The Mother of it All
Sarah and Miranda
We are Miranda Rake and Sarah Wheeler, two friends, mothers and professional writers on the parenting beat. The Mother of it All is our place to go deep into the culture of modern motherhood and have the conversations that truly challenge, feed and excite us. Expect warmth, humor and over-considered takes on hot topics, fresh takes on old ones, expert guests and good times. We're diving into the grey areas beyond the tropes — the wine moms, the rage moms, the anything moms — and instead spending real time with the ideas that help us grow as mothers and people in this cult...
Summer Better with Katherine Goldstein
The Double Shift’s Katherine Goldstein joins Sarah and Miranda to talk about her creative solution to the problem that is American summer, why parents are set up to fail in finding summer care, and how to actively create the kind of community we need to build something better. Links:* The Incredible Things You Can Do Instead of Paying For American Summer Camp* How Other Countries Handle Summer with Kids* Katherine’s How to Find Your People Club* Ezra Klein Show - Sabbath and the Art of Rest This
As They Like it: Learning to Follow My Child's Lead with Nicole Graev Lipson
We’re continuing to focus on the experience of trans children and their parents this week with this reading of the exquisite essay As They Like It: Learning To Follow My Child’s Lead, by the author, Nicole Graev Lipson. The piece — about gender in Shakespeare and Nicole’s journey of watching her child let go of girlhood — was originally published in the Virginia Quarterly Review and then included in The Best American Essays, 2024, edited by Wesley Morris. It’s also part of Nicole’s upcoming coll
Transparenting with Marlo Mack
Today Marlo Mack, of the How To Be A Girl podcast, and her friend, “Kay,” join us to talk about their experiences of raising transgender kids in America today. We also dig into what families with transgender kids expect to be dealing with under Trump’s second term, and how those of us with trans kids in our lives and hearts can step up and become more active allies in an increasingly unsafe landscape. Links:* Trump Is Trying to Make It Illegal to Help a Trans Child* Marlo’s beautiful short carto
What If We're The Helpers? With Elizabeth Doerr
Sarah and Miranda move through their own climate change cognitive dissonance with the help of Elizabeth Doerr, author of the Cramming for the Apocalypse project. We discuss how parenting lends itself to climate action, how facing the climate reality can actually make you less anxious, and how mothers can give prepper stereotypes a much-needed makeover. Links:* Scribente Maternum* Cramming for the Apocalypse* How Do You Plan For a Future That Might Not Exist? by Liz Plank “I miss my 2015 brain,
Building Child-Friendly Cities, with Katie Beck
Katie Beck is a Policy Fellow at the London School of Economics where she helps municipal leaders design more child-friendly cities. She joined us to chat about what child-friendly, care-centered city design really looks like, and who is doing it well. We talk about Bogota’s revolutionary ‘care blocks,’ what happened when Athens experimented with using a few parking spaces as a park instead, and how easy it really can be to make cities more child-friendly now. We dig into the ways that everybod
Linear Time Can Suck It
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit motherofitall.substack.comSarah & Miranda kiss winter break goodbye with a chat about resolutions, witchy solstices, cyclical time, Pamela Adlon, school start times, time jelly, and more! This episode is for our beautiful *paid subscribers* (thank you!) and could also be called Winter Break: The Good, The Bad & The Either Way It's Almost Over. How are you all holding up out ther…
Kid Lit with Jon Klassen & Mac Barnett
Author Mac Barnett and author and illustrator Jon Klassen join Sarah and Miranda to explain what makes a great picture book and why kids might be better readers than adults. Plus, preschoolers with hammers, Where the Wild Things Are is a true story, the sad blunting our “keenness” as we age, and why we still love our bullies. LINKS:* Looking at Picture Books * The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell (Miranda’s Bake Off mystery)* Rebecca by Daph
Parenting Like Wild Animals
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit motherofitall.substack.comIn this bonus episode, Sarah and Miranda talk the best parenting advice for kid explosions and their reactions to the new Nightbitch film. Also, Sarah offers a “Hannukah Surprise,” the Nightbitch theme song she’s been working on for a year. Links:* Dan Siegel and the “Flipped Lid”
The Rotten Roots of Modern Parenting Advice with Nancy Reddy
