The Unhinged Father
Welcome to The Unhinged Father — also known as TUF — a podcast for anyone who loves their kids but isn’t going to pretend it’s easy. And honestly, even if you don’t have kids, stick around — because this show is really about something bigger than parenting.
I’m Robbie. Dad of three, husband, and someone who figured out that the best way to get through the chaos of modern life is to stop pretending you have it together and start talking honestly about what it actually looks like. Every week I bring real, unfiltered conversations on fatherhood, parenting, mental health, personal development, masculinity, relationships, and the everyday grind of trying to be a better man and a better human in a world that makes that harder than it should be.
No highlight reels. No perfect parent BS. Just honest talk from someone figuring it out right alongside you.
TUF covers the topics most podcasts are too polished to touch — mental health, self-improvement, work-life balance, emotional regulation, modern masculinity, relationships, discipline, screen time, societal expectations, and what it means to keep growing when the world feels increasingly unhinged itself.
Whether you’re a parent in the trenches, someone navigating the pressures of modern life, or anyone who’s just tired of toxic positivity and highlight reels — this is your show.
New episodes every week. Come for the honesty, stay for the occasional chaos.
Episodes
53 episodes
I Spent Years Thinking I Was Just Stressed. Turns Out I Was Struggling — and I Had No Idea How to Ask for Help.
One in eight men globally report mental health disorders. Seventy percent will avoid seeking help entirely. Only one in four men who admit to depression will ever go to therapy. Robbie found those numbers deeply concerning — and then realized h...
Strong Enough to Be Goofy: What Real Masculinity Actually Looks Like as a Dad
There are two guys Robbie wants to talk about. One brushes his teeth with brake fluid, hasn't communicated a feeling since 1987, and thinks vulnerability is something that happens to other people. The other one is so emotionally available he ma...
Your Kid's Boredom is a Feature, Not a Bug: Raising Screen-Smart Children in a Tech-Obsessed World
We are raising the first generation of kids who will never know a world without screens, infinite content, and instant gratification — and most of us are figuring it out as we go. In this episode, Robbie gets real about his own phone habits, wh...
You're Not Invincible Anymore: A Dad's Honest Midlife Health Check
If you're a dad in your 30s or 40s who hasn't seen a doctor in years, still thinks you can eat like you're 22, and keeps telling yourself you'll "get healthy later" — this one is for you. Because later has a way of becoming never.Robbie ...
Your Kid Isn't Acting Out — They're Falling Apart: How to Handle Tantrums During Big Life Changes
"Am I failing as a parent? Am I screwing my kids up?" If those thoughts have crossed your mind lately, this episode is for you. Because when your kid's behavior goes sideways during a big transition — new baby, new school, new house — it's easy...
She Just Had Your Baby. Now What? A Dad's Real Guide to the Postpartum Period
Everyone checks on the pregnant woman. The moment that baby arrives, the world moves on — and mom is left bleeding, sleep-deprived, hormonally wrecked, and expected to figure it out. As a dad of three, Robbie has seen this up close, and he's no...
The Morning Before Baby Three: Fear, Work Pressure, and What Fatherhood Has Actually Made Me
A few hours before heading to the hospital for the induction of his third son, Robbie sits down and hits record. No prep, no plan — just everything going through his head in real time. The fears, the work pressure, the sleep deprivation already...
The Reason You're Still Stuck: Why Starting Is the Only Thing That Actually Matters
You know what you want to change. You've known for a while. And every time you get close to starting — something comes up, you talk yourself out of it, or you decide you'll just do it tomorrow. And then tomorrow becomes next week becomes next y...
What Actually Matters: A Real Reset on Health, Family, Faith, and the Life You're Building
Not a resolution episode. Not a "new year new me" pep talk. This is Robbie sitting down with a notebook, going through every area of his life that actually matters, and being honest about where he's at and where he wants to go — health, family,...
I Fell Off the Wagon. Here's What Happened — and Why It's Actually Normal
Five months. No episodes, no Instagram, no consistency. A new baby on the way, a house sale, a move, increased work pressure, and a slow slide back into some old habits Robbie thought he'd left behind. This is that episode — the honest return w...
Is the American Dream Dead? One Dad's Honest Take on Marriage, Kids, and Why It's Still Worth It
Younger generations are delaying marriage, skipping kids, and walking away from the white picket fence entirely — and honestly, Robbie gets it. The cost of having a family has never been higher, divorce rates reshaped an entire generation's vie...
