Despite being among Hollywood&#8217;s top box office draws, one of the most memorable scenes in Will Smith’s acting career was from his time on the hit television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. 
In the episode “Papa’s Got a Brand New Excuse,” Will’s biological father, Lou, comes to see him 14 years after walking out of his life. Phillip Banks, Will’s uncle and legal guardian, is skeptical of Lou’s sudden reappearance. Uncle Phil reluctantly comes to support Lou’s efforts to reconcile with Will, but that goodwill is quickly exhausted after Lou postpones the cross-country trip he’d planned with his son.
The scene ends with Will Smith giving an iconic monologue about all the things he learned to do in the past—and would accomplish in the future—without his father, punctuated by the actor’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI4Mv8R0mE0">unforgettable cry</a>, &#8220;How come he don&#8217;t want me, man?&#8221;
That episode is over 30 years old, yet all these years later it still evokes powerful emotions from viewers, some of whom saw their own life story reflected on the screen. But underneath the masterclass in acting was a deeper message.
It is clear that Will missed his father and was hurt by his absence. What is easier to miss, however, is that the void created by Lou’s abandonment was too large for even Uncle Phil’s massive frame — and wealth — to fill.
Will’s dad was a truck driver. Uncle Phil was a successful lawyer who eventually became a judge. The former left his son with little but disappointments and broken promises. The latter gave Will a lifestyle his father could never have afforded.
Yet, for all Phillip and his wife Vivian offered Will — the mansion, elite private school, nice clothes — nothing could satisfy the teen’s longing for a father.
The reason why is simple: children desire a father’s presence more than his presents.
Children who grow up with a <a href="https://ifstudies.org/blog/less-poverty-less-prison-more-college-what-two-parents-mean-for-black-and-white-children">father</a> in the home earn better grades, are more likely to attend college, and are less likely to live in poverty or go to prison. Conversely, father <a href="https://www.fatherhood.org/father-absence-statistic?hsCtaAttrib=187989555043">absence</a> is associated with higher rates of poverty, teen pregnancy, juvenile delinquency, and substance abuse. Fathers also help answer deeper questions of purpose and belonging that every child has at some point, such as “who am I?” and “whose am I?”
Unfortunately, 15 million American children live <a href="https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/families/children.html">without</a> a father in the home. That figure, which is slightly more than 20% of all children under 18, is the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/12/12/u-s-children-more-likely-than-children-in-other-countries-to-live-with-just-one-parent/">highest</a> rate in the world.
The family statistics for black children are even more sobering. Nearly 70% of black children are born to unmarried parents, and 44% grow up in a single-mother household. For all the attention progressives normally give to racial disparities in social outcomes, they are noticeably silent when it comes to such vast differences in family formation.
My new book, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/763688/the-vanishing-black-family-by-delano-squires/">The Vanishing Black Family</a>, challenges African American leaders to marshal their political, cultural, and financial capital to launch a new movement to increase the number of children growing up in loving homes with married parents.
The book begins with a scene from a 1986 CBS documentary on the collapse of the married, two-parent family structure in Newark, New Jersey. The host, Bill Moyers, asks a group of young black mothers whether any of them were married. No one raised a hand. Later, one mom expresses a view that — decades later — has been accepted in far too many neighborhoods, “Male figures are not substantially important in the family.” This way of thinking has quietly become an accepted norm that not only drives family formation patterns but also policy decisions.
In January 2022, Washington, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser announced the launch of <a href="https://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-announces-15-million-direct-cash-assistance-program-support-new-and-expectant">Strong Families, Strong Futures</a>, a $1.5 million pilot program that provided financial assistance to new and expecting low-income mothers. According to Mayor Bowser, “This program is about supporting new and expectant moms with cash so that they can have the autonomy and flexibility to make the best choices for them and their baby.” There was not a single reference to fathers in her announcement.
Given the geographic and demographic focus of the program, it was no surprise that the moms in the pilot were black. Similar programs for moms and babies exist in <a href="https://atlantaciviccircle.org/2024/05/08/in-her-hands-expansion-gro-fund/">Atlanta</a> and <a href="https://www.phillyjoybank.org/our-impact">Philadelphia</a>. They all rest on the flawed idea that when it comes to low-income black families, it takes two for nature but only one for nurture.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Children of every race and socioeconomic background need both parents, and they are most likely to have daily access to them when their parents are married.
Any attempt to ensure more children have the type of paternal connection that improves their chances of thriving in life will require an all-hands-on-deck effort from black pastors, elected officials, HBCU presidents, business leaders, civil rights organizations, entertainers, political pundits, and media outlets.
This movement will need to include everything from “marriage bootcamps” for cohabiting couples with children to “<a href="https://ifstudies.org/success-sequence">success sequence</a>” awareness campaigns that give teens the three-step plan for escaping <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/being-a-teen-parent-will-cost-you/2013/03/14/434b51c8-8cb4-11e2-b63f-f53fb9f2fcb4_story.html">poverty</a>: finish high school, get a job, and get married before having children. These may seem like small steps, but they all support the goal of restoring a culture of marriage in communities where one has not existed for decades.
Father’s Day is a perfect time to acknowledge the dads who give their kids the home life they need to thrive. It also provides a good opportunity to push current — and future — fathers to think about how their relationship decisions will impact their children.
Marriage and fatherhood go hand in hand. It is hard for a man who lives apart from his child and feels little commitment to the child’s mother to be as present and involved a dad as his child needs him to be.
Dads matter, and the safety and security children feel from their love and consistent presence is worth more than anything money can buy.
***
Delano Squires is the director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Human Flourishing at The Heritage Foundation and author of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/763688/the-vanishing-black-family-by-delano-squires/">The Vanishing Black Family: How Welfare and Feminism Made Marriage Optional and Children Vulnerable</a> (out June 16, 2026 from Penguin Random House/Sentinel).

