episodes

This pandemic situation has not been great. But there are things we have been freed from and are hereby declaring we’ll never do, or wear, or worry about again. Here’s what we (and our listeners) are, with great determination, never going back to.

A listener asks how to help a child asking anxious questions after his classmate's parent died.

Dr. Christine Koh creates content to help people live better and happier. She also grew up with adverse childhood experiences. We discuss the CDC ACEs framework for understanding early adversity, and how to go on and build happy families of our own.

Having the same fight doesn’t mean your relationship is broken. But it is totally annoying. Here are the modes of negativity that are at work when we repeat the same conflicts- and what we can do to break the cycle, whether it’s our partners or kids.

A parent asks for advice on dealing with a clingy 9-year-old. Amy suggests rewarding small shows of independence with praise, and offering quality time during your child’s preferred activity in return for accepting some time apart without complaint.

Dr. Edward Hallowell, co-author of ADHD 2.0: New Science and Essential Strategies for Thriving with Distraction--From Childhood Through Adulthood, explains the growing understanding of ADHD- and offers new hacks for brains with “variable attention.”

We often express righteous anger at all the completely infuriating and totally trivial things that other people, usually related to us, do to annoy us. Today we look inward– and admit the things we do that are so irksome that we even annoy OURSELVES.

A listener asks how to help her child regulate the strong emotions that arise whenever it's time for screens to go off.

Mirna Valerio is a runner, adventurer, speaker, and anti-racism educator. We discuss her experiences as a larger woman in a world of endurance athletes, and how to reacquaint ourselves with fitness, no matter how long we’ve been out of the game.

How has Covid affected you as a mom? Are you more socially anxious? Have you found the isolation sort of reassuring? Are you at your breaking point? Are you treasuring the extra time with your kids? Will any of this permanently change how you parent?

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 are coming, parents.

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 it, mamas.

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 what matters.

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’ mom superpowers.

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 winters in our lives.

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 right now counts.

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