Make It a Great One with Dr. Dan: #1 Podcast for Inspiring Conversations to Live and Lead On Purpose

Happy Exactly Right Anniversary to Parent Footprint! Dr. Dan celebrates our show’s 3 year anniversary on this new episode with the 3 hosts of Exactly Right’s Lady to Lady podcast: Babs Gray, Brandie Posey, and Tess Barker. Today Dr. Dan continues Parent Footprint’s tradition of interviewing Exactly Right podcast hosts. Our three guests laugh, riff, and talk all things podcasts, bangs, friendships,...

Dr. Dan interviews Jessica Patay, the Founder/Executive Director of We Are Brave Together (a supportive community for moms of children with disabilities), host of the podcast Brave Together with Jessica Patay, and author/editor of the new anthology Becoming Brave Together. Jessica Patay is mother to a 20-year-old son with Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic disorder. On this episode, Dr. Dan and...

Dr. Dan interviews journalist Elissa Strauss about the powerful role caring for others plays in our lives and about her powerful book When You Care: The Unexpected Magic Of Caring For Others. What if we all started to care about care? Drawing on parenting and caregiving research and her own experiences as a mother, Elissa explains to Dr. Dan that care is a long-ignored force in our collective live...

Dr. Dan interviews author and journalist Michele Turk about her memoir What Makes Him Tic? A Memoir Of Parenting A Child With Tourette.  When Michele Turk’s 11-year-old son, Michael, was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, she made it her mission to show him – and others – that he was so much more than the boy with tics who shouted obscenities hundreds of times a day.   On today’s first-ever episode...

Our May Sitting Down with Dr. Dan bonus episode is here! Dr. Dan and podcast producer Laura Rossi discuss these great parenting topics: stranger danger, the #tradwife trend, caffeine and our teens, and how to help kids handle losing. Each month Dr. Dan answers listener questions about parenting (and adulting, too!) on our Sitting Down with Dr. Dan bonus episodes. Please email your parenting questi...

Dr. Dan speaks to the remarkable and inspiring Dr. Gladys McGarey, a true trailblazer at 103-years-young. Hailed as the Mother of Holistic Medicine, Dr. McGarey is the author of The Well-Lived Life: A 103-Year-Old Doctor's Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Every Age and a still-consulting doctor.  At over one hundred years old, Dr. Gladys McGarey is an example to us all - she still has her li...

Dr. Dan speaks to husband-and-wife Myra Sack and Matt Goldstein about Fifty-seven Fridays: Losing Our Daughter, Finding Our Way – their powerful memoir honoring the daughter they lost and chronicling their journey helping her live and die. At fifteen months old, Havi was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs, a fatal neurodegenerative disease that can be revealed through genetic testing but was misreported to...

Dr. Dan interviews Comedian Ellie Hino about parenting, ADHD, being a weird wife (!), and much more.   Ellie is a self-described “super fun mom, a mediocre wife, and an all around delight.” Dr. Dan talks to Ellie about her silly, honest comedy and her take on the naked truths of married life and motherhood.  Ellie Hino is a Minneapolis based stand-up comic. She just released her debut comedy album...

Dr. Dan and guest Yemi Penn discuss trauma (in all its forms) on today’s powerful, paradigm-shifting episode. Yemi Penn is an author, documentary producer, speaker, engineer, and fearless thought leader. In her work, she encourages us all to use our trauma as a catalyst for transformation instead of transference.  Dr. Dan and Yemi talk about her mission to disrupt the status quo to evoke radical c...

This is April’s Sitting Down With Dr. Dan bonus episode. Today Dr. Dan and audio engineer Phil Rossi talk about when your child’s imaginary play is worrisome, self-esteem, teens who want to be in their room alone with the door closed, and #TeacherTok on TikTok. Each month Dr. Dan answers listener questions about parenting (and adulting, too!) on our Sitting Down with Dr. Dan bonus episodes. Please...

Today Dr. Dan interviews Elise Loehnen – author of the instant New York Times Bestseller On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and The Price Women Pay to Be Good, host of the popular podcast Pulling The Thread, and frequent contributor to Oprah.   Elise’s work and writing explores the ways the patriarchy lands in the bodies of women and embeds itself in our consciousness. Her Pulling the Thr...

Dr. Dan interviews the woman who's been described as "the Anna Wintour of motherhood” and one of the first “mommy bloggers” Jill Smokler! Jill launched Scary Mommy as a blog in 2008, sold her hugely successful platform in 2015 (to a media company), and recently launched She’s Got Issues, a new magazine and podcast geared towards women in their 40s - GenX Women.  On this fantastic episode, Dr. Dan...

