Brian and Dave talk Halloween the way most of us actually experienced it versus how a lot of it looks now. They trade dumb and memorable stories from when they were kids, then push back on some of the more cautious modern safety advice.

They cover why a lot of the "best practices" lists feel like they were written for people who think helicopter parenting is a virtue, plus the stuff they still think is worth paying attention to. The conversation stays practical: knife skills for pumpkin carving, candy checks for allergies, driving on Halloween night, and the difference between being aware and being overbearing.

We cover:

• Childhood Halloween stories (cold weather, riding in truck beds, haunted houses that didn't go well)
• How much more structured and parent-involved the holiday has become
• Why some common safety recommendations go too far
• Teaching kids to use knives instead of just keeping them away from sharp things
• Candy, allergies, and the homemade stuff you should probably toss
• Driving carefully when kids are everywhere, and why situational awareness still matters
• Letting older kids and even young adults keep some of the fun instead of shutting it down

Halloween doesn't have to be a high-stress operation. Pay attention, take a few basic precautions, and let the kids actually have fun.

Live every Thursday at 8:00 PM Mountain Time on YouTube, Twitch, Kick, BitChute, and Instagram.
👉 www.unhingeddadspod.com

A modern house with multiple kids runs on the same problems as a Golden Age pirate ship: one captain who is not fully in charge, a crew that only follows orders when they feel like it, scarce resources, and constant mutiny over small things.

Brian and Dave talk about treating the household like a ship instead of a democracy. Clear rules instead of invented ones in the moment. Shares that are fair but not equal. Mutiny as information instead of pure disrespect. And the one rule that still holds: you do not kick a kid out of the crew for being difficult.

We cover:

• Who is actually the captain

• Writing the articles so you are not making rules on the fly

• What a kid's refusal is actually telling you

• Fair is not equal

• The no-abandonment rule

Live Thursday at 8:00 PM Mountain Time on YouTube, Substack, Instagram, Twitch, Kick, and BitChute. www.unhingeddadspod.com What rule in your house would start a real mutiny if you changed it tomorrow? Drop it in the comments.

Brian and Dave talk about the feeling of already being behind in October, even when the month is only a week old. School is in full swing, extracurriculars are stacking up, projects are unfinished, and everything on the calendar is winning. We dig into why every slip starts to feel like a moral failure, even when ideal conditions never actually exist.

We cover:

• Why getting anywhere on time with kids is basically impossible
• Treating normal backlog as a character flaw instead of a fact of life
• The difference between urgent and important, and how the urgent usually wins
• Practical ways to triage: pick the one or two things that actually matter today and let the rest go
• Why new systems and planners usually fail, and what actually works instead (shared calendar, automated bill pay, basic prioritization)
• Letting some things die without turning it into a shame spiral

This one is less about fixing everything and more about stopping the self-inflicted guilt so you can actually get something done. October is already here. The rest of the year is coming whether you're ready or not.

Live every Thursday at 8:00 PM Mountain Time on YouTube, Twitch, Kick, and BitChute.
👉 www.unhingeddadspod.com

Dave finally gets to use the philosophy degree. Brian flew to West Texas, and for the first time in 29 episodes they are in the same room.

They cover the actual history of Stoicism: Zeno, the Cynics, Cleanthes, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius. What the Stoics believed about a harsh, ordered world. Why the modern manosphere version is mostly nonsense. And how the useful part still works: you do not control most of what happens. You control how you respond.

Then they went off script. Non-transactional friendships. The ones where nobody is keeping a ledger. Helping someone because you can, not because you are owed. Why those relationships hold when everything else is on fire, and why turning them into scorekeeping destroys them.

We cover:
• Where Stoicism actually came from
• The core idea that still holds: control your response
• How modern versions get it wrong
• Why keeping score kills real friendships
• Choosing to show up when the ledger is not balanced

Recorded live from West Texas.
www.unhingeddadspod.com

Live every Thursday at 8:00 PM Mountain Time on YouTube, Substack, Instagram, Twitch, Kick, and BitChute.

