Growing up WEIRD Podcast

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on picky eating in adolescence, on childhood exposures that increase the risk of bowel cancer, and on how the gut develops tolerance to potential allergens. We then talk about why everyday pains are so important for children, what allows them to experience these pains, and why mildly painful rites of passage can help children to learn to mana...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on induction of labour to prevent shoulder dystocia and on the link between gestational diabetes and ADHD. We then talk about walking - the benefits, why it’s hard to enable children to walk enough, and what we can do for babies and children to help them walk more. Finally, we discuss the links between premastication and dental disease. We’re...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how childhood vitamin D levels correlate with heart health, on the effects of sun exposure on multiple sclerosis, and how the month of a child’s conception affects their later metabolic health. We then talk about auditory processing - what it is, how it develops, and what children need in order to develop good auditory processing skills. F...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on obstructive sleep apnea and on grandparent-provided screen time. We then talk about premastication - what it is, how it’s done, and how it stacks up against spoon-fed weaning and baby-led weaning practises. We talk about how you can do it yourself, and how to help structure the food environment if your child is older. Finally, we discuss w...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how formal preschool social and emotional education affects teenagers’ likelihood of committing violent crime, and how footwear choices affect lifelong movement health. We then talk about gross motor skills and fine motor skills and what’s missing from current recommendations for babies. We finish by discussing how we help set children up...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how fasting affects acne and how phthalates and air pollution affect brain development. We then talk about diaper dermatitis - what it is and how it affects both short and long-term health. We then discuss how other cultures react proactively to baby toileting and what that looks like in practice. We finish by discussing how to know when y...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news around the effects of movement and screen time on child mental health, on what parents can do to reduce the risks to their children after a gestational diabetes diagnosis, and on dentists’ increasing awareness of chewy weaning foods for better jaw growth. We then get into the nuances of GLP-1 drugs (like Ozempic) - what they are for, how they...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news around global trends in children with overweight and obesity and around how the resilience of our cells is programmed when we’re embryos. Today’s major topic is sleep - why we sleep, what happens when we don’t sleep, and why how we sleep in childhood sets the foundations for how we sleep in adulthood. We finish by suggesting ways that parents...

This week’s episode talks everything allergy. Greg and I discuss why allergies are increasingly common, how scientists believe allergies develop, and what we can do to raise children who are at lower risk. We discuss recent research around the airway microbiome and on the effects of washing babies on their skin health. Get full access to Growing up WEIRD at guenbradbury.substack.com/subscribe

Show notes Episode title: Enjoying enough of the sun In this episode, Greg Dickens and I talk about how moderate hardship at the right points in childhood seems to be protective against anxiety. We look at the evidence on screen time and shortsightedness. We then discuss why sun exposure is vital for health, why it can be damaging, and how parents can help children learn healthy sun behaviours. *...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I talk about antibiotic resistance and about what multilingualism looks like in non-WEIRD culture. Greg discusses how fathers can build stronger relationships with their daughters. We talk about scalp health – evolution, the effect of shampoo, the contribution of air pollution, and about how parents can set their child’s scalp up for lifelong comfort. Topics discu...

Episode summary In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news around constipation and paternity leave and then dive into a bit more detail about why WEIRD children’s jaws don’t grow enough. We talk about what we learned about changing patterns of jaw deformity in the Amerindian communities in South America, and about what parents can do to set their kids up for straight teeth throughout...