Edward Crawford spent his life training to be a warrior, in the Peace Corps, in Afghanistan, and at Goldman Sachs, and it turns out that same drive almost cost him the family he was fighting for. In this conversation for the first time dad podcast, Edward opens up about deploying six days after his son was born, the videos he recorded for his kids in case he didn't come home, and the moment he realized his hyper vigilance was helping him survive but hurting his marriage. He and Tony talk about raising a daughter with autism, taking daughters on dates, and why "nothing's changed, but I have" became the truest sentence of his life. This is one of those episodes that speaks directly to any family podcast listener wondering how to actually come home, not just physically, but emotionally.

Key takeaways:

• Giving kids responsibility for animals teaches empathy and care from a young age
• Edward's son's autism reshaped how he defines success and connection
• Deploying to Afghanistan six days after his son's birth changed how he saw fatherhood
• Coming home from war is often harder than the deployment itself
• Hyper vigilance that once kept him alive worked against him at home
• A five day silent retreat helped Edward reconnect with his heart over his head
• His number one goal became simply "be a better husband to Mary Crawford"
• Kids writing "Best Dad Ever" on his truck redefined what success means to him

If you enjoyed The Dad Manual, leave us a rating on your podcast app! If you loved it, share this episode with a Dad! Send your questions to dadmanualpodcast@gmail.com. Connect with Tony Cooper: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thetonycooper/

00:00 Edward Crawford's introduction
00:53 Meet Tony and the dad manual mission
01:07 Edward introduces himself
02:12 Caroline, the singer at a conservatory
03:05 Edward's son and his autism journey
04:07 Meet Annabelle, the animal collector
05:18 Where all the animals came from
10:50 How autism reshaped Edward's mindset
14:57 Becoming a dad, the Haiti story
17:00 Mary's pregnancy reveal
19:16 Taking daughters on dates
19:45 Deploying six days after his son's birth
20:38 Recording videos in case he didn't return
23:10 Peace Corps years and hypervigilance roots
26:13 Coming home and reconnecting with Mary
31:23 Chasing achievement versus being present
33:00 Best dad ever, written in the mud
35:16 The jungle retreat and his new objective
38:39 Becoming a better husband to Mary Crawford
44:03 Advice for a brand new father

What if the goal of parenting isn't to make your kid grow up, but to help them stay a kid longer? Brandon Fong joins The Dad Manual to talk about raising his daughter Kaya with childlike curiosity, emotional honesty, and zero interest in bubble-wrapping her from the world. Tony and Brandon dig into masculine and feminine energy in parenting, why toddlers process feelings in about 90 seconds if you let them, the story behind a very memorable ER visit, and how AI might make being simply human the most valuable skill of all. It's a warm, funny, unexpectedly deep conversation about staying playful while raising a person.

If you enjoyed The Dad Manual, leave us a rating on your podcast app! If you loved it, share this episode with a Dad! Send your questions to dadmanualpodcast@gmail.com. Connect with Tony Cooper: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thetonycooper/

00:00 The slide, the ER, dad wisdom
00:39 Meet Brandon Fong
01:24 Reclaiming childhood as an adult
02:22 What sparked childlike curiosity
04:37 Naming things kills their magic
07:00 Learning Kaya's perspective
09:03 The "other mother" past life talk
11:01 What Kaya is like as a kid
12:56 Always wanting to be a dad
14:04 Masculine and feminine parenting energy
17:06 Dad's playful Coke-bag toys
20:36 How intentional Leah and Brandon were
23:00 The most surprising part of fatherhood
26:04 Letting kids get hurt to grow
33:52 Working through reactivity as a dad
36:36 The 90 second feeling rule
41:06 Raising a kid in the AI era
49:03 Kaya's core essence described
51:14 Advice for a brand new dad

Can a chatbot help you become a more present dad? Lior Weinstein returns to The Dad Manual to dig into where AI actually helps fatherhood, and where it quietly gets in the way. Tony and Lior talk through using AI as a bedtime story ghostwriter, the idea of "artificial intimacy," why harmony beats balance, and how Lior uses AI to process emotional moments with his kids without losing his own voice in the process. They also get into generational trauma, cultural identity, and small first steps any dad can take today. Key takeaways include using AI to enhance existing family moments rather than replace them, the importance of intention before you open the app, and why context (not cleverness) is what makes AI actually useful at home.

If you enjoyed The Dad Manual, leave us a rating on your podcast app! If you loved it, share this episode with a Dad! Send your questions to dadmanualpodcast@gmail.com. Connect with Tony Cooper: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thetonycooper/

00:00 Cold open: the tantrum book analogy
00:29 Welcoming back Lior Weinstein
01:12 Picking up the AI conversation
02:07 How ChatGPT became a bedtime tool
04:23 Making life better, not just tasks
05:14 The idea of artificial intimacy
07:30 Who owns AI generated output
08:30 Claude as a writing partner
10:47 Delivery makes a story personal
13:18 Shared experiences and bonding
14:53 Adding "magical" changes everything
17:19 Getting more done to be present
19:26 Living your purpose vs work
21:03 Kids don't experience it as passion
23:10 Harmony over balance explained
26:04 Breaking generational trauma with AI
29:02 AI as a gateway to asking for help
30:21 ChatGPT as a travel guide in Japan
33:58 Prompting Claude "as if it has ADHD"
36:16 Jewish identity and collective trauma
39:16 Passover, language, and shared meaning
44:25 Where a dad should start with AI