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***
The decline of the American man is everywhere. One can’t scroll online or turn on a TV today without escaping the narrative that men are falling behind, opting out, and failing to launch. There are some underlying truths and selective data to back this up. But as someone who always challenges what he sees online by stepping out into the real world and applying some common sense, I’m not buying it. Men today certainly face modern challenges, but that’s not the most important part of the story. The headlines focus on their absence, but it is where they continue to show up that society still depends on them most.
The other morning in my driveway, I had a brief chat with the garbage collectors on our street. As one man drove the truck and two others hung off the back, loading the bags, it dawned on me. I’ve never seen a female trash collector. (It turns out that only 13% of garbage collectors are <a href="https://www.careerexplorer.com/careers/garbage-collector/demographics/">women</a>.) This is a dirty and dangerous job. It is a man’s job. And it turns out, men are still carrying the load — literally and physically.
According to the National Safety Council, since 2011, males have <a href="https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/work/industry-incidence-rates/worker-injuries-and-illnesses-by-sex/">accounted for</a> more than nine in 10 workplace deaths each year. Truck driving is the <a href="https://landline.media/truck-driving-remains-americas-deadliest-job/">deadliest job</a> in the U.S., and men make up <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/06/america-keeps-on-trucking.html">more than 90%</a> of this profession. Men dominate the country’s most dangerous jobs across the military, construction, and agriculture. The same voices that preach the demise of men still rely on them to do the jobs that keep America running and to take risks others aren’t willing to do themselves.
Real men don’t go viral; they go to work. Rather than building their personal brands, they’re building roads, homes, power grids, and lives for their families.
It&#8217;s true that the economy has shifted in ways that favor women in the workforce. For only the third time ever, women <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-workforce-flip-that-could-change-marriage-family-and-the-future-of-men">comprise</a> more of the U.S. workforce than men, <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/03/27/women-jobs-health-care">dominated</a> by growth in service industries, healthcare, and education-heavy jobs. But when the economy shifts, men don’t disappear; they adapt. 
History backs this up. During the Industrial Revolution, men left farms and entered factories. After the post-WWII boom, men traded industrial manuals for suits and entered the corporate workforce. And after the pandemic cooled the manufacturing and construction markets, men moved into logistics, delivery, and infrastructure.
That’s not to say that men don’t experience interruptions in their careers. Right now, many are looking for meaningful work. Men are inherently prideful by nature, and not being able to provide for our families or make a meaningful contribution to society is a blow to our dignity. While men will adjust as they always have, societal institutions play pivotal roles, too. Vocational training should be expanded to close skills gaps. Occupational licensing has long needed reform to reduce the number of professional licenses required for low-skilled workers. And we need to make education a more attractive career path for men, both for them and the boys in the classrooms.
There is, however, one male crisis that social policies have made minimal progress on: absent fathers. But while men are experiencing a professional shift, they are committing to one vocation, fatherhood, at the highest rate in years. <a href="https://ifstudies.org/blog/american-dads-are-more-involved-than-everespecially-college-educated-or-married-dads?utm_source=chatgpt.com">According to the Institute for Family Studies,</a> fathers spend almost 13% more time caring for their children at home than they did two decades ago. Fathers are trading time in the office for a seat at the kitchen table. Social policies have attempted to fix the fatherhood crisis in America, but it appears the economy really had to shift.
Ultimately, though, to paraphrase Mark Twain, the death of the working American man is an exaggeration. We still ask men to take the hardest jobs and shoulder the most physical risk. And they are not only continuing to answer the call but also finding new ways to provide more than just financial support for their families.
The economic landscape will always change. But what won’t, what can’t, is the traditional role of the American man as provider and protector of his family. For centuries men have adapted to fill this role regardless of the circumstances.
If this is what decline looks like, then maybe we’re telling the wrong story. Men are continuing to do what they have always done — show up, build, and lay the foundation for the next generation. They don’t need to be fixed. They need to be recognized.
So, the next time you bring your garbage cans in, or notice the pothole on your highway has been filled, or, like my fellow Floridians and me, watch the electric trucks driving the opposite direction on the highway during hurricane season, thank a man.
***
Gates Garcia is the host of the YouTube show and podcast We The People with Gates Garcia. Follow him on X and Instagram @GatesGarciaFL.

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A new ad for Disney Cruise Line is receiving rave reviews online thanks to its pro-family messaging and touching storyline.
The 90-second ad “Midnight Magic,” which debuted on Sunday during the Academy Awards, focuses on a father’s bond with his son. 
It opens with a father walking his infant son around on the ship in the middle of the night. The ad follows the pair as the son grows into an older kid and then a teen who briefly rejects the ritual. This heartwarming tale ends when the adult son knocks on the door and asks his now elderly father to go for a late-night walk on the cruise ship with him and his young daughter. 
Social media users loved the message of present fathers, family traditions, and making memories.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Where Magic Meets The Sea | Disney Cruise Line" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yw922nyPxZs?start=3&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Challenge any father to watch this without crying,” one commenter <a href="https://x.com/mondoggg/status/2033347711261348292">wrote</a>. 
“You crushed it with this one!!  Dads are amazing and well worth those quiet moments of reflection and the impact it has on kids. Love this!!!” another <a href="https://x.com/oyveynottoday/status/2033608013773148624">said</a>. 
Other commenters delighted in the company promoting traditional values once again.
“Back to the basics Disney..  your BRAND was built on this RIGHT HERE….,” one person <a href="https://x.com/THEprivbnkr/status/2033374671379247267">responded</a>.
“You guys really nailed it with this,” another reply <a href="https://x.com/JoshChavis65/status/2033351196174360701">said</a>. “More of this from this brand, please. It’s what it’s supposed to be.”
“The culture shift is real, this Disney cruise ship ad aimed at dads is fantastic,” echoed <a href="https://x.com/claytravis/status/2033719663624888745?s=43">another</a>.
“Disney has brought families closer together for generations,” <a href="https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/news/midnight-magic-cruise-line/">said</a> Asad Ayaz, Chief Marketing and Brand Officer for The Walt Disney Company. “This campaign embodies what guests tell us time and again: that the Disney experiences they cherish most are the ones spent with the people they love. We’re grateful to make that kind of Disney magic a reality.”
The ad comes as fans speculate over Disney veering away from the woke path it had been traveling down. The entertainment giant ended 2024 by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/will-woke-exit-stage-left-hollywoods-culture-clash-in-trumps-second-act">erasing a trans character</a> from one of their shows, followed weeks later by walking back their DEI policies.
While Disney hasn’t done a complete about-face, the company has been less controversial over the last year, especially as compared to when it was bragging about a “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” in 2022.

