Daddy Life School:
The Story
At the beginning of 2025, I had an epiphany. My wife Janet and I were about to send our twin high school senior daughters off to college. We invested heavily in the college search and admissions process, but it struck me that they were very much unarmed when it came to some very basic but really, really important life skills and knowledge.
Out of this realization, Daddy Life School was born.
What is Daddy Life School?
A few years ago, I had developed a concept called Daddy Church School, after I pulled Ally and Ceci from their religious education program to provide more practical, less dogmatic lessons about how they should evolve as human beings in an increasingly challenging world.
Daddy Life School is similar, but more comprehensive and structured. I developed a college-style 3-semester, 10-class program that covered three areas, each supported by a lesson plan, a presentation, a set of simple exercises, and references to external material. Here are the semester names:
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Young adult finances/budgeting
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Early career exploration and success
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Physical, mental, and sexual health (+)
The Process
Since they had already applied to and been accepted to college, I actually had them separately“apply”, via an online college-style online system called the Peter Pan Portal I set up on a Google Drive. They logged on to read their Admissions Letter, and we documented their celebration in one of those college acceptance videos that have become all the rage these days (see the video --->).
Every other Sunday from that point on, we gathered together with our laptops on the DLS Campus, which consisted of a large screen TV and three big bean bag chairs in their childhood playroom. We engaged in lively and in-depth discussions in a way that I could never do in our everyday lives, and we experienced love, learning, and laughter along the way!
I paid particular attention to bring humor and levity to each session, so that I didn’t come off as preachy, and frankly, boring. We even got a couple of their stuffed animals into the act – “Pinky”, was our Teaching Assistant prominently featured in presentations to drive home summary points, and “Clueless” served as “Tech Support”.
Ally and Ceci getting their acceptance letter to Daddy Life School!
The Offering
Now that our girls have graduated from Daddy Life School, I am repurposing all of the course plans, presentations, exercises, and external multi-media resources into a comprehensive program that can be employed to educate and engage high-school age students on these important topics. These materials, combined with individual or group classes and parental consultation sessions, make up our Young Adult Development services offering.
The Benefits
I am now of the belief that supporting your high-school-age teenager in the college process without developing life skills and knowledge is a lost opportunity. I found this experience invaluable in deepening our relationship. If you commit the time, the process will yield valuable experiences:
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You’ll impart valuable wisdom to your children.
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You’ll find some things out about them you might not ever have discovered.
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You’ll laugh, and maybe even cry, with your family.
And… your high school graduate will enter freshman year with a head start on adulthood, leading to more effective use of the time and resources that college affords.
Our kids will always be our kids, but they are only under our roofs for a limited amount of time. This is one way to make the most of it. Should you explore LifeLaunch for college counseling, my hope is you’ll also consider how life counseling could fit into the equation.
Allison ("Ally")
"Daddy Life School is the perfect school for kids who are equally scared to grow up and excited for their futures. The professor is kind, passionate, empathetic, and wise and the course structure is well thought out and captures so much. Being part of this school has been not just educational, but transformational and a core part of growing up that I will always be grateful for."
Cecilia ("Ceci")
"After graduating from DLS, I now have a strong grasp on the basics of life beyond the classroom, setting me up for financial and emotional success in the real world. Not only was the material helpful and thoroughly researched, but the professor created a hands-on environment that valued questions and discussion over everything else. I’d recommend DLS to every single kid my age."
