The Fatherly Podcast

More than 500,000 men get vasectomies every year in the United States. On this very fertile episode of the podcast, Joshua David Stein and co-host Postell Pringle, both vasectomized men, talk to Dr. Joseph Alukal, professor of urology at the Columbia University Medical Center about why and how. He'll also explain what's up with the tufts of smoke commonly seen during the procedure.

This week on the podcast, Joshua speaks with NPR's political editor Domenico Montanaro, father of one, on how the 2020 field looks for America's struggling middle-class families. Also, Fatherly's own Patrick Coleman swings by to explain how American families got into this mess in the first place. (Hint: neoliberalism, motherfuckers!)

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The American nuclear family exploded decades ago. The trend has been steadily towards more divorce and more complication — half-siblings and awkward introductions ("This is my ex-wife's husband"). There's nothing wrong with that, but it has forever changed what it means to be a family man. Interested in discussing this, Fatherly Podcast host Joshua David Stein and co-host Postell Pringle reached out to Jeff Gordinier, globe-trottin...

Therapy can be massively helpful, but it can also feel ridiculous and obligatory. Eager to get a sense of how to make better use of expensive sessions, Fatherly Podcast host Joshua David Stein and co-host Jason Gay reach out to Lori Gottlieb, the noted therapist and author of "Maybe You Should Talk to Someone." The ensuing session covers how to solicit help, what to do with it, and how not to feel ridiculous on that couch. Also, it...

Children's books are part of the fabric of parenthood. We read them. Then we read them again. We come to know them as well as our kids' stuffed animals (and better than their friends). But what makes one of these deceptively simple tomes tick? Fatherly Podcast host Joshua David Stein, a children's book author himself, and co-host Postell Pringle speak to editor Kate Harrison of Dial Books for Young Readers about what makes a good i...

Being a parent is costly. And that's just the money.... This week, Fatherly Podcast host Joshua David Stein and co-host Postell Pringle go looking for peace of mind on all things money. Spoiler alert: They don't get it. Instead, they get schooled by Brookings Institute economist Richard Reeves, author of "Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust," and financial coach Jacquette Timmons...

New babies don't come with tons of injection-modeled nonsense, but it tends to wash up in their wake. But why is the infant paraphenalia and playtime juvenalia so poorly designed? Fatherly Podcast host Joshua David Stein put the question to architecture critic Alexanda Lange, author of "The Design of Childhood," Mark Riegelman, the world's most badass playground designer, and Ben Kaufman, CEO and founder of CAMP, the experiential t...

It's hard enough to feel centered in the dumpster fire that is modern life, but being a parent can make it even harder. How do we empathize with our kids without feeling all their pain? Can we help others without presuming weakness? How can we live by our values, or at least just be a little fucking nicer? It's both harder and easier than we think, as Joshua David Stein and co-host Postell Pringle learn from Zen Buddhist priest, au...

In an intensely personal episode, Fatherly Podcast host Joshua David Stein speaks with his co-host, Jason Gay, and founder and president of Treatment and Research Advancements for Borderline Personality Disorder (TARA4BPD), Valerie Porr, about his struggles with Borderline Personality Disorder and his attempts to get help while trying to insulate his children from some of his worst behaviors. A remarkably honest look at what it tak...

A peaceful gardener from the Lower East Side determined to make the world a better place left his newborn child to go fight Isis in Syria. He saw action and trauma. He wrapped wounds. He came home to his family and to discuss the experience with Fatherly Podcast hosts Joshua David Stein and Jason. The big question: How can parents know when it's better to focus on changing the world or to focus on their families? The answer: Compli...

Josh and Jason talk to two of the most famous chefs of today, Daniel Boloud and the international superstar Jamie Oliver. Boloud discusses his second round of parenthood and what he learned along the way, while Oliver lets us know that it's okay to fail. In between, our hosts talk about their own fatherly practices in the kitchen, and we find out that imaginary restauarants are far more common than one would think.

There is a world of incredible music out there, most of which we can access through our phones, and yet our kids are obsessed with jingles about shark families and cats flushing toilets. Joshua David Stein and Jason Gay lament this sad state of affairs while seeking advice from WNYC radio host, author, and dad, John Schaefer. It turns out, you can't make your kids like anything, but there are ways to introduce them to new sounds (w...

Joshua David Stein and Jason Gay try to wrap their heads around the horror movie that is climate change with help from Dr. Camilo Mora, professor at The University of Hawaii at Manoa and author of a new, mind-blowingly depressing paper that shows a little too clearly what's coming our way, disaster-wise. Mora is also a dad, and he, along with Fatherly's parenting expert, Patrick Coleman, talk to Joshua and Jason about how to help t...

All modern parents worry about screen time and internet exposure. Should they? On a search for answers, Joshua David Stein and Jason Gay turn to Alex Goldman, the wifi-enabed demigod behind the hit podcast Reply All and perhaps the only empathetic user of the internet left alive on Earth. Goldman offers some reassurance, but not much. Why not? Because the long-term effects of all these glowing lines are a known unknown -- even if i...

Joshua David Stein, a physical education philistine, gets schooled on the social, emotional, and educational benefits of team athletics by co-host and "Wall Street Journal" sport columnist Jason Gay. Making the case for sports as a cultural foundation, Gay enlists the help of famed NBA writer and not-so-famed youth soccer coach Sam Anderson to convince Joshua that competition can help kids find joy and friends -- if their dads can ...

Joshua David Stein and Jason Gay discuss their different approaches to managing risks and danger. Eager to hear from an extreme risk-taker, they call up legendary base jumper and skier Matthias "Super Frenchie" Giraud, who is raising a 5-year-old competitive vert skater. Then, looking for a counter-example, the co-hosts speak to David Sheff, author of "Beautiful Boy," about what types of risks really need mitigation.

Joshua David Stein and new co-host (and "Wall Street Journal" columnist) Jason Gay speak to Mike Colter, the actor America knows as Luke Cage, about showing kids weakness and what it's like to parent when you're ripped out of your mind and have a really deep and intimidating voice. Colter offers some hot takes on children's literature and parenting classes. Sweet Christmas!

Joshua David Stein and Krishna Andavolu, the former host of "Weediquette" on Viceland, talk about smoking marijuana and the strains that today's kids will be smoking when they've grown into belligerent teenagers. The two dads, vape pens in hand, look to Leafly's David Downs about the bright future of getting high and the dark future of worring about your kids getting high.

Joshua David Stein and co-host Krishna Andavolu chat with designer Mark Reigelman, the man behind the instantly iconic Sweetwater Playground, about why most jungle gyms suck and Germans parents don't worry about broken bones. The future of play, it turns out, is kinda scary. Then everyone plays with the best toys of the year as selected by Fatherly's editors, and things take a turn for the violent.