Dr. Dan talks to Debra Brause, Psy. D., about neurodiversity including her work with parents raising neurodivergent children and working with autistic adults from a neuro-affirming perspective. They also discuss Debra’s Psychology Today essays which cover topics such as a child's new diagnosis, autism, and more. Debra Brause is a psychologist, neuro-affirming parent and neurodiversity advocate and...

Dr. Dan welcomes back guest Tosha Schore to talk about parenting boys. Tosha is an advocate who works with parents to care for themselves, connect with their boys deeply, set limits lovingly, and play wildly.  Today’s episode is a follow-up episode to Tosha’s important work (featured in our episode in December 2018) advocating for boys.  Tosha Schore is a parent coach and the founder of Parenting...

Trigger warning: sensitive material and discussion of death on this episode It’s March and this is the new Sitting Down With Dr. Dan bonus episode. Today Dr. Dan and podcast producer Laura Rossi talk about bored children, vacation routines, nesting parties, and a very serious topic: bullying and the tragic death of Nex Benedict. Each month Dr. Dan answers listener questions about parenting (and ad...

Today Dr. Dan’s guest is Heather Chauvin, the inspiring leadership coach who helps ambitious, overwhelmed women break free from their fears to courageously and authentically live, work, and parent on their own terms.  Heather started her career as a social worker helping adults understand children’s behavior. In 2013 a stage 4 cancer diagnosis pushed Heather to take a deeper stand for change and t...

Dr. Dan speaks to guest Chelsey Goodan about her paradigm shifting work with teenage girls and her #1 bestselling book Underestimated: The Wisdom and Power of Teenage Girls. Oprah Daily raves, “If you have a teenage girl in your life, you need to read this.” Dr. Dan and Chelsea explore practical ways parents can better understand and connect with their daughters and discuss how teenage girls can t...

Today Dr. Dan interviews Babycenter’s Robin Hilmantel about Babycenter’s recent research around "No mom left behind: Addressing postpartum maternity care gaps” and related maternal health support (US).  Dr. Dan and Robin discuss several BabyCenter survey findings including:  *Moms are facing a support crisis in the months immediately following birth, according to the BabyCenter survey. At home, mo...

Dr. Dan and pediatrician (and mother of four) Dr. Shelly Vaziri Flais discuss the tools parents need to start the lifelong process of raising their boys into men who are mentally healthy, empathetic, and committed to gender equality. Dr. Flais explains concrete techniques for parents to push back against cultural stereotypes and toxic masculinity as they nurture their sons. Because “kids do as the...

Welcome to the February Sitting Down With Dr. Dan bonus episode. Today Dr. Dan and podcast audio engineer Phil Rossi discuss pink hair, Instagram opposites, internet addiction, anxiety in families and Sittervising (read the article we used for research: ‘‘Sittervising’ is the latest parenting trend because it’s freaking genius” published on Mother.ly and written by Mariah Maddox; published on Janu...

Dr. Dan talks to the always inspiring Stefanie Wilder-Taylor — author, TV personality, cohost of the popular podcast For Crying Out Loud, and Mom —about her memoir DRUNK-ISH: Loving and Leaving Alcohol.  In this episode, Stefanie recounts the rise and fall of her relationship with alcohol, from liquor cabinet concoctions at age 14 to her online fame as a wine-loving mommy blogger to the disastrous...

Dr. Dan interviews Marc Hauser, PhD, a neurobiologist, educator, and former professor of evolutionary biology and psychology at Harvard University about Risk Eraser, the program he founded in 2013 to help at-risk kids lead healthier lives. Risk-Eraser helps schools transform the learning and decision-making of children with disabilities by providing evidence-based strategies and tools derived from...

Dr. Dan talks to Forest Bronzan, Founder/CEO of Camplight and co-founder/CEO/board member of Digital Detox about how technology impacts our lives and how we can all take small steps to a better tech-life balance. In this episode, Dr. Dan and Forest focus on kids and parents to help parents navigate challenges around technology, tech addiction, digital wellness and much more.  Listeners will connec...

Dr. Dan interviews comedian Adam Cayton-Holland about fatherhood and Adam's comedy special Wallpaper about Adam's entrée into #dadlife. Adam says, “I never wanted to be a dad comic, a ‘kids say the darndest things’ comedian. But you write what you know, and I have two boys now.” A lively, funny, and real discussion! Adam is co-host of the podcast The Grawlix Saves the World. Find Adam on Instagram...

Happy 2024! This is the January 2024 Sitting Down with Dr. Dan bonus episode. Today Dr. Dan and podcast producer Laura Rossi discuss parenting trends and predictions of 2024, gentle-ish parenting, TikTok, benign neglect and much more. We also provide links to some great articles! Listeners asked questions about parenting news for 2024, Producer Laura Rossi researched and found a great article on T...