Work life balance for dads is not a 50/50 split. It is deciding, on purpose, what gets less of you this season, so the thing that matters most gets your attention instead of your leftovers. For about six years, I did it the hard way: replaying the day on the drive home, deciding I had fallen short, promising tomorrow would be different, then doing it all again. One evening at work, it hit me that staying later would not finish everything. There would always be more work than

There's a specific kind of tired that sleep doesn't touch. You wake up already empty. You snap at your kid over a spilled cup, feel awful about it, then do it again an hour later. You come home from work, navigating dinner and the evening as a zombie, just trying to make it to bed early. That's dad burnout. And if you're feeling it, here's the first thing to know. It isn't a weakness, and it isn't bad parenting. It's what happens when the demands of work, kids, and everythin