Poet and author Nancy Reddy joins us to discuss her forthcoming book, The Good Mother Myth: Unlearning Our Bad Ideas About How to Be a Good Mom (pre-order it now!). In it, Nancy explores the historical, cultural, and scientific roots of many of our modern ideas about ‘goodness’ + motherhood, like attachment parenting. Spoiler alert: they’re pretty sketchy. Links: * Take our survey about parents and the pandemic (thank you!)* The Good Mother Myth by Nancy Reddy*
Movie Club: Festively candle-lit battle of the sad & powerful matriarchs
If any season is movie-watching season, it’s now. When we knew we wanted to make a Christmas movie-focused episode, 2008’s A Christmas Tale and 2005’s The Family Stone sprang to mind right away: These are matriarch-centric Christmas movies that take the whole mom-at-Christmastime thing to the Nth degree. Each in their own way, they put the intense time we spend gathered together with our families of origin at the holidays under a microscope. So, what do The Family Stone and A Christmas Tale have
The State of the Hetero Union Part 2: Here Come the Gender Wars with Amanda Montei and Tracy Clark-Flory
Feminist writers Tracy Clark-Flory and Amanda Montei join Sarah and Miranda for Part 2 of our discussion on relationships between men and women (listen to Part 1 here). We talk about the post-election landscape of gender relations — including the rise in both misogynistic rhetoric interest in boycotting men. Is this a gender war or a war on women? Is feminism responsible for the young male Trump voter? What do men and women owe each other, and what do we do with the men in our lives? Links:* Sop
The State of the Hetero Union Part 1: Sex, Marriage, and 'Big D Desire' with Amanda Montei and Tracy Clark-Flory
In Part 1 of our jam-packed conversation with feminist writers Tracy Clark-Flory and Amanda Montei, Sarah and Miranda attempt to unpack why this has been such a big year for examining sex in hetero-marriage, the specter of patriarchy haunting all of our marital beds, and whether or not good sex is possible anymore in a hetero-marriage. Links:* Amanda Montei’s “Can a Sexless Marriage Be a Happy One? Can a Sexless Marriage Be a Happy One?” in the New York Times Magazine* Liars by Sarah Manguso*
Who Are Dadfluencers For? with Janet Manley
Writer Janet Manley joins us to break down her recent piece, “Pity the Dadfluencers: Their content is for men, but their audience is all women.” We dig into all of our favorite -isms: sexism, feminism, social media-ism (just roll with it), parasocial relationships, plus Wild Robot, Nightbitch, and what the heck you’re supposed to do with all those baby teeth. Links:* Chelsea Conaboy on The Wild Robot*
Now this is happening
Sarah and Miranda are checking in the morning after the election on what’s going through our minds, how we’re thinking about motherhood and our kids, and whether it’s too soon to do silver linings. With a special appearance from Nellie, three-year-old witch.Links:* Amanda Montei says “It’s not the economy, it’s misogyny.” * Witch podcast on BBC* Seven Year B***h is the today’s soundtrack This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episode
Is Postpartum Depression Funny? Lauren Lapkus and Nora Fiffer Think It Can Be
Miranda and Sarah are joined by actor and comedian Lauren Lapkus and actor and filmmaker Nora Fiffer to talk about their tender, hilarious new film, Another Happy Day. We discuss the isolation and absurdity of early motherhood, taking care of care-takers at work, and why Hollywood should be just as saturated with postpartum movies as it is with World War II movies. Links:* Another Happy Day
Keep Halloween Janky with Sarah & Miranda
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit motherofitall.substack.com*This is a paid-subscriber only episode. To become a subscriber, click HERE and sign up for any level of paid membership. P.S. If you subscribe as a “founding member” we’ll send you a snazzy Mother Of It All tote bag. Join us as we hash Halloween out. Do we believe in the Switch Witch? DIY costumes: Y/N? Should Halloween happen at school? Do we have to …
What Every Parent Needs To Understand About School Shootings & Lockdowns with David Riedman
No one wants to think about school shootings. But nearly every day in our country, a gun is fired on a campus. Often, when that happens, entire student bodies are then traumatized by spending hours in lockdown. David Riedman of the K-12 school shooting database — an unparalleled collection of data about school shootings that has been used as a resource by publications like The Economist and New York Times, as well as organizations like the FBI— joins Sarah and Miranda to talk about the thing non
What If We Cared About Care? with Elissa Strauss
