News and Happenings

Mom guilt is no joke. You feel it when you drop your kids off at child care, when you check your email during their softball game, when you ask your partner to wake up early with the little ones so you can get a little more sleep on Saturday. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Gloria digs deep into mom guilt, timeouts, separation anxiety, and so much more with Dr. Becky, clinical psychologist and host of the Good Inside podcast. Pop in your earbuds and relax on the couch because this episode is like a free therapy session!

There are so many skills young kids need to learn, but what can parents and caregivers do to teach them? First, Gloria learns about the seven essential life skills every child needs with the researcher who developed them: Ellen Galinsky, Chief Science Officer at the Bezos Family Foundation. Ellen tells Gloria that even though games like Simon Says may not have been conceived as a way to teach young kids executive functioning skills, they’re actually an incredible way to do just that. Then, Gloria is joined by Slumberkins co-founders Kelly Oriard and Callie Christensen, who have created ways to teach young children about important life skills like conflict resolution and emotional courage through affirmations and storytelling.

Gloria begins the show with her reaction to the unimaginable tragedy in Uvalde, Texas. Then, as America’s infant formula crisis continues, Gloria is joined by Caron Gremont, Director of Early Childhood at the No Kid Hungry Campaign. They discuss the toll that hunger takes on kids, how many childcare workers also face food insecurity, and what you can do to make “no kid hungry” a reality.

Gloria breaks down everything you need to know about the future of child care policy alongside Julie Kashen, senior fellow and director for women’s economic justice at The Century Foundation. They get into the who/what/when/how/and why of child care reform: who is going to pay for it, what will this package include, when can we expect action, how do we get legislators across the aisle on board, why is it taking so long?!? And Julie tells the heart-wrenching story of a father who had to turn down his dream job because his family couldn’t find reliable child care. Plus, Gloria goes to her local grocery store to investigate the formula shortage.

Gloria calls up Liz Tenety, co-founder of Motherly and host of the Motherly podcast, to compare notes on balancing work and child care with a COVID outbreak in the home. The two of them talk about prioritizing self-care, acknowledging when you need help, and giving yourself permission to not do all the things. Plus, Liz tells a rage-inducing story about how her husband had to battle his own HR department over who, exactly, was the “primary parent” in their household.

Description Gloria starts with an emotional reaction to the leaked Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Then, she calls up Wendoly Marte, the economic justice director at Community Change, to talk about the organization’s upcoming event, A Day...

Gloria calls up Camille Bennett, an activist, child care center owner, minister, and the founder of Project Say Something, an organization confronting anti-Black racism in her home state of Alabama. Camille paints a picture of child care in the Deep South – one that includes staffing shortages, a broken subsidy system, structural racism, child care deserts, tears, stress, and teachers and parents at their wits’ end. But Camille tells Gloria what’s giving her hope in spite of these challenges, and how she is fighting for change alongside her fellow child care workers.

Gloria calls up an old friend, the actress/author/activist Sara Gilbert, best known for playing Darlene on the hit shows Roseanne and The Conners, to talk about how they balance child care with demanding careers in the media. They get into Sara’s experiences with solo parenting, what it’s like bringing an infant onto a Hollywood lot, and how her family approached finding LGBTQ-affirming child care options. Plus, Sara tells the story of when she nearly went into labor on the set of The Talk.

Gloria sits down with Deb VanderGaast, the Iowa woman running for state senate on a child care platform. Deb, a mother, activist, and child care director, recounts the harrowing story that caused her to leave her stable nursing job to start her own daycare center (despite her family’s warnings not to do so). Plus, she tells Gloria what made her decide to run for office and what her top priorities are if elected. And Gloria gets teary-eyed as she announces our Webby Award nomination for Best Podcast: Public Service & Activism.

Gloria outlines actionable steps for building a better child care system with author and policy expert Elliot Haspel. They discuss how we can work together with businesses to invest in a better system, why we need to reframe child care as a collective responsibility, and what you (yes, YOU) can do to get connected with child care advocates in your community. And if you thought that expanding the public school system down to infants and toddlers might be a way to fix things, Elliot explains why you might want to think again!