Wellness, Actually with Emily Oster & Perry Wilson, MD

This is the second in a two-episode series on the issue of kids and screens and schools. The first episode featured Jessica Grose of the New York Times about her survey of parents about their kids’ screen use. The tenor of that episode, overall, was pretty negative on screens. Basically, less is better than more. Today on ParentData, we welcome Dr. Michael Rich, a pediatrician, child health resear...

Pediatrician-turned-grandma influencer, Dr. Flo Rosen - better known as Ask Bubbie - tackles the super easy issues of vaccine hesitancy, sleep training, and intergenerational harmony. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When we were growing up, screens came in fixed, predictable contexts: TV, movie theaters, computer labs, Oregon Trail. But kids today use screens all the time, especially at school, where they've become a ubiquitous part of classroom life. We've been hearing a lot lately about how detremental this is to learning. But how bad is it really? Today on ParentData is the first of two episodes on kids, s...

Serial entrepreneur Myleik explores buttholes, pinworms, and when, as a parent, there's nowhere to go but up. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many of us grew up dividing the world into "math kids"... and the rest of us. It can be just as scary when our kids present us with their math homework as it was when we were assigned our own. So how do we get our kids excited about math? Today on ParentData, we're joined by Shalinee Sharma, who runs an online math platform called Zearn. She is a math zealot — a person who really, truly believes t...

Actress and singer Mandy Moore contemplates croup, toddler beds, and Bayesian statistics. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

News about weight-loss drugs is hard to miss. A new generation of drugs — Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound — are on television, on billboards, and in many of our homes. There is little debate about the efficacy of the drugs for weight loss (they work, at least for most people) but lots of discussion about everything else surrounding them.  But what's been largely missing from this conversation...

The New York Times’ Ezra Klein asks how we can trust anything we read about parenting. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Color War. Underwear on the outside of your clothes. Sailing badges. Friendship bracelets. It is difficult to overstate how attached some people get to their sleepaway camp experiences - they don't explain, they proselytize. And right now, camp is having a moment in our popular culture as we debate what Jon Haidt has deemed the “phone-based childhood.” Camp is one of the last screen-free zones for...

The Toast’s Jackie Oshry asks about babies and honey, the efficacy of Baby Mozart, and what you can’t put down the garbage disposal. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are many, many wonderful things about parenting boys. There are also challenges that seem disproportionate. Boys often develop language later than girls. More boys than girls are held back in school entry. Girls do better in school at nearly all levels, and are significantly more likely to attend college. Yet this doesn’t get the kind of attention that it might if the genders were reversed. ...

CNN anchor Abby Philip asks how to keep her kid in bed all night. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Reading Rainbow. Reading is FUNdamental! Hooked on Phonics. We grew up steeped in a culture that encouraged reading. And in the past couple of years many U.S. states have embraced legislation about how kids are taught to read in school. The phrase that you may have heard is “science of reading,” as in “let’s make sure schools are using reading curricula based on science .” But what does that actua...

Comedian and NPR mainstay Ophira Eisenberg wrestles with changing her kid’s school, and how to clean slime. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been hearing a lot about the teen mental health crisis — and there is no question that on a number of metrics, teens do seem to be struggling more than they have in the past. But is it really that bad? Is there a chance we’re overreacting to normal teenage feelings? Today on ParentData, we’re joined by Dr. Mathilde Ross, a psychiatrist at Boston University. Her view is, yes, sometimes we are...

Have you ever panic-Googled a parenting question late at night? If so, you’re not alone. Most of us turn to that little search bar whenever fear or confusion strikes. On these ParentData mini-episodes, starting today, you’ll hear from some familiar names about the questions keeping them up at night, and how data can help. First up: actress Claire Holt and the difference between night terrors and n...

Our kids need a glass of water. Or an extra hug. How do we get them to sleep? So much has been written about this with advice for exhausted parents. But it’s usually in the context of babies. Toddlers and older kids are a whole other ballgame. Today on ParentData, we’re joined by perhaps our most practical guest ever. Jessica Berk is a toddler and preschooler sleep consultant. Together, we answer...

Book launch alert! We’re so proud to announce that “ The Unexpected: Navigating Pregnancy During and After Complications ” is hitting the shelves April 30! Today on ParentData, Emily’s co-author, OB/GYN Dr. Nate Fox, returns to discuss the process of co-writing between two self-professed people-who-hate-group-projects, as well as how to have conversations with your doctor about pregnancy risks - a...

Hiring a doula for your birth is, quite simply, a great idea. They’re non-clinical, cost-effective, and, as many mothers will attest, one of the most valuable parts of the experience - a value that is supported by data. The decision to have one should be pretty easy. But actually crafting policy that captures that value is hard. Today on ParentData, we’re welcoming New York State Senator Samra Bro...

American kids are struggling. And there's a lot of discussion around the reasons why. Is it smartphones? Is it social media? Is it a hyper fixation on feelings and therapy? Today on ParentData, we’re releasing an episode of Good Inside with Dr. Becky , which Emily joined to discuss the latest book making the rounds in parenting circles, Abigail Shrier’s  Bad Therapy . They delve into what parental...

As a parent, it’s extremely easy to get very focused on “doing it right.” Which means, usually, doing what is considered “right” in your particular time and cultural context. And sometimes, amid this pressure, we need a little perspective. Human history is long, and what is considered right has changed a lot. Today on ParentData, we’re joined by author Jennifer Traig, who offers this perspective i...

We have all heard it takes a village to raise a child , but the reality is that many of us in the modern world, especially after the pandemic, are asking …well, where’s my village?! Where’s my community of people who will show up for me in joy, and in grief, and help me introduce my kids to a world that’s bigger than themselves? Today on ParentData, we welcome Rabbi Sharon Brous, whose book “ The...

In January, ParentData launched a new newsletter — Hot Flash — authored by Dr. Gillian Goddard. Hot Flash covers women’s health in the post-reproductive years. Think perimenopause and menopause, but also the late reproductive years, when you’re done having children but still, technically, might be able to do so. This week in Hot Flash, Gillian wrote about birth control at this stage — how do you t...

Invisible labor . It’s the work — in our households especially — that has to happen but that no one sees. It’s making the doctor’s appointment, ensuring the Valentine’s cards are purchased, remembering the milk. When we think about equity in household labor, we often find that there are already inequities in the visible work, and they can become insurmountable when the invisible work is added in....

Sex in long-term relationships, often after kids — it’s something many people struggle with. When we did a big ParentData survey on your sex lives , a lot of you expressed unhappiness, stress, and pressure about how much sex was the “right” amount, whether you were behind (or too far ahead!). Today on ParentData, Emily Nagoski — sex researcher and author of “ Come Together: The Science (and Art!)...