Christian Idiodi
Make Them Your Teacher
Inspired by Christian Idiodi episode
Christian Idiodi builds trust by asking powerful people to teach him—extending their authority to himself. Your kid has zero authority. Until you make them YOUR expert.
Christian gets hired and immediately finds the loudest, most influential person. "Teach me everything." That person's credibility extends to him.
Your kid knows 47 dinosaur names. You know... Tyrannosaurus? Maybe? Every conversation is you teaching them: how forks work, why we don't lick the dog, inside voice versus "why are the neighbors staring" voice. You're the teacher. They're failing.
Flip it once. "I don't know anything about dinosaurs. Can you teach me?" They draw diagrams with markers that somehow end up on the wall. They quiz you. They get MAD when you confuse Allosaurus with T-Rex—that's insulting to their entire field. For one interaction, you're not correcting them. They have expertise. The dynamic where you're disappointed and they're defiant just vanished because you asked them to teach you about creatures that haven't existed for 65 million years.
