Parenting Roundabout

The topic generator that is Julie Jargon at the Wall Street Journal strikes again, this time with an article titled " These parents use baby monitors to track older children--even teens ." We obsessed about whether or not this is ever a good idea (and how it's at least a little tempting).

A Scary Mommy article about a mom who didn't appreciate her babysitter's need to shower on the job got us complaining about--well, not babysitters. About lack of context, mostly, and our own inexperience with babysitter management.

On this week's entertainment-themed Round 2, we caught up with the latest exploits of Benoit Blanc (of Knives Out) in the movie Glass Onion . It's full of fun performances, delightful cameos, and beautiful scenery, not to mention a twisty little mystery. Brothers and Sisters is another product with a cast full of familiar faces, but swaps in many (many) family dramas for the mystery--although we'r...

An adult kid's confession got us talking about how hard it is to help grown children manage their money... or to ask for any help at all.

On Speed-Round Sunday, we share a mini episode from our past for your weekend listening pleasure. ​ When given the choice between two occupations, we'll always try to figure out which one has the lower potential for stress.

On Second-Listen Saturday, we share moments from past episodes for your weekend listening pleasure. This discussion is from June 2019. ​ We attempt to translate all those words kids say that mean everything and also nothing: "Sure." "Okay." "Later." "Whatever." If you want to listen, that's "fine."

Today we're taking a look ahead at our leisure and pop-culture consumption. Will we get anywhere with our backlog of newspapers, audiobooks, and podcast episodes in 2023? Stay tuned!

We're looking ahead (and around our homes) with fingers crossed: Please, nothing big break this year!

On today's New Year's episode, we look ahead to what our children might be up to in the coming year. Some of them have a pretty long to-do list.

On this week's entertainment-themed Round 2, we watched a Brothers and Sisters two-parter called "Mistakes Were Made." And, indeed, there were mistakes aplenty. We wouldn't expect anything less from the Walker clan. Next: Brothers and Sisters S1 E10 "Light the Lights," and we'll also watch the new movie Glass Onion , the Knives Out follow-up on Netflix.

To ring in the new year, we're returning to our speed round format to look ahead to what's coming up in 2023. Today, we're talking about our jobs (podcasting included!).

On Speed-Round Sunday, we share a mini episode from our past for your weekend listening pleasure. We know we should do all these important health tests and tasks, but we just don't wanna .

On Second-Listen Saturday, we share moments from past episodes for your weekend listening pleasure. This discussion is from June 2019. ​ A few weeks back, we identified lots of parenting tasks we'd like to outsource . Now, we've come up with a host of parenting problems we think a ghostwriter could handle for us.

This winter-break week, we’re going back to our old Speed Round format to bring you some quick episodes to close out the year. Today, with 2023 looming, we cast our memories waaaaay back to recall what was going on in our lives at age 23. Happy new year, and thank you for listening to us in 2022!

Only one of us got a master's degree (and we are so proud of her!) but we all took on some new challenges in 2022, and we should give ourselves credit for that.

This winter-break week, we’re going back to our old Speed Round format to bring you some quick episodes to close out the year. Today, we're looking back at 2022 and shouting out some the lovely places we traveled.

This winter-break week, we’re going back to our old Speed Round format to bring you some quick episodes to close out the year. Today, we're reminiscing about some of the best meals we had in 2022, at Koutouki Greek Estiatorio , Chick-fil-A , and Whataburger (just listen, we'll explain).

Every week, we chat about what parents are talking, complaining, and obsessing about right now. But this winter-break week, we’re going back to our old Speed Round format to bring you some quick episodes to close out the year. First up: Our favorite books of 2022, which include The Lincoln Highway , The Storyteller (the audiobook , in particular) and Where the Crawdads Sing (via the movie ).

On Speed-Round Sunday, we share a mini episode from our past for your weekend listening pleasure. We cop to those experiences that sound like a great idea, but kinda suck in reality.

On Second-Listen Saturday, we share moments from past episodes for your weekend listening pleasure. This discussion is from June 2019. ​We revisit a past complaint target in a new way: First it was dental insurance . Now we complain about dentists themselves, as Nicole deals with a belittling one and Terri finally resolves to have her tooth pulled already (it's been six years).

On this week’s Roundabout Roundup, Catherine suggests fun sock Advent calendars from Target , Nicole is enjoying a new card game called Deep Shinola , and Terri makes it meaningful by recommending the Liturgy of the Hours subscription from Word on Fire . Thanks as always to Jon Morin for our fun in-and-out music, which you hear on every episode.

After reading Grown & Flown's list of " nine things NOT to say to your teen when they're home from college ," we obsessed about this tough transition time (for parents and kids!), as well as what our mothers may have said to us.

A Buzzfeed listicle on parenting trends did its job, getting us to talk about it by way of complaining about what's included and what's not. Join us for the gentle snark.

On this week's entertainment-themed Round 2, we flew to Bali for Ticket to Paradise, the George Clooney-Julia Roberts vehicle that was utterly enjoyable and also utterly forgettable. We also hit the Walker family ranch in Ojai, California, for a few more rounds of "people having sex in inappropriate places" and "extremely awkward dinner-table talk." No Round 2 next week, but on January 3, we'll di...

Today, we're talking about a Wall Street Journal article called Even university presidents lose their minds when their teens apply to college . It resonated with Catherine and Nicole, who may not be university presidents, but who are definitely losing their grip on their sanity as three of their kids apply to college and grad school.