Stop Treating Your Kid Like a Small Adult: The Real Truth About Discipline and Emotional Regulation
Your kid throws their plate across the room and your first thought is "what the hell is wrong with you?" — which is a completely normal thought to have, and also exactly the wrong place to start. Because your kid isn't being a jerk. Their brain...
Your Kids Don't Need to Be the Best — They Need to Be Good: How to Raise Humans Who Actually Matter
Every parent wants to raise good kids. But somewhere along the way, "good" got replaced with "successful" — the right grades, the right sport, the right college. Robbie thinks we've got the priorities backwards, and in this episode he gets into...
Stop Pretending Everything Is Fine: Why Fake Positivity Is Making You Weaker and What to Do Instead
Somewhere between "toxic positivity" and "embrace the grind" culture, most people are living in a weird middle ground — pretending they're okay when they're not, doom-scrolling through other people's highlight reels, and wondering why they feel...
Mental Health Is Important. Using It as an Excuse Isn't. A Real Conversation About Where We've Gone Wrong
Mental health awareness has come a long way — and that's genuinely a good thing. But somewhere between "it's okay not to be okay" and where we are now, something got twisted. Diagnoses became identities. Anxiety became a reason not to do hard t...
We're Protecting Kids From the Wrong Things: The Real Case for Letting Your Kids Get Hurt, Be Bored, and Figure It Out
We won't let kids walk to the park alone, but we'll hand them an unsupervised portal to the entire internet. We bubble-wrap them from scraped knees and then wonder why they can't handle hard emotions. If that contradiction bothers you too, this...
Nobody Told You This About College: Student Loans, Burnout, and Whether a Degree Is Actually Worth It
Robbie went to UC Santa Barbara, started as a biochemistry pre-med student, burned out completely, switched to sociology, and graduated with a degree he freely admits he uses mostly for bar trivia. He's not bitter about it — but he does have so...
Mom Said No, Dad Said Yes — and That's Actually a Good Thing: How Opposite Parenting Styles Make Stronger Kids
It happened at the park. Robbie's two-year-old is heading up the slide, mom is ready to intervene, Robbie is standing back watching him figure it out. Three seconds later the kid makes it down fine — and then immediately slips trying to climb b...
I Was a Lazy, Depressed, Checked-Out Husband in My 20s. Here's What Changed.
From ages 24 to 28, Robbie was, in his own words, not the person he wanted to be. Drinking too much, eating like hell, not going to the gym, not pulling his weight at home, checked out emotionally, shoving everything down and calling it strengt...
My Five-Year-Old Said He Likes Watching Mom and Dad Hug. It Stopped Me Cold.
During a Valentine's Day bedtime routine, Robbie's five-year-old said one of the things he appreciates most is that mom and dad like each other. That they hug and kiss. That they show affection. It was a small moment that turned into a bigger t...
Your Kid Walked at 10 Months. Cool. Nobody Cares — and Here's Why That's Actually Good News.
Robbie has definitely bragged about his kids hitting milestones early. He's also aware that he was being slightly annoying about it. This episode is his honest examination of the weird competitive culture that forms in parent groups — where nor...
I Think the Pandemic Broke Something in Me. Five Years Later, I'm Still Putting It Back Together.
March 2020. Robbie was six months into being a dad — the exact moment in life when you're supposed to be leaning on people, asking for help, building a village. Instead everyone shut down, locked up, and learned to fear other people. He went al...
You're Not a Content Creator. You're a Parent. Put the Phone Down.
Robbie saw a video online — a dad filming his son being pulled away by the mom, kid absolutely bawling, chaos everywhere, and the page presenting it like the dad was doing something heroic. Robbie thought both parents were idiots. And that the ...
I Want My Kid to Call Me When He's Drunk at 17. Here's Why That Starts Right Now.
Robbie's five-year-old woke him up in the middle of the night, grabbed him by the neck climbing into bed, and nearly got demolished by a dad who wakes up swinging. He didn't. He got a hug, got walked back to his room, got his head rubbed. And i...
Half of You Think I'm Too Soft. Half Think I'm Too Harsh. You're Both Kind of Right.
Robbie had a few too many glasses of wine with his father-in-law, got into a deep conversation about old school versus new school parenting, and decided to bring the whole thing to the podcast. The result is one of the most honest episodes abou...