What if we considered care to be a sacred practice? What if the everyday tasks of parenting were backtracked by the dramatic score of the British Baking Show? Elissa Strauss, author of When You Care: Unexpected Magic of Caring for Others joins Sarah and Miranda to mull over what it would mean to value care as a society and in our personal lives. We talk about trusting others with your children, why it’s so fraught to admit you like being a parent, alloparents, the Hero’s Journey, and kids singin
The Joy Of Hobbies in Motherhood with Kaitlyn Teer
Author and editor Kaitlyn Teer (you may know her as the editor of Joanna Goddard’s Big Salad newsletter ) joins Sarah and Miranda to chat about how weirdly hard and wonderful it is to have hobbies as a mom, and the unique joy of being new (even bad!) at something. We get into such pressing questions as: What is “contaminated leisure time,” and how can we carve out ‘uncontaminated’ time to explore who we are beyond work and caregiving? If modern motherhood is defined by a sense of pressure to opt
Back To School, 'Nightbitch' & Necessary Losses with Sarah & Miranda
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit motherofitall.substack.comSarah and Miranda check in on Miranda’s daughter’s very first day of big kid school (even though she claims she’s “still little”), watch the just-dropped Nightbitch trailer in real time, discuss Sarah’s impending move after 15 years in the same apartment, and talk hetero-exceptionalism and Sarah Manguso’s “Liars,” family camp and “Get S**t Done Days.”Links:* Nightbitch Trailer* Necessary Losses by Judith Vior
Children's Rights, 'Adultism' & Parenting With Author Eloise Rickman
We are thrilled to kick off season 2(!) with a bang in the form of a meaty, rich conversation with Eloise Rickman, author of It’s Not Fair: Why It’s Time For A Grown-Up Conversation About How Adults Treat Children. We hadn’t thought about children’s rights much before reading Eloise’s book (have you?) and now it’s all we want to think about. What are children’s rights? How can we think about them in the context of parenting? What is adultism? Should kids vote? What even is a child and who gets t
Summer Bonus Ep! Donna Berzatto & Moms Of 'The Bear,' With Phil Maciak
Sarah & Miranda shoot the breeze, talk about some back-to-school feelings, drop some hints about what we'll cover in season 2, and nerd out about THAT EPISODE of The Bear. We had so much fun with Phil Maciak on our Screen Time episode (our most-listened to episode, BTW! thanks for that, friends) that we had to bring him back to talk about *crunch crunch crunch* : the 39 minutes of prestige TV that we call “Ice Chips.”This episode of the podcast will spoil Season 3 of The Bear for you, but it wil
Summer Bonus Episode: Claire Zulkey
It’s summer, which means Sarah’s rocking a 3-cone-per-day ice cream lifestyle, and Miranda is guzzling $1 slushies by the pool. And work is …. still kind of happening. The brilliant, hilarious Claire Zulkey of the Evil Witches newsletter (which you need to subscribe to, if you don’t already) joins us to talk about the various joys and perils of summertime parenting and yes, of course, the perpetually fraught, exhausting question of the whole camp thing. This episode of Mother of it All is sponso
Episode 25: The Millennial Midlife Crisis with Amil Niazi
Canadian writer and The Cut columnist Amil Niazi joins us to discuss what happens when an entire generation follows their dreams, whether our feelings of economic instability are real or imagined, and having children (even a third!) while fighting against upgrade culture. Also, we stan Better Things, and we ask: Even if it’s not really OK, what if it is all going to be OK?Links:* MOFITA summer book club* Should We Expect More From Dads? (and praise for Lucas Mann’s Attachments) (Hua Hsu in The N
Episode 24: Boys Are Not Like Dogs with Ruth Whippman
Sarah and Miranda are joined by Ruth Whippman, author of Boymom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity to talk about how boys need more but get less, the boys who are dying to talk about their feelings, and the radical power of a board book about a boy and his bags. Plus, do we say “no” to toxic-masculinity media or just say “yes” to better things? And a special round of “Marry, F**k, Kill!”Links:* Sarah’s piece in the Cut on cross-gender friendships* Boymom the book* Sarah’s
MOVIE CLUB: Mamma Mia (Or Is It DADDA Mia?) With Garrett Bucks
A juicy, earnestly silly over-think of Mamma Mia and Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again (Sarah’s preferred Mamma Mia) in which Sarah’s friend Garrett Bucks joins us with a spicy-hot take on the three (three!) dads of Mamma Mia. When Bucks is not thinking about the rich, layered texts that are Mamma Mia and Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again, he keeps busy doing Dad Stuff, as well as working as an anti-racist organizer and educator, and authoring the Substack Newsletter The White Pages. If you like his tak
