Talking About Kids

This is the second installment in a new segment in which a colleague and I examine classic and obscure books about kids from the past. We will be looking at what has changed and what has stayed the same to try to uncover universal truths and inspiration that you can use as you care for your own kids. This episode focuses on the introductory chapter of book from 1950 called How to Live with Children by Edith Neisser. My guest to hel...

If you want the children and youth in your classroom, in your program, or even in your home to succeed, then you need to understand them, but gaining insights or even engaging them as cocreators of their experience is not always easy. Here to discuss what Rising Youth Theatre does to share decision making and activity leadership with the young people in its organization are two of Rising Youth Theatre’s Producing Artistic Collabora...

My guest this episode to talk about the importance of a developmental-relational perspective in addressing and preventing bullying is a Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology at York University, the recipient of the Canadian Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to Public or Community Service, and my new friend:  Debra Pepler. Our conversation was recorded in front of a live audience the 2023 World...

Lice. We have checked for them, we have been checked for them, and we have worried about the.  But how much do we really know about lice?  In light of some relatively new guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics, I asked Ilene Steinberg – Founder and CEO of the Center for Lice Control and the so-called “Lice Queen” – to come on the podcast and help me comb through the myths and facts about lice. More information about Ile...

A couple of weeks ago, the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE) held its annual conference. At it, a study from 2015 received some new attention. That study is “Discipline and Participation:  The Long-Term Effects of Suspension and School Security on the Political and Civic Engagement of Youth” from the journal Youth and Society. My guests to talk about the study and its importance, are the study’s authors:  Tho...

Globally, the rights of indigenous kids are protected, in part, by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. For this mini Indigenous People’s Day episode of Talking About Kids, I briefly examine the adversities indigenous kids face, what the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child asserts about the rights of indigenous kids and all kids, and the United States’ position on those rights. Links to the mat...

For as long as there have been kids, people have offered advice on how to care for them. Talking About Kids is introducing a new segment in which a colleague and I examine classic and obscure books about kids from the distant and not-so-distant past. We will be looking at what has changed and what has stayed the same to try to uncover universal truths and inspiration that you can use as you care for your own kids.  In this episode,...

Incorporating the arts into education helps students succeed academically and socially. Despite this, art programs continue to face cuts and even elimination. To help counter this, I enlisted the help of Art Roche. If you have been a fan of animation in the last 20 years, it is likely that you have seen Art’s work or work that he supervised. Art created the Cartoon Network series, Nacho Bear, and he continues to consult on Apple TV...

The rising cost of college is in the news once again, as are 529 plans and student loan repayment. As a result, I wanted to revisit the topic of paying for college and how to balance saving for college with saving for retirement. My guest to help unpack these issues is Brad Baldridge. Brad is a College Funding Specialist and the host of the Taming the High Cost of College podcast. Brad has helped thousands of families plan for the ...

The transition from high school to college can be difficult for some students. Here to talk about that is Amy McGrath. Amy is the Vice President of Educational Outreach and Student Services for Arizona State University and the Managing Director the ASU Preparatory Academy, which is a network of public charter schools sponsored by ASU. Starting now, Talking About Kids will be dedicating one episode a month to supporting the formatio...

Not long ago, Rebecca Sugar, creator of Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe, and I were discussing things that undermine the health and wellbeing of kids. I must have been painting a bleak picture because she suggested that I read Living in a World That Can’t Be Fixed: Reimagining Counterculture Today by Curtis White. I did, and then I immediately delved into his other writings, including The Science Delusion:  Asking the Big Questio...

Participation in sports declines during adolescence. There are many reasons for this, and I want to address all them because, when kids stop playing sports, they miss out on the mental and physical benefits that sports afford. My guest today is Pam Luk. Pam believes that one of the reasons adolescents quit sports is that athletic wear for kids does a poor job of accommodating different body types. Pam share her story and what she d...

Adolescence is a time of experimenting, and that experimenting sometimes involves trying illicit drugs. Unfortunately, dealers are adding fentanyl to illicit drugs, like cocaine and methamphetamine, to make them cheaper and more potent, but fentanyl also makes them more deadly. Every day in the U.S., over 150 people die from overdoses related to fentanyl. To explain what fentanyl is and what you, as people who care about kids, can ...

News about increases in adolescent suicide can seem overwhelming, so in this second mini summer vacation episode of Talking About Kids, I want to share a newly published paper on the care of kids with suicide-related symptoms that I think it suggests something constructive that we, as people who care about kids, can do to help reverse the trend. Links to some of the research I cite are talkingaboutkids.com. Full-length Talking Abou...

This episode was recorded in front of a live audience on July 19th, 2023, at the Adloscent Health Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. My guests are Veenod Chulani, Section Chief of Adolescent Medicine at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, and Beheir Thompson, Adolescent Health Program Coordinator for Affirm. Along with their colleagues, Vinny and Beheir are working to bring professionals together to advance health equity for youth. Their ins...