These days, the wildly popular stand-up comedian is staring in a set of hilarious new Chrysler commercials and has also been see donning the Colonel Sanders get-up for KFC, but 3 years ago Jim Gaffigan sat down with our own Art Eddy for a fun conversation about parenting, work life balance, his (then) new book Dad Is Fat and, of course, fast food.

It was a great chat but reflecting back on, and listening again to the episode, one thing really struck a chord with us:

We modern dads can be so hard on ourselves!

It’d be funny if it wasn’t so damn spot-on.

As you would expect, many laughs were shared during the 20-minute conversation but it’s what Gaffigan said relatively early on in the Life of Dad podcast that may be the most striking and long-lasting. In discussing this ‘strange’ new era of fatherhood we dads find ourselves in, Gaffigan noted, quite perceptively, that years ago dads were expected to do nothing at all and they didn’t feel guilty about it — not one little bit! In 2016 though, “we’re expected to do everything and we still feel terrible.” Ain’t that the truth!

No doubt you’ve battled self-doubt too, thanks to other parents in the neighborhood who seem to have it all together or as a result of the Pinterest-perfect social media curation of mom and dad bloggers that fills up our feeds. Whether you’re a dad or a mom, one thing is universal in the 21st century: we beat ourselves up about our parenting prowess on a daily basis.

  • Are we not feeding our kids the healthiest possible food?
  • Should I be serving only organic snacks?
  • Do they have too much screen time?
  • Am I on my own phone too often?
  • Do my kids get enough physical activity?
  • Should they play sports? If they don’t play sports will they be socially awkward?
  • Will NFL coaches think I’m a sissy if I don’t want my son to get a concussion?
  • How many Shopkins is too many Shopkins?
  • What in the hell are Shopkins?

On and on and on it goes. Every day there’s a new ‘problem’ to consider and fret over when it comes to the well-being of our children.

Jim Gaffigan himself is a good example of how to deal with all of that and more: stop taking every single thing so seriously, have fun and poke fun at yourself!

Most of us are doing so much better than previous generations when it comes to parenting! Our children are loved, provided for and showered with attention. In fact, maybe we’re doing it too well! We may need to step off slightly, take care of ourselves a little bit and trust that if we pull through the drive-thru of a fast food joint every once in a while, chances are that our kids will still end up okay.