What happens when your kids look back and tell the story of you as a father?

In this episode, we ditch the outline and go somewhere deeper. Drawing on 15+ years of real-world grief recovery work, Cole shares what he’s seen time and time again when adults “graph” their relationship with their fathers—what hurt, what helped, and what never got resolved.

The surprising takeaway? Most dads weren’t bad. They were well-intentioned, hard-working men who simply didn’t have the emotional tools their kids needed.

We talk about:

• Why anger often becomes a man’s emotional armor—and how it pushes kids away

• How unresolved pain with your own father quietly shapes how you parent

• Why being a provider isn’t enough in 2025

• The difference between masculinity and emotional absence (it’s not either/or)

• How kids internalize belief systems that were never theirs to carry

• Why emotional completion—not perfection—is the real goal of fatherhood

This episode is a call to evolve—not to abandon strength, but to expand it. To be the kind of father who can protect fiercely and connect deeply. The kind of dad your kids won’t need to emotionally “recover” from later.

If you’ve ever worried about getting it wrong… If you want your kids to feel safe bringing their hearts to you… If you believe fatherhood deserves more than just “showing up”…

This conversation is for you.

Resources mentioned:

• The Grief Recovery Handbook

• When Children Grieve

• Support: support@thegriefrecoverymethod.com

If this episode resonated, please leave a rating or review—it helps other dads find conversations like this, and it means more to us than you know.