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Disney Got The Memo? New Cruise Ad Celebrating Dads Has Viewers In Tears

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***
My parents still live in my childhood home, and I live one street away. It is common for my dad to stop me on jogs for a quick catchup. My wife and I often joke that we can’t escape my parents’ presence. But we don’t want to. At 40, I cannot imagine a life where my father isn’t present. That didn’t happen by accident.
Unfortunately, I am becoming part of a shrinking group. A <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10254574/">2022 study reveals</a> that by adulthood, 28% of daughters and 24% of sons are estranged from their fathers, while only 6% are estranged from their mothers. With so much talk surrounding a myriad of childhood crises these days, I propose we have a fatherhood crisis.
When I was growing up, my dad was hard on me. I was pushed to play sports and always required to have a summer job. But when I’d come home from practice or bussing tables, he was always there. My dad constantly told me he loved me, almost to my exhaustion as I was encouraged to repeat it back. He was teaching me both to be loved and how to love. 
Even when I went far from home to play college football, my dad attended every game. Presence was a priority. He taught me that closeness was normal. I have no memories of my dad not being there, and thus I couldn’t envision any other way of life. My dad didn’t just provide; he stayed.
So why are so many men losing their adult children? We can start with divorce. Nearly one-third of American children <a href="https://www.nber.org/digest/202508/parental-divorce-and-childrens-long-term-outcomes">experience</a> divorce before adulthood. Fathers are far more likely to become the non-resident parent post-divorce. Less time equals weaker bonds. 
But while divorce affects the quantity of a dad’s time with his children, it does not explain resignation. Even married fathers can be emotionally absent. This is when the culture takes over instead. I know from the countless times I hear “Daddy, watch me!” that kids want to be seen. When they aren’t seen by their parents, they <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kids-dont-need-more-online-monitoring-they-need-involved-dads">resort to social media and gaming,</a> where their presence is validated and celebrated. One <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5700711/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">multi-year study found</a> that as gaming increases, the perceived quality of family relationships tends to deteriorate — especially when parental bonds are weaker. If dad doesn’t see his kids, the algorithm will.
The good news is the <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12025700/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">same studies indicate</a> that stronger parental attachment (emotional closeness and social support) is linked to lower levels of gaming addiction in adolescents, suggesting that weaker attachment may be associated with more compulsive engagement with games. If you&#8217;re a dad, ask yourself, how many times a day do you tell your kids you love them? Are you leading them toward you or pushing them away?
In a society that is constantly turning its back on institutions, perhaps one of the oldest institutions, the church, may help families the most here. The Bible tells us in Malachi 4:6, “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.”
<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249707705_Religious_Participation_Religious_Affiliation_and_Engagement_With_Children_Among_Fathers_Experiencing_the_Birth_of_a_New_Child">Studies looking at fathers specifically</a> find that factors such as church attendance and broad religious participation are positively related to paternal engagement with children — meaning men who are more involved in religious communities also tend to be more engaged with their kids. The church provides families with shared rituals and a shared moral language. Families that pray together, stay together.
While a lot of quality time is important for fathers to prioritize with their sons, ultimately, boys go to college and eventually graduate into manhood. They will have to think and act for themselves. My dad prepared me for this in a way I’m trying to emulate for my four kids. My dad was always there. Presence, not perfection, was the standard. Time, not money, was our family’s currency. I literally can’t think of a childhood memory that doesn’t have my dad in it. 
My dad vocalized his expectations often and held incredibly high standards for me. Any time I’d say I couldn’t do something, his response was always, “Why not?” Win district tournaments in wrestling in just my first year? Why not? Get a job at a top financial firm with no experience? Why not? Become president one day? Why not? Pressure isolates, but expectations build identity. And a lifetime sitting at the feet of my father has been one defined by expectations. 
Finally, and maybe most importantly, we shared our future with one another. That future involved both of us. We’d talk about our lives ahead and include both of us in the story. I remember conversations about future milestones in my own fatherhood and how my dad couldn’t wait to be a grandpa. As a child, I couldn’t envision adulthood without my dad.
If nearly a quarter of adult sons cut their dads off, something foundational is breaking. And it’s the job of a dad to build a solid foundation. The best thing you can give your kids is a reason to stay. Share meals together. Go to church together. Talk about life and the future. Tell your kids you love them and expect great things for and from them. Hug them and kiss them. Live your life with your kids, not just for them. Build independence in them without emotional distance. Teach them how to love by loving them first. 
We don’t have a boy crisis. We have a dad problem. And it’s fixable. I live one street from my dad because he never gave me a reason to leave.
* * *
Gates Garcia is the host of the YouTube show and podcast “We The People.” Follow him on Instagram and X @GatesGarciaFL.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Angry Black Elderly Father And Son Fighting With Each Other. Disagreement.

Why So Many Grown Kids Are Cutting Off Their Fathers

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***
As a girl dad, I was horrified by a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/two-sisters-were-abducted-by-a-man-who-groomed-them-on-roblox">recent story</a> about two girls in Florida who were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/grooming">groomed</a> online by a man they met through the gaming platform Roblox. He lured the girls into trusting him and then abducted them. Thankfully, law enforcement intervened before the worst happened. But the relief of a rescue should not blunt the warning embedded in this story.
It may be fair to direct our outrage at the platform, lax moderation, or the internet itself. But focusing only on the digital predator misses a deeper and more uncomfortable truth: Children who are guided at home are far harder to groom.
This isn’t to say the family in this case was negligent or uncaring. But if you’re a parent, the biggest thing you can do to protect your children online is not to buy new parental control software or limit their screentime. The best way to help your kids is to let them know that you’re present, you’re listening, and you’re there to provide guidance.
Our culture has lowered expectations for fathers, especially when it comes to vigilance, authority, and involvement. And when fathers retreat from those roles, children are left exposed, not just online, but everywhere.
Predators start with attention. They look for children who are bored, lonely, unsure, unsupervised, or unseen. They exploit curiosity and emotional gaps long before they exploit technology. Online platforms don’t create those vulnerabilities. They reveal them.
For decades now, we’ve told men, explicitly and implicitly, that fatherhood is unessential. Nowhere is that message reinforced more consistently than on television. The modern TV father is rarely a figure of authority or competence. He’s the lovable idiot or the well-meaning buffoon.
In Modern Family, one of the most popular sitcoms of the past two decades, patriarch Phil Dunphy is charming, enthusiastic, and affectionate, but he’s also chronically unserious. When real decisions need to be made, he’s not the one calling the shots.
Look at Homer Simpson, perhaps the most influential fictional dad in American pop culture. For generations, he’s been the butt of The Simpsons’ jokes. Sitcoms and movies treat fathers as nothing but punchlines. 
When our culture tells us fatherhood is unnecessary, we shouldn’t be surprised when real men absorb the message. You don’t have to be absent to be disengaged. You just have to believe that your presence doesn’t really matter.
An engaged father changes everything. I know what my kids are playing and watching because we talk about it. We discuss what brings them joy and what bothers them. Rather than judging their decisions, I start conversations about them. I am their content filter.
Predators rely on secrecy, isolation, and emotional manipulation to operate. When kids are seen, protected, and navigating life with their fathers, it rips the pages from that playbook.
When regular conversation and open communication between a parent and child, especially a father, is the norm, it becomes easier for kids to recognize evil. And when it’s revealed, the “I didn’t know who to tell” moment never arrives because someone has already been listening.
This is where modern parenting often goes wrong. We’ve outsourced too much responsibility to screens and software. We trust parental controls more than parental presence. We assume that because a platform markets itself as “safe,” our role has diminished. It hasn’t. It has intensified.
Fatherhood now requires engagement in spaces our fathers never had to patrol. That can feel unfamiliar. But discomfort is not an excuse for abdication. A dad doesn’t need to be a gamer to ask questions. He doesn’t need to understand every app to establish rules. He doesn’t need technical mastery to exercise authority. He needs willingness: a willingness to say no, to exert authority, and to ask questions.
One of those questions should be, “Who are you talking to?” Too many fathers fear this type of confrontation with their kids. But failing to engage opens up avenues of exploitation that far outweigh the consequences of an uncomfortable conversation. 
Children seek connection. If they aren’t finding it at home, they will find it elsewhere. The internet is not just a playground. It’s a marketplace of attention. And predators know how to sell.
Strong fatherhood fills that void before it opens.
Children are not equipped to navigate adult dangers alone, especially in a digital world designed to blur age, identity, and intent. We should absolutely demand accountability from tech companies. We should support law enforcement. We should aggressively prosecute predators. But we should also confront the cultural lie that says fathers are spectators in their children’s lives.
When fathers step up, visibly, confidently, and consistently, kids are safer — not perfectly safe, but safer.
The story of these girls should make us not only angry but also serious about supervision, involvement, and reclaiming the role of fathers as protectors. The internet didn’t create this danger. It simply exposed what happens when we pretend that presence doesn’t matter. It does. And a father’s presence matters more than he can ever know. 
* * *
Gates Garcia is the host of the YouTube show and podcast “We The People.” Follow him on Instagram and X @GatesGarciaFL.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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Kids Don’t Need More Online Monitoring. They Need Involved Dads.