Episode 23: We Can't Have Nice Things
Sarah flew to Iceland, only to be immediately taken down by a stomach flu. Meanwhile, back at home a Covid-like virus knocked Miranda’s family out for 14 days. So we called an emergency recording session of Mother Of It All just to vent about it all together. Why can’t parents have nice things, like occasional vacations or a week or two without absolutely disgusting viruses? Is every virus we get now actually worse since Covid lockdown, or does it just feel that way? What ever happened to the no
Episode 22: Screen Time with Phil Maciak
Sarah and Miranda host their first dad, cultural critic Phillip Maciak, and dig into screen time, shame, nostalgia, hugs, and multi-level marketing for second-graders.Links:* Phil’s book, Avidly Reads Screen Time* Phil on Instagram* Phil’s review of Season 2 of the Bear in The New Republic* The NOLA Pelicans’ King Cake Baby mascot* The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt* Stephanie Murray’s
Episode 21: The Mothers of the Mother of it All
Sarah and Miranda are joined by their moms, Bev and Linda, to talk about modern motherhood, what has and hasn’t changed in a generation, “Folly Fridays,” and whether mothers ever truly get their flowers.Links:* Terry Brazelton* Lydia Kiesling’s Golden State This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit motherofitall.substack.com/subscribe
Episode 20: 'Matrescence' Is Not A Dirty Word with Lucy Jones
Sarah and Miranda talk to Lucy Jones, author of the book Matrescence, out May 7th, about how becoming a mother is truly a biopsychosocial evolution, how motherhood in nature is more often about chaos and violence than dyads and instincts, Kafka’s Metamorphosis, and our favorite Bluey episodes.Links:* Order Lucy’s book, Matrescence* Alexandra Sacks’ The Birth of a Mother in the NY TImes
Episode 19: Who's The Beef?! Sarah & Miranda Talk Vasectomies, Turning 40 & The 3rd Kid Question
A little one-on-one time with Sarah and Miranda! A fun chit-chatty check-in about vasectomies, the third kid question, the weird pressure of turning 40, why Sarah "doesn't get" Hawaii, mole moms, hopping on the 'crone train, and calendar reminders gone wild. Plus, a big announcement! How To Catch A Mole by Marc HamerPoser by Claire DedererKrtek The Mole, Clementine, Psychic Sister--- Send in a voice message:
Episode 18: Dr Becky and The Parenting-Optimization Era, with Kathryn Jezer-Morton
Columnist and sociologist Kathryn Jezer-Morton returns to give the inside scoop on her recent profile of Dr. Becky. Sarah, Miranda and KJM dive deep into what’s great (and maybe no so great) about the advice Dr. Becky doles out, and Kathryn explains what ultimately surprised her most about spending time with Dr. Becky and the “Good Inside” parent community. Links: KJM’s NY Magazine Profile of Dr. Becky. More thoughts about the profile in her Cut column, Brooding. Dr. Becky on Instagram--- Send
Episode 17 : Parenting and Psychedelics with Rebecca Kronman
Sarah and Miranda are joined by Rebecca Kronman, a licensed clinical social worker and co-founder of Plant Parenthood, a community that explores the intersection of psychedelics and the family. She talks about the importance of set and setting, the false dichotomy between healing and joy, and about how psychedelics help some parents heal intergenerational trauma and connect more easily with their children by tapping them into a more child-like perspective.Links: Rebecca Kronman of Plant Parentho
MOVIE CLUB: Tully & The Power of Postpartum Ghost Stories with Janet Manley
LitHub contributing editor Janet Manley joins us to talk about the postpartum comedy with a horror twist that started it all, 2018’s Tully. We discuss how the conversation around the postpartum period has changed in six years, what the New York Times got wrong about this film, and what we would go back and offer our postpartum selves.Links: Janet’s newsletter, Kafka’s Baby Janet’s coverage of the movie here and here Stupid NYT review Better Vulture review Book Recs: Samantha Hunt’s Mr. Splitfo
Episode 16: Gaza, American Motherhood & Activism with Lydia Kiesling
With author and essayist Lydia Kiesling, we talk about the conflict in Gaza, which has taken the lives of tens of thousands of our fellow mothers and their children. We explore the ways that motherhood has the potential to awaken activism, about feeling frozen, helpless or overwhelmed, as well as how we can take our tender hearts and protective instincts and direct them towards activism and real change. LINKS: - United Nations report on Gaza Casualties March 12, 2024- UNRWA report more children
Episode 15: Marriage & the Divorce Discourse with Emily Gould
