episodes

How can we deal with the monsters-under-the-bed phase? For kids who still believe in magical things as fully possible, the best "protection" we can offer them from something scary but imaginary might be something equally unreal and totally wonderful.

This week we’re talking to Ned Johnson, co-author (with William Stixrud) of THE SELF-DRIVEN CHILD: THE SCIENCE AND SENSE OF GIVING YOUR KIDS MORE CONTROL OVER THEIR LIVES, which explores how fostering children’s autonomy can ...

We asked our listeners: when did your pre-parenting life of ease snap back into focus? Was it the day your kids take a shower solo? Navigated steps safely? Turned on the TV at 6:30 am on a Saturday? Better days …

Margaret answers a question from a listener whose daughter has become sneaky about things that are supposed to be off-limits.

We review the very problematic 2020: what we talked about this year, the impossibility of “solving” any of this, and how this podcast has become a time capsule of our “negativity bias,” worries, hopes– and above all, survival. We made …

After four years of doing this podcast, we know a lot about each other. In this episode, we ask each other the burning questions that remain.

A listener asks how to help her toddler whose stool withholding has become painful and possibly chronic.

This episode is full of super-easy ways to make the holiday season more fun without also being more expensive. These ideas are Christmas-based, although holiday lights and red flannel jammies probably have pagan roots anyhow, so come one come all!

Margaret talks about parent-teacher conferences and why it’s important to remember that you, as the parent, aren’t the one being graded.

The holidays are already intense, but if your family is interfaith, it can ratchet up the pressure for perfection times two. Guest Susan Katz Miller, author of THE INTERFAITH FAMILY JOURNAL, tells us how to draw a “sacred circle” around …

Everyone needs an ‘Attaboy!’ every once in a while. When you’re a mom, you usually have to give it to yourself. Whether it’s super-scheduling prowess or the ability to soothe a bleeding toddler in 10 seconds, here are our listeners’ …

Katherine May is the author of the new book WINTERING: THE POWER OF REST AND RETREAT IN DIFFICULT TIMES. May explains how the natural world prepares for and survives winter, and how we can apply those lessons to the metaphorical …

For the last 1.8 million years or so, children were raised village-style. But 2020 has meant a lot of us raising our kids without the usual help of grandparents or schools or caregivers or friends. Whatever community you can create …

A listener asks whether, and how, she can discipline a 1-year-old who pulls hair and throws food on the floor.

Things that make life easier, things that keep kids improbably happily occupied, things you didn’t know you want but absolutely need to have: these are some super-secret awesome things that we (and our listeners) want to tell the world about.

A listener asks how to help her preschooler be less frightened of trips to see the pediatrician.

We talk to Ali Wentworth, host of the "Go Ask Ali" podcast, all about raising teens during a pandemic. Ali tells us about having Covid, how she and spouse George Stephanopoulos split the lockdown workload, and how she’s giving her …

Parenting as a team is an ongoing challenge even when your relationship is pretty harmonious. But constantly matching headspaces with your co-parent isn’t the goal– for us, parenting as a team has often meant taking turns. Here’s how that works.

A listener asks how to get her early-rising toddler to sleep later in the mornings.

Is there a path for reluctant home cooks to become joyful ones? How do we create “food memories” with our children and encourage healthy eating, even when dealing with food allergies and restrictions? Guest: Calysta Watson of Epicurean Therapy.

There are quite a few things we’ve changed our minds about over our years as parents. From minivans to Minecraft, moms on phones to kindergarten dress codes, focus meds to front-yard holiday inflatables, in this episode we talk about them …

A listener has two little boys who clamor to be "first" in all things, from juice boxes to car-seat-buckling.

What does it mean to be ‘that mom’? How should we pick our battles? How do we enter tough conversations prepared for combat but ready to listen? Here’s when that we (and our listeners) went full mama bear, how we …

A listener wonders if her 13-year-old son is old enough for a cell phone and the constant internet access it would grant him.