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When the Justice Department released the latest batch of Epstein <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/justice-department-releases-millions-more-epstein-files" target="_blank" rel="noopener">documents</a>, I didn’t read them like a political junkie or a conspiracy sleuth. I read them like a father.
While commentators argue over names and timelines, my kids are learning something far more important: what America rewards in men, what it excuses, and what it quietly tolerates when power is involved. The lesson is ugly.
Strip away the sensationalism, and one reality stands out: This was a scandal almost entirely driven by men. These men were powerful, successful, and even married. They had children, platforms, influence, and every reason to know better.
What the Epstein documents really expose isn’t just corruption or crime. They expose a collapse in male self-government, and that collapse doesn’t stay contained at the top. It trickles down.
I have sons. I coach youth sports. I sit in dugouts tying cleats and listening to boys talk before they’ve learned how to filter themselves. And I can tell you this: Young men are desperate for clarity. They are constantly scanning the world for cues about what manhood actually means. What they’re being shown right now is poison.
They see men at the highest levels of society who preach intelligence, leadership, and sophistication while privately living like entitled boys. These men treat marriage as ornamental, fidelity as optional, and women as consumables. To them, accountability is something for lesser people.
If you want to know why so many young men are cynical about commitment, look no further. The message couldn’t be clearer: Success buys indulgence, power bends rules, and discipline is for men without leverage. That’s not masculinity. That’s moral anarchy.
Real masculinity has always been rooted in restraint, in self-command, and in the ability to say “no” when saying “yes” would be easy, pleasurable, and unlikely to bring consequences. Every culture that survived understood this. Boys became men not by indulging appetite, but by mastering it. Strength wasn’t measured by conquest, but by responsibility. Authority was paired with obligation.
Somewhere along the way, we replaced that vision with something hollow. Today, male excess is explained rather than condemned. Cheating is framed as temptation instead of betrayal. Sexual misconduct is “complicated.” Men who fail morally are treated as tragic figures rather than accountable ones.
When those men are powerful enough, the system rushes in to cushion the fall. The Epstein documents confirm what parents already fear: Elite men are often insulated from the standards they publicly demand from everyone else.
And kids notice. They don’t think in terms of legal nuance or sealed records. They think in terms of patterns: who gets punished, who gets protected, who gets forgiven, and who gets erased. The pattern they’re seeing is corrosive.
Ideas are no longer coming from parents. They are coming from culture, and culture is being shaped in part by exactly the kinds of men exposed in these documents. This is how a crisis of masculinity forms — not overnight, but drip by drip. Boys are taught that desire is destiny and discipline is repression. Men in positions of authority model indulgence instead of honor. Consequences disappear for the powerful and multiply for the ordinary. Then we act shocked when young men delay marriage, distrust institutions, and treat adulthood like a suggestion instead of a calling.
The Epstein documents don’t just reveal wrongdoing. They reveal what happens when men stop seeing themselves as stewards — of their families, their influence, and their responsibilities — and start seeing themselves as entitled consumers. That’s not liberation. It’s decay.
As a father, I don’t want my sons growing up believing masculinity is defined by appetite. I want them to know that real strength is the ability to govern yourself when no one is watching. Leadership without accountability is corruption, power without virtue is dangerous, and no amount of success excuses dishonor.
The Epstein documents make it painfully clear that when men fail to hold themselves to high standards, the damage spreads far beyond their own lives. Families fracture, trust erodes, cynicism grows, and the next generation learns the wrong lesson. This isn’t about moral grandstanding or pretending men are perfect. It’s about refusing to normalize male collapse.
If we want better men tomorrow, we need to tell the truth today. We need to stop excusing behavior simply because it’s common among elites. We need to stop confusing sophistication with virtue and access with worth.
The Epstein documents don’t just raise the question of who was involved. They ask who we’re becoming and whether we’re finally willing to teach our sons that manhood isn’t about what you can get away with, but what you choose not to do.
If we fail at that, then the next scandal won’t be a surprise. It will be the inheritance we handed them.
* * *
Gates Garcia is the host of the YouTube show and podcast “We The People.” Follow him on Instagram and X @GatesGarciaFL.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Patrick McMullan Archives

The Epstein Documents Teach Our Sons A Distorted Lesson About Men. It’s On Us To Reject It.

