and negotiating and threatening without follow-through, is where kids end up in charge in a way that isn’t good for anyone.
The tone matters as much as the words. Two great choices said with genuine calm lands completely differently than a threat with the same information. Practice the calm. It’s most of the job.
The Bigger Point
This isn’t permissive parenting. It’s not giving kids everything they want or letting them run the house.
It’s recognizing that when a kid feels out of control on the inside, they try to control everything on the outside. They’re not being bad. They’re coping. And the way to help them cope better is to give them clear, consistent, lovingly-held limits from a parent who isn’t getting swept into the power struggle with them.
Lerner puts it simply: it’s not love or limits. Limits are love.
Go listen to the full episode. And if any of this rings a bell, the book is worth it.