What friendship have you kept that would not survive a balance sheet? Drop it in the comments.

The worst part of parenting is not catching your kid in a bad habit. It is realizing they learned it by watching you.

Brian and Dave talk about the habits that get handed down without a speech: the snap, the shutdown, the catastrophizing, the tone, the justification. Kids copy what you do under stress, not what you preach when you are being intentional. Personality comes preloaded. The playbook is learned, and it is not the one you sat down and wrote.

We cover:
• What it feels like when you hear your own voice coming out of their mouth
• Why they pick up the stressed version, not the Sunday version
• How to name it out loud and take ownership without dumping your guilt on them
• Showing the replacement instead of just lecturing
• How raising them forces you to raise yourself

Live every Thursday at 8:00 PM Mountain Time on YouTube, Substack, Instagram, Twitch, Kick, and BitChute.
www.unhingeddadspod.com

Which of your worst moves have you already seen come back wearing a smaller body? Drop it in the comments.

Dada. Daddy. Dad. Bruh. That is not your kid getting lazy with your name. That is the job title changing out loud.

Brian and Dave talk about how a dad's role has to change as kids grow: caretaker, teacher, coach, mentor. The fights usually start when you keep doing last year's job after the kid has already left it.

In this episode:

• What "Dada," "Daddy," "Dad," and "Bruh" actually mean as job descriptions
• Why pouring cereal for a kid who can do it starts the day on fire
• The packing test: check the bag, hand them the list, or answer the text from the road
• Why child two will ignore everything you learned on child one
• The quiet grief of the last time they fell asleep on you
• How to stay close in the Bruh years without grabbing the wheel back

Not a childhood-development lecture. Just what the work looks like when the title changes and you still have to show up.

Live every Thursday at 8:00 PM Mountain Time on YouTube, Substack, Instagram, Twitch, Kick, and BitChute.
www.unhingeddadspod.com

Some weeks you do not get the perfect version. You get the version that keeps the house standing and the kids fed.

Brian and Dave talk about the trap of chasing perfect as dads, husbands, and homeowners. A repaired machete that works instead of looking pretty. Drywall you could sand for another week. A conversation with a hurting kid that cannot wait until you find the perfect words.

Also in this one:

• When good enough is not good enough (electricity, safety, the stuff that can kill you)
• Why inaction is usually worse than an imperfect move
• Stocked-pond fishing vs the dream trip
• Leaving the dishes, skipping the side quests, and still being a decent dad
• Why Unhinged Dads itself is a side quest compared to the actual job

We are not lowering the bar. We are refusing to let perfect keep the work from getting done.

Live every Thursday at 8:00 PM Mountain Time on YouTube, Substack, Instagram, Twitch, Kick, and BitChute.

www.unhingeddadspod.com

What did "good enough" look like at your house this week? Drop it in the comments.

#UnhingedDads #DadLife #Fatherhood #Parenting #GoodEnough #DoneIsBetterThanPerfect #DadPodcast

Most parents try to protect their kids from failure. We step in early, soften the landing, or prevent the crash altogether. It feels like love. Too often it quietly builds fragility instead of strength.

In this episode Brian and Dave talk about why failure is one of the most important teachers your kids will ever have, and how constant rescuing trains the opposite of what you actually want.

We cover:

• Why humans learn best through adversity
• The difference between supporting your kid and rescuing them
• Building real distress tolerance through graduated, age-appropriate failure
• Why GPA is not a social credit score
• Letting kids fail at school, sports, jobs, friendships, and social situations
• How to run an after-action review with your kid after things go wrong
• Teaching them that the world is often unfair and they still have to function in it.

This is not about being cold or hands-off. It's about staying present, empathizing, and then helping them pick up the pieces so they actually grow.

Live every Thursday at 8:00 PM Mountain Time on YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, Kick, BitChute, and Substack.

When was the last time you deliberately let your kid fail at something and stayed in the background to support them instead of fixing it? Drop it in the comments.

Full episodes and more at www.unhingeddadspod.com