Author and New York Magazine writer Emily Gould joins Sarah and Miranda to discuss her controversial personal essay, The Lure of Divorce, published in The Cut last month. We tackle the current divorce discourse, the work it takes to support our own mental health, what it’s like to write so intimately and so publicly at the same time, and whether it’s “basic” to be married right now.LINKS: Emily’s piece The Lure of Divorce in the Cut Excerpt from Leslie Jamison’s Splinters in the New Yorker Em
Episode 14: Mothering, Race & Identity with Priya Joi
Sarah and Miranda are joined by Priya Joi, a Barcelona-based science journalist and the author of the memoir M(other)land: What I’ve Learned About Parenthood, Race, and Identity. Joi was born in the UK, spent part of her childhood in India, and is raising her own daughter in Barcelona. In this episode we explore how motherhood made questions of race, belonging and identity that Joi had spent her life navigating even more urgent and complex. Links: Motherland: What I’ve Learnt about Parenthood, R
MOVIE CLUB: Baby Boom with Jo Piazza
We’re giving our listener’s a little treat – a free February Movie Club episode! Author and podcaster Jo Piazza comes on the pod to break down the beloved 1987 working-mom classic, Baby Boom. We talk overt vs. covert misogyny, why it’s time to retire the phrase “having it all,” and of course, the brilliance of style acumen of Diane Keaton. Subscribe to our Patreon to get access to past and future Movie Club episodes! Links: Pre-order Jo’s new novel, The Sicilian Inheritance Subscribe to Jo’s Sub
Episode 13: How Social Media Storytelling Has Changed Our Understanding Of Motherhood, Childhood & What Makes A Good Life with Kathryn Jezer-Morton
Sociologist and writer Kathryn Jezer-Mortonjoins Sarah and Miranda to talk about the intersection of motherhood and what she calls “technological storytelling,” or, the way we construct our identities in the age of social media. We talk about her recent piece on the “core memories” trend as a microcosm of our desire to control our kids’ perception of childhood, why we imitate the visual language of influencers and brands in our personal content, and if doing so influences the way we understand t
Episode 12: Grief, Writing & A Mother's Oceanic Love with Tamarin Norwood
Precise, poetic and deeply moving, Tamarin Norwood's much-anticipated book, The Song of the Whole Wide World: On Grief, Motherhood and Poetry, chronicles her experience of having a son, Gabriel, who lived just 72 minutes. In this episode, she joins Miranda and Sarah to share and reflect on passages from her gorgeous book, talk about the ultimate "taboo within a taboo" that is infant loss, as well as the urgent, wonderful work she is doing today to help other bereaved parents.LINKS: Something Goo
Patreon Movie Club Sneak Peek
Every month for our Patreon members we release a special Movie Club episode where we take on movies through the lense of motherhood, and motherhood through the lense of movies. This month, we discuss the Oscar nominations with Tracy Clark Flory.Join our Patreon for as little as $5 a month to hear the full episode!--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mother-culture-pod/message This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get acc
Episode 11: The Wisdom of Disabled Parenting with Jessica Slice
Author and speaker Jessica Slice talks to Sarah about how disability culture has taught her to reject perfectionism, how internalized ableism makes parenting harder for all of us, and the beauty of building a family where everyone accepts and expresses their needs.Links:Jessica’s website and Substack newsletterDisability Visibility, edited by Alice WongLucy Webster’s The View From Down HereAndrew Leland’s
Episode 10: A Better Birth with Rebekah Wheeler
Midwife, birth trauma healer, and beloved big sister Rebekah Wheeler breaks down what we get wrong about birth trauma, why there is no wrong way to give birth, and what we can do to truly support people through the birth process. Also, Sarah confronts her about never letting her borrow her Oasis t-shirt in middle school, and Miranda gets some free birth healing. Links:Rebekah’s websiteReview of Alison Yarrow’s Birth Control in The NationThe Body Keeps The ScoreRecs for kids:Half Magic
Episode 9: Resisting Covert Grind Culture: Evie Ebert On Resolution Season
In which Miranda & Sarah define the many reasons they love Evie Ebert’s motherhood writing, and Evie responds to all the flattery by giving an exceptionally satisfying answer to our “where are your kids right now” question. Then we dig into resolution culture, wondering out loud if maybe (MAYBE) we’re done treating resolution season as the super bowl of self-loathing. Instead, we just might be ready to mess around with stuff like earnestly-selected, loosely-defined slacker-level mind-set aspirat
