News and Happenings

Great British Bake Off and Food Unwrapped star Briony May Williams reflects on the COVID19 pandemic and recent Black Lives Matter uprising, and what she can do as the parent of a young child to have these uncomfortable conversations in a way that feels safe and loving. Also, baking! She talks about baking. “It’s uncomfortable and it’s awkward, but it’s so important…and I think it’s finding that moment where it’s appropriate to have that conversation. It’s so important to have it because we can’t just sit in our bubble anymore and say, ‘It’s fine, nothing’s going on.’”

Stay-at-home dad Peter Rider shares his experience–the good, the bad, and the funny–with being detailed and clear when talking to his kids about all sorts of things. From having two gay dads to contracting head lice and more, he believes being explicit is the way to go. “One thing that I’ve been thinking about a lot over the past year, especially as my kids get a little older, is the balance between modeling behaviors vs. being really explicit and explaining things. I think I started out thinking that when it comes to values, kids really learn by seeing. But I think increasingly I’ve thought…about how you actually have to be really explicit about some things.”

Brit Prawat, host of Crime Junkie podcast, talks candidly about being adopted and how the emotions and even loss around that never really goes away. However, she had an incredibly positive experience as a child and always felt loved, supported, and chosen. Ultimately, the experience influenced her to adopt and foster children of her own when it came time to build her own family. For those who may be interested in doing the same, she pulls the curtain back and gives listeners tons of good information about the process.

Rebecca Carroll is a cultural critic, host of WYNC’s Come Through podcast, and critic at large for the Los Angeles Times. TL;DR: She is qualified to talk about television. But during quarantine, she’s found herself reexamining the role TV plays in her own family and how it’s actually a pretty good thing when times are particularly tough. “I just don’t think that this whole screen time thing is as negative as a lot of folks do. So long as I can have a conversation with my kid about what he is consuming, so long as I can have a conversation with him about what he is thinking, I am pretty lax about screentime.”

In this critical episode, Dr. Nzinga Harrison outlines ways to talk with kids of all ages about racism and shares ten action steps on raising kids who are anti-racist. “Anti-racist kids are kids that don’t have to pretend to be free of racism, but kids who make the commitment to fight racism wherever they see it, including when they see it in themselves.”

Practical tips abound in this phenomenal episode for kids and parents alike! Bestselling author, podcaster, and mental health advocate Niall Breslin strips away the woo-woo-ness of mindfulness and teaches us how we can actually use it to improve quality of life for ourselves and our kids, especially in today’s world. Niall draws from practical, scientific, and spiritual methods to explain that we can’t keep going at the pace we’ve been going because we’ve got “an old brain for a new world and our brain is consistently overwhelmed.” What’s the greatest defense mechanism for that? Mindfulness. 

JoAnna García Swisher (Sweet Magnolias) is a mother, actor, and founder of The Happy Place, a website dedicated to design and self-care. Her philosophy of “creating and celebrating the spaces, places, and moments that bring the greatest joy” has actually helped her navigate the difficult moments of her life, most recently the loss of her father, with whom she was incredibly close. This profound loss was a primer for the world we’re living in today, as we all learn to cope with feeling utterly out of control, providing as stable an environment as we can for our children, and trying our best to have faith that there will be a new story to write on the other side.

Dani Shapiro puts deep-rooted family secrets under a microscope in both her New York Times bestselling memoir, Inheritance, and her podcast, Family Secrets. In today’s episode, Dani provides some insight for parents into striking a delicate balance between “the sky is falling” and “we got this.” She also discusses how toxic it can be for families to keep secrets (even those with the best of intentions) and how it’s ultimately better to address tough or painful topics head-on.

Bess Kalb is an Emmy-nominated writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live, a regular contributor to The New Yorker, and author of Nobody Will Tell You This But Me, a laugh/cry book based on her close relationship with her late grandmother. Bess talks about recently becoming a mother herself, raising an infant in isolation, and the wisdom she continues to derive from her grandma: “There’s a refrain that my grandma said frequently throughout her life. It’s, ‘Bessie, when the earth is cracking behind your feet and you feel like the whole world is going to swallow you up, you put one foot in front of the other and keep going forward.’”

Dr. Jennie Weiner is both a parent and an associate professor of educational leadership at the University of Connecticut, so she has a unique perspective on the plight of parents, particularly mothers, and teachers who have to suddenly educate kids from home. In this eye-opening episode, she looks at what it means to be a “parent-teacher,” a remote educator, and the many roles schools play in our everyday lives, many of which we took for granted until now.