episodes

How do we allow our kids to feel rejection, without going after the little punks who did it, or attempting to prune their disappointment into a bonsai tree of neat and tidy life lessons?

How can we get our picky eaters to branch out or get kids to appreciate our getting dinner on the table every single night? Mark Bittman, author of the new book HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING: KIDS, explains how we can …

Bespoke costumes, elaborate celebrations, and now THE SWITCH WITCH? How has Halloween gone from simple and spooky to insanely stressful and expensive? Here's how Halloween has evolved over the years and where we go from here.

There are benefits to our kids' making mistakes, even when it’s hard. Maybe especially when it’s hard. We discuss how the brain learns from a mistake, the benefits of a “growth mindset,” and how we can make our homes mistake-friendly …

Is the upcoming election, and the thought of Thanksgiving dinner with your relatives right after it, seriously stressing you out? Brit Barron, author of DO YOU STILL TALK TO GRANDMA?, explains why she believes in maintaining contact even when we …

Last month the Surgeon General declared the mental health of parents an "urgent public health issue." Are parents more stressed out than ever? If so, what can we do about it?

Youth is wasted on the young. We wasted our youth taking the wrong classes in college and layering imaginary agendas onto other people's dopey behavior. Here's the best advice we (and our listeners) learned from doing things the wrong way.

"Resilience" is something we're told our kids should possess—but what does it really mean, and how can we help our kids to be more resilient? Dr. Tovah Klein, author of the new book RAISING RESILIENCE, explains why our own resilience …

Which manners are important for functioning in polite society, and which social customs are best left behind? Here's how to discern what manners still matter for kids.

Life can get better when you stop caring. Whether it’s celebrity culture, making our kids dress appropriately for the weather, rinsing rice, or checking the scale in the morning, here are things that are no longer interesting to us and …

Kendra Adachi, better known as "The Lazy Genius," has a plan for time management—one that takes out the part where we feel bad about ourselves. Kendra tells us about her new book, THE PLAN.

There's always something to fight about in our households. But which battles are worth fighting for long-term benefits, and which can be let go for the sake of parental peace and child development?

What's your "wow, that was so me” story? What is something you did as a kid (or your little one did ) that exemplifies exactly who you/they are now? We discuss some of our listeners’ favorite memories, plus a few …

Why do we believe daycare is fundamentally different than education? Dr. Dan Wuori, author of the new book THE DAYCARE MYTH, explains why this line of thinking is harmful to children, their caregivers, and the country as a whole.

In this episode, we’ll explore some age-old principles that can help us make better decisions. These principles, often referred to as “razors,” can cut through the clutter of complexity and help us see the forest for the trees.

Have you ever figured out a thing and thought: EVERYONE must know about this? Here are some things some of us have really figured out: how to always know what’s for dinner, how to pack for a trip just once, …

Why is it important for our kids to establish a secure attachment with us? Eli Harwood, author of the new book RAISING SECURELY ATTACHED KIDS, offers practical tips and strategies for fostering stronger relationships with our kids.

Disappointment is simply a fact of life, but we naturally want to soothe our children when they're in pain. So how can we teach them to move through these uncomfortable feelings in a healthy way? Here are some helpful parenting …

What did you grow up believing would be a consistent presence in your adult life? Quicksand? Dinner parties? The Bermuda Triangle? Movies, TV, and certain bubble bath ads definitely led us astray when it came to the realities of adult …

When kids get dysregulated, it can be really upsetting to us too. So how can we help them work through it? Carla Naumburg, author of the new book HOW TO STOP FREAKING OUT, discusses why kids are wired for freaking …

Nowadays, it's completely possible to load our kids up on activities to the point of exhaustion—theirs and ours. Why do we do it, how is it really affecting our kids, and what questions should we be asking when adding a …

Pacifiers in the crib. Juice in the sippy cup. Popsicles in the bathtub. We all have exceptions that we make to the so-called parenting “rules” in the interest of our own sanity. Our listeners share which parenting rules they break …

How should we prepare our daughters for the sexism and bias they will encounter out there in the world? Dr. Jo-Ann Finkelstein, author of SEXISM AND SENSIBILITY, tells us how to give our girls a sense of agency.

What happened to your formerly sweet and agreeable child, who woke up on the wrong side of the bed one day and never stopped whining? How does one try to restore equilibrium?