Ground Control Parenting with Carol Sutton Lewis

How can we help our children develop a moral compass to guide them through life? Minister, professor, author and former President of Morehouse College Dr. Robert M. Franklin, Jr. explains the importance of helping children think about faith and morality and offers a framework for having these discussions with your children from an early age.

 Our discussion begins with Dr. Franklin’s  memories of witnessing the moral courage and lea...

Diana Napier shares her journey with her daughter Emerson Davis, one of the young stars of the Tony award winning Broadway show, Once Upon an Island.  Diana, a corporate executive turned writer, found herself in unfamiliar parenting territory as she put her writing career on pause in order to figure out how to best help young Emerson pursue her growing passions in music and theater.  When Emerson joins the conversation at the end o...

How did the first Black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company manage to balance her skyrocketing career and her growing family? In this refreshingly candid and thought-provoking conversation, Ursula Burns, former CEO of Xerox Corporation, tells us why this is NOT the question on which young women  should be focused.  She reveals how she was able to stay true to herself and her parenting goals, and explains how modern-day parents need...

With COVID restrictions lifting we can finally begin our return to life as we knew it. How are our children coping with moving out of the cocoons they’ve been in for the past year? There are likely to be some stressful moments for them (and us) for a while, whether they are inclined to rush back into their pre-Covid lives or would prefer to remain in semi solitude.   Pediatric stress expert Dr. Victor Carrión returns to the podcast...

How much do your children know about money?  Sure, they may know how to spend it, but what about how to invest it and watch it grow? How can you help them learn more and plant the seeds of financial literacy that will serve them well for life?  Carol talks with Tanya Van Court, Founder and CEO of Goalsetter, a family saving and smart spending app, about her mission to make kids (and parents!) more financially savvy and have fun whi...

As we parent through this pandemic, who has the greater challenge: parents of toddlers and little ones, trying to help them make sense of it all, or parents of older children who have to help them keep it together as their academic, personal and work lives threaten to fall apart? And what can these different generations of parents learn from each other?  Carol poses these questions to three dynamic women––Monique Péan, who is raisi...

Carol talks with celebrated poet, award winning author, distinguished educator, and President of the Mellon Foundation Elizabeth Alexander about her parenting journey, her theories on education, and the importance of financial literacy and philanthropy.

Elizabeth is a resilient mother of two sons who had to reconstruct her life and parenting village after the sudden death of her husband, Ficre Gheybreyesus. In this episode she share...

As we focus on (so many!) daily parenting details, how do we make sure we are teaching our children our values and giving them a moral core?  What do we have to resolve in ourselves to be able to parent with joy, a key to raising joyful, confident children? How do we turn those hard lessons from how we were parented into a roadmap for better parenting? In a lively, spirited conversation filled with tips on how to evolve our parenti...

Carol talks with  Sandra Jackson-Dumont, visionary arts educator and Director & CEO of the  Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, about why and how we need to have art and museums in our children’s lives from day one.  Exposure to art builds so many skills from a very young age!  Sandra tells us how to explore museums in-person and online in ways that open up new vistas for children and  parents,  how museums can spark and inform grea...

In this season opener, Carol talks with college admissions experts and authors of The College Conversation , Eric Furda (former Dean of Admissions at UPenn)  and Jacques Steinberg (award-winning education journalist and author).  Eric and Jacques discuss their latest tips and insights on how your teen should be applying to college from start to finish, and how you can help. They reveal  “The Four C’s” that students should be lookin...

Author &  journalist Caroline Clarke discusses her accidental discovery of and reunion with her birth mother–Cookie Cole, daughter of Nat King Cole–and its impact on her existing and newly expanded family. Caroline told this story in her memoir Postcards from Cookie,  and here she reveals additional details not captured in the book, including an incredible update.  You won’t want to miss our discussion of adoption, parenting, f...

Best-selling author and on-air host Nancy Redd talks about the values that stem from her Southern roots and shares some of the unexpected silver linings which have emerged from quarantining with her husband and their 9 & 6 year olds over the past ten months.  You’ll also hear about the making of Bedtime Bonnet,  her sensational new children’s book that celebrates Black night time hair care rituals.  A fascinating conversation t...

Producer and political & social activist Keisha Sutton-James talks about the important lessons she learned growing up with her grandfather, civil rights leader, politician and businessman Percy E. Sutton.  Keisha shares how these lessons shaped her life and how she shares them  with her daughters.  We cover a lot of great parenting ground in this conversation, including talking with our children about our history, religion and ...