Episodes

  • Teens are using AI. Here’s how parents can talk about it.

    Teens are using AI. Here’s how parents can talk about it.
    Sep 2 2025
    High school and college students graduating in 2026 will have had access to artificial intelligence models like ChatGPT since their freshman year. Teens are using it in creative ways to help them study, but many have also received little to no guidance on responsible use. In this episode, we discuss how to talk to teens about AI, including its risks and potential benefits for young people.

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    24 mins
  • A better way to support your teens as they go back to school

    A better way to support your teens as they go back to school
    Aug 19 2025
    Today's teens struggle with perfectionism and mood swings, and their parents struggle to have hard conversations with them, according to a 2024 Walton Family Foundation and Gallup poll. Teen psychologist Lisa Damour explains how parents can better support their kids as a new school year begins. This episode originally published Aug. 27, 2024.

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    23 mins
  • Hidden ways technology can influence your parenting decisions

    Hidden ways technology can influence your parenting decisions
    Jul 29 2025
    From pregnancy tracking apps to smart baby monitors, technology is ingrained in parenthood at every turn. But at what cost? In this episode, Amanda Hess, author of Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age, shares how data, metrics and our relationship to technology can shape child-rearing — and create barriers between parents and their kids.

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    26 mins
  • How to embrace the mess and teach your kids to cook

    How to embrace the mess and teach your kids to cook
    Jul 24 2025
    If you have kids, cooking with them might sound like a daunting prospect. But David Nayfeld, the chef behind the new book, Dad, What's for Dinner?, says cooking with your kids can create positive memories and help your kids build useful skills. In this episode, Nayfeld shares easy weeknight recipes to try with your kids and cooking tasks children can help with at any age. Yes, it might get messy, but that's OK if you're connecting and spending time together.

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    19 mins
  • How to maintain your friendships after kids

    How to maintain your friendships after kids
    May 6 2025
    It can be tough to navigate adult friendships when kids come into the picture. Parents assume their child-free buds don't want to hang out with them, and vice versa. To overcome this divide, reporter Emily Siner speaks with three experts about what makes friendships work across parenting stages. So whether you have kids, want kids, have friends with kids, or know anyone who could have kids someday, we've got you covered.

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    20 mins
  • How to raise kids in a multilingual home

    How to raise kids in a multilingual home
    Mar 27 2025
    There are a lot of benefits to raising a child speaking two or more languages: a better understanding of their culture and their relatives, cognitive benefits and expanded job opportunities. But raising a kid is hard enough in one language. How can a parent be expected to do it in two or more? Reporter Julia Furlan explains that raising a kid in a multilingual household isn't a burden — it's a gift.

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    22 mins
  • How to combat parental burnout

    How to combat parental burnout
    Feb 4 2025
    Today's parents are more involved in their children's lives — and more stressed out — than they were two decades ago, according to an advisory from the 2024 U.S. Surgeon General. So how can they catch a break? Life Kit reporter Andee Tagle explains why parental burnout is a public health crisis and offers realistic ways to ease the pressure.

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    27 mins
  • Should you let your kid quit something?

    Should you let your kid quit something?
    Oct 24 2024
    You signed your kid up for the soccer team (or swimming lessons, or piano or art), paid the fee and now they're begging to quit! In these moments, it's difficult to know what decision will help your kid grow in the long run. Do you ask them to tough it out and develop perseverance? Or trust their emotions? In this episode, Life Kit visuals editor Beck Harlan talks to two family psychologists about what to do when your kid tells you they're never going back to that extracurricular.

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    22 mins