Boys

Epstein Files

Jeffrey Epstein

Masculinity

For most of my adult life, I thought I knew exactly what my family would look like.
Two kids is the cultural norm now. That’s the number most people plan for, budget for, and feel comfortable defending. Two fits neatly into modern life. Two feels responsible. Two feels safe.
But I didn’t grow up in a family of two kids.
I came from a family of three. And because of that, three always felt right to me. Three felt full. Three felt lively. Three felt like the right amount of chaos and connection. So when my wife and I started our family, I assumed we’d land there — not to make a statement, but because it was the model I knew and loved.
For a long time, that plan held.
But I was also very clear about one thing: I would never have a kid in my 40s.
That was the line. The boundary. A promise I made back when 40 felt distant and theoretical — something older people dealt with.
Then I turned 40.
And a few weeks ago, my wife and I welcomed our fourth child into the world.
What I’ve learned, slowly and humbly, is that many of the promises we make when we’re younger are less about wisdom and more about fear.
Fear of sacrifice. 
Fear of inconvenience. 
Fear of losing control over a life we’ve worked hard to build.
Our culture feeds those fears relentlessly. It is engineered for comfort, speed, and personalization. It trains us to ask one question above all others: What do I get right now?
Children ask a different question.
They ask: What are you willing to give, over and over, for something that won’t pay you back today?
In that sense, kids are the ultimate form of delayed gratification.
They require sacrifice upfront — years of it. Sleep. Freedom. Money. Flexibility. Control. There is no way to sugarcoat that. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying or trying to sell you something.
But the reward comes later. Slowly. Quietly. Compounding over time.
The first time your toddler reaches for your hand in a crowded room. 
The first time your child looks to you for moral clarity. 
The first time siblings defend one another without being asked. 
The moment you realize you are no longer the center of your own universe — and feel relief instead of loss.
This is what our culture never explains: sacrifice is not the enemy of happiness. Selfishness is.
A society addicted to instant gratification struggles to understand children, because children force adults to play the long game. They demand patience. They require faith — not just religious faith, but faith in the future. Faith that what you are building today will matter tomorrow.
That’s why having a big family today feels almost rebellious.
Birth rates are collapsing. Marriage is delayed or avoided. Children are framed as “lifestyle constraints” rather than blessings. Entire industries exist to convince young people that adulthood is something to postpone indefinitely.
And yet, there is a truth no one likes to say out loud because it cuts against the narrative.
No one — absolutely no one — who loves their kids ever says, “I shouldn’t have had that child.”
People regret jobs. 
They regret cities. 
They regret relationships. 
They regret wasted years chasing empty validation.
But parents do not sit at the end of their lives wishing they had fewer children. They wish they had more time with them.
At 40, with four kids, I don’t feel old.
If anything, kids keep you young. They pull you into the present. They keep you moving. They force you to laugh when you’d otherwise brood. They remind you that joy is often loud, messy, inconvenient — and worth it anyway.
And then there is the gift that often goes overlooked: siblings.
Watching siblings grow up together is one of life’s quiet miracles. They fight. They forgive. They learn loyalty, compromise, and love — not from lectures, but from living shoulder to shoulder.
Long after parents are gone, siblings remain.
They are the ones who know your childhood stories. Who remember your parents’ voices. Who will sit beside you at hospital beds and holiday tables. Who will help one another bury the people who once tucked them in at night.
In a world that prizes radical independence, siblings teach something far more enduring: you are not meant to do life alone.
And yes, one day, God willing, these children will flip the script. They will care for us the way we once cared for them — not out of obligation, but out of love forged through years of shared sacrifice.
Which brings me to faith.
From the beginning, Scripture tells us, “Be fruitful and multiply.” Not as a burden, but as a blessing. Children are not described as liabilities, but as arrows, as gifts, as signs of hope.
Faith teaches us that the point of life is not comfort, but calling. Not consumption, but creation. Not hoarding time, but giving it away for something eternal.
That doesn’t mean every family looks the same. It doesn’t mean everyone is called to the same path. But it does mean we should be honest about what leads to meaning — and what leads to emptiness.
For my wife and me, welcoming a fourth child at 40 was not reckless.
It was faithful.
Faith that love multiplies when shared. 
Faith that sacrifice produces joy. 
Faith that the future is worth investing in, even when it costs us something now.
In a culture obsessed with shrinking horizons, we chose to expand ours.
And if I’m being honest, part of that choice is simple.
I’m trying to make heaven crowded.
* * *
Gates Garcia is the host of the YouTube show and podcast “We The People.” Follow him on Instagram and X @GatesGarciaFL.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Father holding her newborn baby

I Said I’d Never Have A Child In My 40s. Then I Turned 40 And Had My Fourth.

