Ground Control Parenting with Carol Sutton Lewis
Parenting advice and inspiration for raising smart, confident Black children. Join host and Ground Control Parenting founder Carol Sutton Lewis for weekly conversations with guests––familiar and new––about the joys and real work of parenting.
Episodes
September 24, 2026 • 14 mins
What can a ballerina, an inventor, a pediatric psychologist, a First Lady, and three generations of moms teach us about parenting? As Season 8 comes to a close, Carol revisits some of the many conversations offering memorable answers.
Misty Copeland, Dr. Marian Croak, Maryland’s First Lady Dawn Moore, and the moms of On the Ground were among the many guests who shared their stories and practical parenting guidanc...
Misty Copeland, Dr. Marian Croak, Maryland’s First Lady Dawn Moore, and the moms of On the Ground were among the many guests who shared their stories and practical parenting guidanc...
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September 16, 2026 • 33 mins
What helps a child walk into an unfamiliar room and believe they belong there?
For Jen Hayes Lee, it has always been a pair of golden hoop earrings. In this GCP Book Talk, Jen joins Carol to discuss her debut children’s book, The Golden Hoops, inspired by the first pair she received from her mother. Jen is head of marketing at The Bump, founder of Bestow Collection, host of the No Guide for This podcast, and one of the...
For Jen Hayes Lee, it has always been a pair of golden hoop earrings. In this GCP Book Talk, Jen joins Carol to discuss her debut children’s book, The Golden Hoops, inspired by the first pair she received from her mother. Jen is head of marketing at The Bump, founder of Bestow Collection, host of the No Guide for This podcast, and one of the...
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September 9, 2026 • 49 mins
Dr. Marian Croak is one of the most influential inventors of our time. With more than 200 patents, she helped develop Voice over Internet Protocol, the technology that makes Zoom, FaceTime, and WhatsApp possible. She has transformed the way people around the world communicate.
Dr. Croak joins Carol for a deeply personal conversation about parenting, including how her parents turned a frightening childhood mistake into a defi...
Dr. Croak joins Carol for a deeply personal conversation about parenting, including how her parents turned a frightening childhood mistake into a defi...
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September 2, 2026 • 31 mins
Madam C.J. Walker built a groundbreaking business and created opportunities for thousands of Black women. She also raised a daughter, A’Lelia Walker, whom she loved fiercely and tried hard to protect. Sometimes that protection felt like pressure.
In this GCP Book Talk, Carol talks with award-winning journalist A’Lelia Bundles about her book, Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance, the s...
In this GCP Book Talk, Carol talks with award-winning journalist A’Lelia Bundles about her book, Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance, the s...
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August 26, 2026 • 27 mins
What happens when you throw a shower for parents?
At the Ground Control Parenting Shower on Martha's Vineyard, parents at various stages of the journey spent an afternoon being informed, inspired, and celebrated.
In this special episode, Carol goes behind the scenes at the Shower, describing how the afternoon was built around four issues that matter deeply to GCP families, and sharing some of the best advice and...
At the Ground Control Parenting Shower on Martha's Vineyard, parents at various stages of the journey spent an afternoon being informed, inspired, and celebrated.
In this special episode, Carol goes behind the scenes at the Shower, describing how the afternoon was built around four issues that matter deeply to GCP families, and sharing some of the best advice and...
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Live From the GCP Shower: Raising Kids Who Know Who They Are with Abby Phillip and Courtney B. Vance
August 19, 2026 • 39 mins
How do you raise children who are confident in who they are, especially when they are growing up in a world very different from the one you grew up in?
Recorded live at the Ground Control Parenting Shower on Martha’s Vineyard, Carol sits down with CNN anchor and author Abby Phillip and Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor and author Courtney B. Vance for an intergenerational conversation about the values we carry from our...
Recorded live at the Ground Control Parenting Shower on Martha’s Vineyard, Carol sits down with CNN anchor and author Abby Phillip and Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor and author Courtney B. Vance for an intergenerational conversation about the values we carry from our...
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August 12, 2026 • 62 mins
Periods. Sex. Fertility. Perimenopause. Menopause. There’s a lot we wish someone had told us about sooner. How do we do better with the next generation?
Carol welcomes back Dr. Sharon Malone, acclaimed OB-GYN and author of Grown Woman Talk, for a frank and funny conversation about women’s hormonal health from puberty through menopause. Dr. Sharon shares what we need to tell our daughters and what we should ...
Carol welcomes back Dr. Sharon Malone, acclaimed OB-GYN and author of Grown Woman Talk, for a frank and funny conversation about women’s hormonal health from puberty through menopause. Dr. Sharon shares what we need to tell our daughters and what we should ...
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August 5, 2026 • 30 mins
Every parent has had the moment. Your child seems permanently attached to their phone, and you wonder how to balance protecting them, trusting them, and preparing them for a world that is becoming more digital by the day.
In this episode of GCP On the Ground, Carol Sutton Lewis is joined by panelists Jen Hayes Lee and Keisha Sutton-James for an honest conversation about raising children in the age of screens. Together, these...
In this episode of GCP On the Ground, Carol Sutton Lewis is joined by panelists Jen Hayes Lee and Keisha Sutton-James for an honest conversation about raising children in the age of screens. Together, these...
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July 29, 2026 • 33 mins
Grace Bastidas has spent her career finding the parenting stories that mainstream media tends to miss: first as the founder of a multicultural parenting brand for Latinx caregivers, then as the first woman of color to lead Parents in its hundred-year history, and now as the writer behind The Mommune, a substack about the realities of motherhood. In this GCP Book Talk, Grace returns to the podcast to talk with Carol about what she i...