Episode 8: Motherhood Is Sobering: Drinking, The Holidays & Mothering, with Angela Garbes
Miranda and Sarah welcome Angela Garbes, author of Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change and Like A Mother, to the show this week to talk about drinking, sobriety, and the fuzzy, fine lines that we trace around substance use in motherhood. Though it feels like sober curiosity — or full on sobriety — is on-trend, a recent CDC study indicated that more women than ever are binge drinking and dying from alcohol-related diseases. How should we think about drinking and self-care? What does my ch
Episode 7: The Mother Culture Origin Story
It’s the Mother Culture Origin Story! Sarah and Miranda (that’s us) divulge a little more about who we are, what we’re doing here, how we found each other, and why motherhood continues to earn its place as the focal point of our most obsessive curiosities. We talk pregnancy, anxieties, traps, tenderness, and how we think about what happened to us when we became mothers. What should we tell new moms? What would we have told ourselves? And is anyone listening to this motherhood discourse we love s
Movie Club: Home Alone with Nancy Reddy
The lovely writer Nancy Reddy joins Miranda and Sarah to talk (and cry a little bit) about the infamous John Hughes Christmas movie extraordinaire, Home Alone. We get into the weeds of Kate McAllister’s power-mom parenting choices, realizing that this bananas plot line actually feels pretty relatable, WTF a “hyper mom” might be, and the gray areas of our collective nostalgia for all things ‘90s.The Long Devotion: Poets Writing Motherhood edited by Nancy Reddy and Emily PerezOrdinary Insanity: Fe
Episode 6: Are The Holidays Fun? It’s The MC Holiday Special with Guest Sara Petersen!
Switch on the twinkle lights, it’s the Mother Culture Holiday Episode! In which Sara P. (author of Momfluenced and the beloved substack, In Pursuit Of Clean Countertops) shares hot tips for Santa training your kids, Sarah W. finds out about Elf On A Shelf’s Jewish cousin. Then, Miranda tries to make everyone talk about big questions — like who and what the holidays are even for, and what ritual does for human beings — and little nice things, like actually really loving the holidays despite the w
Episode 5: Are We Watering Down Feminism with Katherine Moos?
What do we really mean when we say capitalist patriarchy, gender politics, or even, feminism? Sarah and Miranda bring on a badass professor of feminist economics to school us on all this, plus the good, bad, and ugly of how this shows up in modern motherhood discourse.Katherine Moos is a professor of feminist political economy at UMASS Amherst. She has a Ph.D. in Economics from the New School for Social Research.Links:Mevre Emre in the New YorkerFair PlayThe Se
Episode 4: The Woman in Me in Us (The Britney Episode) with Amanda Montei
Miranda and Sarah are joined by Amanda Montei, the author of the recently published Touched Out: Motherhood, Misogyny, Consent and Control, to talk about the Britney Spears memoir and what it means for moms. Links: Amanda Montei in her Substack Newsletter Mad WomenJessica Grose in the New York TimesAmanda Hess in the New York TimesLyz in Men Yell at Me
Episode 3: Would More Freedom Make Our Kids Happier?
A recent paper in the journal Pediatrics suggested that parents hover more than they think they do, and that the increases in kids’ anxiety and depression might be related to that lack of independence. Miranda and Sarah explore the implications of this way of thinking about our kids’ well-being, the possibility that they themselves ‘helicopter’ more than they mean to, and what it is about modern parenthood that makes us want to wrap our kids in bubble wrap. Plus, an update on Harriet The Spy, wh
Episode 2: When Teachers Strike
The Portland teachers are going on strike and Miranda is in her feelings about it. Luckily, Sarah invited educator and mother Andria Kemp-Sellers on to talk about the possibilities of growing closer in conflict, the resilience of young children, and the joys of civic engagement.Sarah’s newsletter about the Oakland Teacher’s StrikeWhy US Teachers Have Been Walking Out of Schools NationwideGarrett Bucks: Does Your Tiny, Insignificant Protest Matter?Kid-culture Recs:The Wild Robot SeriesNewsies the
Episode 1: Can We Reject The Crushing Time Pressure Of Motherhood?
Miranda and Sarah discuss Oliver Burkeman's book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, and their own struggles with attention, loss, and letting go. Links:Olver Burkeman’s Four Thousand WeeksAllison P Davis on friends with kidsWhy I Don’t Feel Guilty for Not Playing with My KidsSarah’s parenting column, Good Enough ParentAlison Gopnik What do Babies Think?Judith Viorst’s Necessary Losses