Children

Faith

Family Values

Many detransitioners who speak out receive death threats. I know, because my son, Simon, is a gender apostate, and people call for his death all the time.
Gender ideologues become terrified when people like Simon prove there is life after trans identification. It turns out delusions can pass; people and families can heal. I knew this, which is why I stood up and spoke out when my son was in the throes of trans identification. When his doctor, right in front of my son, asked me, &#8220;Do you want a living daughter or a dead son?”, I told him it was the most shocking display of malpractice I had ever seen.
In college, my son’s classmates called for his death, yet they were allowed to remain on campus. My son was the one they wouldn&#8217;t allow to speak. He just wanted to tell people he had stopped believing he was trans, but the dean bellowed that he would never be allowed to speak on campus. They tried to get him expelled, his classmates screamed at him in the street, and he received threatening emails.
The gender ideologues want families like ours silenced. I&#8217;ve had a mob of trans activists scream at me, in my face, saying that I was evil and did conversion therapy on my son. I was surprised to feel calm — I knew there was nothing I had ever done in my life that was more right than helping my son find the way out of this delusion.
I loved my son then — as I love my son now — enough to tell him the truth. He was born a boy, he is a man now, and he has been male every day in between. For a while, he was angry I didn&#8217;t see it his way, but now he is thankful I held to the truth.
Puberty is hard for most kids, but it seems especially traumatic for autistic kids. When Simon was young, he would cry when anything changed — even when a restaurant or a gas station closed. When his voice began changing, he bawled abjectly — his own body had betrayed him from the inside.
Likewise, trying to find acceptance among peers is a challenge for all teenagers; try it when you can&#8217;t read nonverbal social cues or interpret your own feelings. As a child, a preteen, or a teenager, my son never knew when somebody was going to bully him. In the case of boys, he was surprised every time he was punched or threatened; in the case of girls, he was surprised to be the target of vicious rumors or a group shunning. He didn&#8217;t know how to handle it, and I couldn&#8217;t teach him. I didn&#8217;t know how to teach social skills to a kid I didn&#8217;t even know was autistic.
All of this contributed to Simon’s trans identification. My son was 14 years old when he called his mother and me into the dining room and played us a song on the piano about how he thought he was a girl inside. It was clear he didn&#8217;t want to be himself at that point. He was experiencing real distress, but he had been taught an escape rather than a solution.
I wanted to get him help for his discomfort, his sadness, his worry. It&#8217;s hard to get mental health support for a kid. Once a kid says he&#8217;s trans, though, it becomes almost impossible. You enter an upside-down world, where they believe parents hate their children, and the child tells the doctor the diagnosis. If you&#8217;re a parent who wants a therapist to help your autistic teen learn about how to perceive social and internal cues, that can all be derailed when he says he&#8217;s trans. They may want to wash their hands of him and send him to the gender center (where all patients are trans as a matter of policy). They may demand you get on board the trans train — or else.
This could be a kid who can&#8217;t tell whether he&#8217;s hungry or he&#8217;s angry. He needs help to distinguish those feelings. But if he says he feels like a woman, a therapist can&#8217;t even ask him what he means by that. Activists have gotten laws passed that can take a therapist&#8217;s license away if he doesn&#8217;t agree kids are trans whenever they say so. And if you, as a parent, aren’t careful, they could even take your kid away from you.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Identity Crisis: Defying the Transgender Lobby to Save His Son" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Nk6GxP1jR-E?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Trans-identifying boys have cheerleaders everywhere. It&#8217;s not just the therapists, or the girls who will take your boy shopping and buy him women&#8217;s clothes. There are the school groups like GSA, which used to stand for &#8220;Gay-Straight Alliance,&#8221; but now stands for &#8220;Gender and Sexuality Alliance.&#8221; These groups preach the religion of gender. Our kids are taught about gender identities in health class as if they&#8217;re as real as chromosomes or conception. Online, kids can meet people of all ages with sometimes prurient enthusiasm for their gender identification. What&#8217;s one father against all of that?
One father can be a start. I taught my son that lots of people believing an idea doesn&#8217;t make it true, it just makes it popular. Reality is what&#8217;s still there when you stop believing in it. Right now, trans ideology is popular. But sex is real, and it&#8217;s still going to be here when the trans fad passes or your kid overcomes his delusions. If you succeed in holding the line against medicalization, he may be healthy and whole when that happens.
Parents have so many roles. Sometimes you&#8217;re a guide, walking in front of your children and showing them the way. Sometimes you teach, sometimes comfort, sometimes inspire. Sometimes a father is just a lighthouse keeper, maintaining a beacon so they can find their way back.
My son found his way back from his delusion. I don&#8217;t know all the reasons why, but I know he couldn&#8217;t have done it if I had let my light go out.
* * *
Gareth Amaya Price is the father of <a href="https://www.iwfeatures.com/documentary/how-this-desister-broke-free-from-the-transgender-contagion/">Simon Amaya Price</a>, a desister. Gareth Amaya Price was featured in a <a href="https://www.iwfeatures.com/documentary/how-this-desister-broke-free-from-the-transgender-contagion/">new two-part documentary</a> produced by <a href="https://www.iwfeatures.com/">IW Features</a>, Independent Women’s grassroots storytelling and original journalism arm, as part of its “<a href="https://www.iwfeatures.com/our-stories/reclaiming-biological-reality-stories/">Identity Crisis: Real Stories About Escaping Gender Ideology”</a> series.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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IW doc

My Son Thought He Was A Girl. He’s Now A Detransitioner.

American Universities

Autism

Boston Children's Hospital

College

Documentaries

Gender

gender ideology

Gender Transition

Transgender

When my first child was born, a baby girl, I received a piece of advice I will never forget: “The boyfriend your daughter brings home one day will look a lot like you.”