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July 22, 2026 • 44 mins
So many of us are parenting through a fog of uncertainty right now—war, economic strain, and headlines that can make the future feel more frightening than hopeful. This week, Carol sits down with Stanford professor and futurist Dr. Maisha T. Winn to ask a question many parents want to know: How do we raise children who can imagine a future worth building?
Maisha's answer reaches back to her own childhood. Raised in one...
Maisha's answer reaches back to her own childhood. Raised in one...
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July 15, 2026 • 46 mins
Our kids are growing up as AI natives, and most of us are still playing catch-up. Carol talks with two leading voices from the Stanford Accelerator for Learning about what it really means to raise informed, grounded kids in an AI world.
Victor Lee, faculty lead for AI and education at the Accelerator, starts simply: AI is a tool, not magic, and parents don't need to panic, they just need to get informed, and he explains how ...
Victor Lee, faculty lead for AI and education at the Accelerator, starts simply: AI is a tool, not magic, and parents don't need to panic, they just need to get informed, and he explains how ...
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July 8, 2026 • 32 mins
Talking to our kids about money is never just about dollars and cents. It brings up our values, our fears, our own childhood experiences, and sometimes even our regrets.
In this On the Ground episode, Carol is joined by co-hosts Keisha Sutton-James and Jen Hays Lee for an honest conversation about raising money-smart kids. They talk about building generational wealth while carrying the fear of backsliding, finding the balanc...
In this On the Ground episode, Carol is joined by co-hosts Keisha Sutton-James and Jen Hays Lee for an honest conversation about raising money-smart kids. They talk about building generational wealth while carrying the fear of backsliding, finding the balanc...
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July 1, 2026 • 47 mins
You've decided to get a divorce. Now what? When do you tell the kids? How much do you share? What do you say about the other parent? And what if you're already worried you'll get it all wrong?
Divorce is one of the most common experiences families go through, and also one of the hardest to talk about with our kids. In this episode Carol sits down with pediatric psychologist and parent coach Dr. Ann-Louise Lockhart to figure ...
Divorce is one of the most common experiences families go through, and also one of the hardest to talk about with our kids. In this episode Carol sits down with pediatric psychologist and parent coach Dr. Ann-Louise Lockhart to figure ...
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June 24, 2026 • 48 mins
How do you raise a child who wants to read? Award-winning educator Alvin Irby has a simple answer, and he found it in a barbershop. In this episode, Carol talks with the founder of Barbershop Books, the national nonprofit that places books in barbershops and inspires Black boys to read for fun.
Alvin's approach: ask Black boys what they like to read, then give them those books. He explains why the titles children actua...
Alvin's approach: ask Black boys what they like to read, then give them those books. He explains why the titles children actua...
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June 17, 2026 • 31 mins
What can sisterhood teach us about raising children? In the first episode of Ground Control Parenting Book Talk, Carol explores this question with award-winning journalist Deborah Roberts, author of Sisters, Loved and Treasured: Stories of Unbreakable Bonds.
One of six sisters, Deborah draws on both her own family and the many women she interviewed to share the honest, sometimes complicated truth about sibling relationships....
One of six sisters, Deborah draws on both her own family and the many women she interviewed to share the honest, sometimes complicated truth about sibling relationships....
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June 10, 2026 • 39 mins
Boomer, Gen X, Millennial. Three moms, three generations, one question that divides mom group chats: how do you discipline in the age of gentle parenting?
In this episode of GCP: On The Ground, Carol sits down with Keisha and Jen to wrestle with the parenting issue so many of us are living through right now. They move from the research linking spanking to worse outcomes, onto the harder question underneath it: does gent...
In this episode of GCP: On The Ground, Carol sits down with Keisha and Jen to wrestle with the parenting issue so many of us are living through right now. They move from the research linking spanking to worse outcomes, onto the harder question underneath it: does gent...
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June 3, 2026 • 60 mins
What does it mean to raise children when your family's life is a matter of public record? Maryland's First Lady Dawn Moore knows that tension intimately, and she's navigating it with clarity, humor, and grace.
First Lady Dawn Moore was one of the architects of the historic 2022 campaign that elected her husband, Wes Moore, as Maryland's 63rd governor and the first African American governor in the state's history. As Fi...
First Lady Dawn Moore was one of the architects of the historic 2022 campaign that elected her husband, Wes Moore, as Maryland's 63rd governor and the first African American governor in the state's history. As Fi...
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May 27, 2026 • 48 mins
How much screen time is too much? Are some types better than others? And how should our approach change as kids grow from toddlers to teens? This week, Carol sits down with Jasmine Hood Miller, Director of Family Resources and Content Strategy at Common Sense Media and a mom of three boys, to reset the entire screen time conversation.
Jasmine's research-backed message: the timer is the wrong measuring stick. What matters is ...
Jasmine's research-backed message: the timer is the wrong measuring stick. What matters is ...
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May 20, 2026 • 17 mins
We’re trying something new this season — and we couldn't have picked a more important topic to start with. Welcome to the debut episode of GCP: On The Ground, a new recurring segment where Carol gathers three generations of moms to dig into the issues we're all talking about (or should be) at the kitchen table.
These days your kids' phones may know more about them than you do. So for this first conver...
These days your kids' phones may know more about them than you do. So for this first conver...
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May 13, 2026 • 47 mins
Misty Copeland returns to Ground Control Parenting, and a lot has changed since her last visit.
She's taken her final bow with American Ballet Theatre. She's come through a hip replacement. And she's parenting her young son Jackson (who “stole the show” when he joined her on stage at her final performance) while figuring out her next chapter now that ballet is no longer the center of the frame.
In this convers...
She's taken her final bow with American Ballet Theatre. She's come through a hip replacement. And she's parenting her young son Jackson (who “stole the show” when he joined her on stage at her final performance) while figuring out her next chapter now that ballet is no longer the center of the frame.
In this convers...
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