Trace Gallagher Shares Girl-Dad Lessons From Raising 2 Daughters in New Book

Q: How does a fast-paced breaking news anchor use silence to transform his relationship with his daughters in a hyper-connected world?

He does it by treating silence as an act of attention. Trace Gallagher says that despite working in a job built on urgency, he learned with his daughters that the most useful response was often not to solve, interrupt or lecture, but to pause, listen and let them talk until they felt heard. Gallagher told Fox News Digital that raising two daughters in a hyper-connected world taught him that children often want reassurance more than answers. His rule became simple: be present, make eye contact, stay patient, and offer advice only when asked. In his account, that shift changed the relationship from one centered on parental fixes to one built on trust. His daughters, now 25 and 22, learned that they could bring him problems without immediately being managed. He argues that this kind of quiet attention builds confidence as well as closeness. He points to a youth soccer game in which his younger daughter fell hard, looked to him, received calm reassurance, and then recovered and scored. For Gallagher, the key was not a speech but the message that he was fully there and paying attention. At the same time, he pairs listening with independence. Drawing on his own mother’s example, he says children still need to confront challenges themselves and “fight your own battles.” In that balance, silence becomes a parenting tool: it creates space for daughters to speak, feel supported and grow more capable in a noisy, fast-moving age.

1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 19

Gallagher said raising his two daughters, now 25 and 22, taught him that fathers often help most by staying quiet, making eye contact and listening until advice is requested.
The 30-year broadcast veteran said that shift ran against his instincts as a professional talker, but patience and presence gave his daughters a stronger sense of being heard and supported.
In "Turns Out They Were Right All Along," Gallagher ties that lesson to resilience, recalling how his mother made him tell a football coach himself that he wanted to quit.
That episode kept him in the sport through college and shaped his broader message: young people build confidence, character and careers by hearing guidance and fighting some battles themselves.