At first, I laughed it off. But then he added, “If you’re short-tempered, controlling, or dismissive toward her and her mother, don’t be surprised when that’s who she chooses. But if you’re gentle, strong, respectful, and loving, she’ll expect nothing less.”
That hit hard. Because it’s true. As fathers, we are the first model of masculinity our daughters ever know. We set the standard for how they’ll expect to be treated. We condition them — often without realizing it — to understand what love looks like, what respect feels like, and what kind of man deserves their heart.
Parenting books talk endlessly about rules, boundaries, and screen time. But the most powerful parenting happens in the quiet, unseen moments. The lessons that matter most aren’t the ones we preach, they’re the ones we live.
Our sons learn what it means to be a man by watching how we treat their mothers. Our daughters learn what to expect from men by watching how we treat them. Every “please,” every “thank you,” every small gesture of affection or apology adds up.
When I hold my wife’s hand, open the door for her, or compliment her in front of our kids, it’s not performative, it’s instructive. I’m teaching my sons that strength and tenderness aren’t opposites. I’m also teaching my daughter that she’s worthy of kindness, and respect, and that love is something that builds up and does not tear down.
That’s the heart of true masculinity, something our culture seems desperate to erase. Masculinity today is mocked, diluted, and too often confused with aggression or arrogance. But real masculinity isn’t about dominance — it’s about discipline, leadership, and sacrifice. It’s about taking responsibility even when it’s inconvenient. It’s about doing the hard thing when it would be easier to walk away.
And the first place our kids see that isn’t in a movie or on social media — it’s at home. 
They’re watching us in the small moments: how we react when we’re tired, how we speak to our wives, how we handle stress or disagreement. Whether we know it or not, every day we’re shaping their definition of manhood, womanhood, and marriage.
And it turns out, there’s science to back it. <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070613071240.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com">A study</a> by researchers at Durham University and two Polish institutions found that women who had very positive childhood relationships with their fathers were more likely to choose partners whose faces resembled their fathers’ facial features. The researchers discovered this correlation only when the father-daughter relationship was rated high in positivity; when the relationship was weak or strained, the effect disappeared.
A 2009 study by <a href="https://www.familyscienceassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2009-14-2-Paternal-influences-on-daughters-heterosexual-relationship-socialization_Scott-Hall-Final.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Hall and Scott</a>, “Paternal Influences on Daughters’ Heterosexual Relationship Socialization” also found that a father’s presence — or absence — shapes his daughter’s attitudes toward intimacy and commitment. The way a dad engages his daughter in conversation, affection, and conflict resolution leaves a lasting imprint on how she approaches romantic relationships as an adult.
In short, the data backs up what fathers have known instinctively for generations: how we treat our daughters, and how we treat their mothers, echoes into their future relationships. Our behavior becomes their blueprint.
That’s why the health of your marriage is an essential part of your parenting. Kids don’t just need parents who are present — they need parents who are present to each other. They need to see affection, laughter, prayer, teamwork, and even conflict — and how to resolve it with grace.
When children see Mom and Dad treating one another with respect, they’re learning what partnership looks like. When they see parents who can disagree without demeaning each other, they’re learning how to handle conflict in their own relationships. When they see Mom and Dad share a kiss in the kitchen, flirt a little, or laugh at each other’s jokes, they’re learning that love is something worth celebrating, not hiding.
Our marriage isn’t perfect. None are. My wife and I have had our share of hard conversations, silent car rides, and long nights trying to figure things out. But that’s okay. Kids shouldn’t see a flawless marriage — they should see a faithful one. They should know that love doesn’t mean the absence of struggle; it means the presence of commitment.
When they watch us work through problems without tearing each other down, they learn something sacred: that love isn’t a feeling that fades when it’s tested — it’s a decision that deepens when it’s challenged.
In Ephesians 5:25, the Apostle Paul writes, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” That’s not a suggestion — it’s a command. It means love costs something. It means choosing humility over pride, patience over irritation, service over selfishness. When a father lives that way, he’s not just leading his family — he’s forming the moral compass of the next generation.
I’ve come to believe one of the greatest gifts a man can give his children is to love their mother well. A daughter who grows up seeing her father treat her mom with affection and respect will never mistake manipulation for love. A son who watches his dad pray with his mom, comfort her when she’s hurting, and apologize when he’s wrong will grow into a man capable of doing the same.
There’s a famous saying I love: “More is caught than taught.” It’s true. The words we say about faith, family, and respect don’t mean much if they aren’t backed up by the way we live.
When my daughter sees me pray with her mother, she learns that faith is the foundation of our home. When she sees me hold the door for her mom, she learns that chivalry isn’t outdated — it’s daily. When she sees me mess up and come back to apologize, she learns that real strength includes humility.
And when she sees me fail — and she will — but sees me keep showing up, keep trying, keep loving, she learns that grace is stronger than perfection.
Someday, she’ll walk into a restaurant with a young man, and without realizing it, she’ll compare him to me. She’ll notice how he talks to the waitress, how he reacts when something goes wrong, how he treats her when she disagrees with him.
That’s when the years of quiet, consistent example will bear fruit. That’s when the invisible lessons will become visible.
So, when I think about being a better parent, I don’t just think about bedtime stories or ball games. I think about marriage. Because our home is a living classroom, and our marriage is the curriculum.
If we want to raise strong, grounded, faith-filled kids, we have to start with ourselves.
The next time your kid asks what love looks like, show them.
* * *
Gates Garcia is the host of the YouTube show and podcast We The People. Follow him on IG and X @GatesGarciaFL
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Smiling teenager looking at father while talking outdoors

The Best Advice I Received When I Learned I Was Having A Daughter

Girls

Marriage

Opinion

Relationships

You may recognize Leland Vittert from his work as an anchor on NewsNation. What you may not recognize, however, is that Leland got to where he is after being diagnosed with autism.
With renewed scrutiny on the causes of autism, his new book “Born Lucky” is flying off the shelves, landing at #4 on the New York Times bestseller list. It&#8217;s not just a story about how Leland managed to build a successful life with autism, but also about the people who sacrificed to make that possible.
So when we asked about publishing an excerpt from it, Leland suggested the afterword, written by his dad. After reading it, we understand why. But we asked him to explain it to our readers as well.
We hope you enjoy. — The Editors
* * *
When I was diagnosed with what we now know to be autism, my father quit his job and became a full time parent, coach, and friend. It was, as he describes it, my only hope. He felt hopeless and helpless and with good reason. The psychologist who tested me told him there was “generally not” anything parents could do for kids in my situation and it was “difficult to understand” what&#8217;s going on in my head.
My father’s mission to adapt me to the world, rather than the world to me, took him 15 years – to be fair, I am now 43 and he is still working on it.
In my new book, &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Born-Lucky-Dedicated-Grateful-Journey/dp/140025468X/?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_w=M2Kgd&amp;content-id=amzn1.sym.4efc43db-939e-4a80-abaf-50c6a6b8c631%3Aamzn1.symc.5a16118f-86f0-44cd-8e3e-6c5f82df43d0&amp;pf_rd_p=4efc43db-939e-4a80-abaf-50c6a6b8c631&amp;pf_rd_r=ZH2H6KCH5RD7206BW8AE&amp;pd_rd_wg=ZzvPM&amp;pd_rd_r=39261712-bad5-42ce-93ea-31acd52c574f&amp;ref_=pd_hp_d_atf_ci_mcx_mr_ca_hp_atf_d">Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism</a>,&#8221; I tell the story of my father’s journey and how he never told anyone of my diagnosis: not teachers, not therapists, not his friends, and not even me!
<div id="attachment_985495" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-985495" class="size-large wp-image-985495" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-14-Oct-2025-08-37-AM-5895-1024x576.jpg" alt="Credit: Leland Vittert" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-14-Oct-2025-08-37-AM-5895-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-14-Oct-2025-08-37-AM-5895-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-14-Oct-2025-08-37-AM-5895-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-14-Oct-2025-08-37-AM-5895-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-14-Oct-2025-08-37-AM-5895-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Credit: Leland Vittert</div>
Thanks to my dad (and mom) things have worked out pretty well. We endured the hell that was middle school, where principals told my parents I was “weird” and teachers compared me disfavorably to their dog’s asses. I am now married to a magnificent woman and I’m a national cable television anchor. What dad didn&#8217;t know at the time was that the hell of middle school would be great training for a Washington newsroom.
Dad says he isn&#8217;t a hero. I would argue that point, but he can describe himself however he wants.
At first, he didn&#8217;t want to tell this story because the book would contain my darkest moments. So, we made a deal: I would write the manuscript and at the end, if he didn&#8217;t like it, we wouldn&#8217;t turn it in to HarperCollins. To be honest, I had no plan if he said he did not like it.
But at that moment of decision, I asked him a question: If, when I was originally diagnosed, the psychologist had given him our book “Born Lucky’ (rather than saying there was not much to do), how would he have felt?
He responded that he would have read it every week because it would give him hope.
The book is hope for every parent with a kid who is struggling, not just with autism but anxiety, ADHD, difficulty at school, etc., and proof of what a father and mother’s love can do.
That’s why I asked my dad to write the afterword in the book in the form of thoughts for parents facing some of the same challenges he did.
I would like to share that with you now.
— Leland Vittert
<div id="attachment_985155" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Born-Lucky-Dedicated-Grateful-Journey/dp/140025468X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3O3L1UKLC7BU8&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.MCP08BnE6vI4ikVNkhJBg72CUwiVpmvlL8qZybVTSZLx_BEqUQGmyDmGpK7jXlU7iZCcob-eOUDY6rbg3C1NjBxWSU2Qe7cCc8CaNp8qCwQ7jeHWCo-3GvFE_ZYtE5X1HiiDd4mb-Kg5aF8mQtn0KNs6EYCmCB-12b31vB_-5jrAx6Zuj6Gsjf3oFbwy2yo9QmShQlmJ7m55riGBazN3-QDQblrGsUiWAs0R9M9NLPk.z4MTp6JWwZEIj8QmHoKGWHoBiTGIr1B6V_Uz9VbpCLo&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=vittert&amp;qid=1760449473&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=vittert%2Cstripbooks%2C112&amp;sr=1-1"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-985155" class="size-large wp-image-985155" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-13-Oct-2025-12-47-PM-5986-384x576.jpg" alt="Cover credit: Harper Horizon" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-13-Oct-2025-12-47-PM-5986-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-13-Oct-2025-12-47-PM-5986-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-13-Oct-2025-12-47-PM-5986-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-13-Oct-2025-12-47-PM-5986-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-13-Oct-2025-12-47-PM-5986-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-13-Oct-2025-12-47-PM-5986-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-13-Oct-2025-12-47-PM-5986-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes=" (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /></a>Cover credit: Harper Horizon</div>
* * *
The following excerpt is taken from the Afterword from the book &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Born-Lucky-Dedicated-Grateful-Journey/dp/140025468X/?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_w=M2Kgd&amp;content-id=amzn1.sym.4efc43db-939e-4a80-abaf-50c6a6b8c631%3Aamzn1.symc.5a16118f-86f0-44cd-8e3e-6c5f82df43d0&amp;pf_rd_p=4efc43db-939e-4a80-abaf-50c6a6b8c631&amp;pf_rd_r=ZH2H6KCH5RD7206BW8AE&amp;pd_rd_wg=ZzvPM&amp;pd_rd_r=39261712-bad5-42ce-93ea-31acd52c574f&amp;ref_=pd_hp_d_atf_ci_mcx_mr_ca_hp_atf_d">Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, A Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism</a>,&#8221; by Leland Vittert with Don Yaeger. (Harper Horizon, September 2025).
 * * *
<h3>Afterword From Dad</h3>
As you have already read, Lucky, decades ago, placed me on a pedestal.
This occurred simply as a result of his fundamental needs, that there was no one else, no other man, to help him and hold him. Consequently, it might appear in this book that I offered him support as a secure and knowledgeable father. That was not true.
I was scared for years. I still am to a degree, uncertain quite often and holding on for my family till sleep comes, bringing a few hours of peace.
For all of us who are in the most difficult and complex battle to help our special children survive, there is no finish line.
I am positive that every father and mother engaged in the monumental effort to help and protect and love our challenged children are dealing with the same issues.
Believe me, despite Lucky’s admiration, I did only what any father would want to do.
All of us in this battle, this fight against what feels like the world has left our side, are in the same place.
We all feel enormous love and responsibility to those little ones who are absolutely lost and, without us, alone. Mothers and fathers need to know that there is definitely hope.
I am not that smart nor capable to have known what to do for him, except to love him and listen always to his cries for help, and to enlist a couple of personal rules that seemed to make sense in a frightening circumstance.
Let me say that his mother, Carol, was the unsung angel here. She not only had to hold Lucky, but also me.
<div id="attachment_985497" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-985497" class="size-large wp-image-985497" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/81f71ca0-3ba6-4bba-99a5-3eea97064c98-1024x576.jpg" alt="Credit: Leland Vittert" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/81f71ca0-3ba6-4bba-99a5-3eea97064c98-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/81f71ca0-3ba6-4bba-99a5-3eea97064c98-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/81f71ca0-3ba6-4bba-99a5-3eea97064c98-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/81f71ca0-3ba6-4bba-99a5-3eea97064c98-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/81f71ca0-3ba6-4bba-99a5-3eea97064c98.jpg 1829w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Credit: Leland Vittert</div>
I really did not know what was ahead, who could help, or if the verdict was just “give up.” Well, the purpose of this book is to offer hope, real hope. Here are the principles that I wrote down for myself when Lucky was diagnosed:
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Have no expectations about the future.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Under no circumstances let your child feel that they have ever disappointed you. EVER, under no circumstance.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">You are the depository of their hurt, their frustration, and their humiliations. You must listen and listen—morning before school and late into the night.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Tell them that they have the right stuff for life. That the currency of high school, etc., is not the currency of life. There are many more years after the six years of junior high and high school.</li>
</ol>
There were times where I reflexively responded to a seemingly endless difficult day with temper. Those were the most regrettable of times.
I fully understand that so many had and will have far more significant challenges and difficulties than we had.
You will need to remember that your child will continue, no matter the advancement, to simply be themself. This is not a broken arm that heals; it is the way they were made.
Together, whatever the circumstance or how dire the situation, there is hope, good hope, but it will require endless understanding and the firm belief that your child can be better.
With the advent of so much bullying and other negative effects from today’s social media culture, it will be hard to escape. We did not have to address that issue.
We did not discuss Lucky’s issues or labels with anyone, nor did we seek outside assistance. Perhaps that would have been better. I do not know.
Whatever your child’s issue, I believe their best chance to progress is you and your love and patience and, in particular, your unwavering belief in them.
It was felt that writing this book could possibly help. There are so many of us who were and are lost in the nightmare of this despair.
If you are in this fight, it will be a challenge that is the most worthwhile of your life. It will probably take years and years, but it will be worth it.
If someone would have told me about what the future held for our little boy, I would have likely yielded right then. I would have been terribly wrong to do so.
If I can do it, you can. You can make an enormous difference for the ones you love dearly.
With all my heart, I wish for you and your child a future that you will make better together.
— Mark Vittert
* * *
This excerpt is published by permission from Harper Horizon. &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Born-Lucky-Dedicated-Grateful-Journey/dp/140025468X/?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_w=M2Kgd&amp;content-id=amzn1.sym.4efc43db-939e-4a80-abaf-50c6a6b8c631%3Aamzn1.symc.5a16118f-86f0-44cd-8e3e-6c5f82df43d0&amp;pf_rd_p=4efc43db-939e-4a80-abaf-50c6a6b8c631&amp;pf_rd_r=ZH2H6KCH5RD7206BW8AE&amp;pd_rd_wg=ZzvPM&amp;pd_rd_r=39261712-bad5-42ce-93ea-31acd52c574f&amp;ref_=pd_hp_d_atf_ci_mcx_mr_ca_hp_atf_d">Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, A Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism</a>,&#8221; by Leland Vittert with Don Yaeger. (Harper Horizon, September 2025).
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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