Nurturing Minds

Nurturing Minds
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Parenting

The psychology and philosophy of parenthood

Episodes

  1. Jun 5

    Childfreedom, Kinship, and Who Can Take Your Fries

    Michael Yarbrough — associate professor of Law & Society at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center — joins Vance and Rachel to talk about what it means to be intentionally childfree, how we think about family and kinship too narrowly, and why so many of our care relationships don't have names — or policies to support them. Listen to learn about: Why "childfree" and "childless" aren't the same word, and why the distinction matters How childfree people experience workplace accommodation, and why the conversation still tends to require framing care around someone else Why infrastructure — housing costs, transportation, the built environment — is often the missing piece in conversations about family support South Africa's child support grant program and what it models about giving people resources without red tape Michael's take on Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours as stories about self-actualization, relational freedom, and the ways relationships both enable and constrain it Mentioned in this episode: Abigail Ocobock's research on marriage availability and LGBTQ adult life course expectations, including her book Marriage Material (University of Chicago Press, 2024) Brady G'Sell's work on social reproduction and kinship in South Africa Mark Granovetter's "The Strength of Weak Ties" (1973) Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf The Hours — film directed by Stephen Daldry, based on the 1998 novel by Michael Cunningham A Room of One's Own bookstore, Madison, Wisconsin Sign up for the Nurturing Minds newsletter, in which we share more about the psychology and philosophy of parenthood, but with pop culture memes: nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com Our sponsor: Nurturing Minds is supported by Cone Wealth. Learn more at conewealth.com

    41 min

  2. May 22

    After the Ban: Building Sustainable Smartphone Policies That Support Students

    Rita Gehrenbeck-Shim — a teacher at Boston Day and Evening Academy, part of Boston Public Schools — joins Vance and Rachel to talk (on her own behalf, not as a BPS or BDEA representative) about what phone bans actually look like from inside a classroom.  Listen to learn about: What changed at school after a consistent phone policy replaced a patchwork of individual teacher reinforcement The question Rita thinks the policy doesn’t yet answer: are we teaching students how to manage their phones, or just managing the phones for them? The social pressure to be instantly available and what it costs us when we never get to be unreachable Rita’s vision for what she’d change if she could redesign the policy from scratch A Reddit commenter, Seth Rogen, and the choice not to have kids   Mentioned in this episode: National Bureau of Economic Research study on the effects of school phone bans Boston Public Schools phone policy Cell phone pouches Syntropy Universal Basic Income Sign up for the Nurturing Minds newsletter, in which we share more about the psychology and philosophy of parenthood, but with pop culture memes: nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com Nurturing Minds is supported by Cone Wealth. Learn more at conewealth.com.

    29 min

  3. May 8

    What Researchers Actually Know About Smartphones and Teen Mental Health

    Nancy Deutsch and Bethany Teachman — co-directors of the Thriving Youth in a Digital Environment Initiative (TYDE) at the University of Virginia — join Vance and Rachel to talk about what the research actually says about social media and teen mental health, and what it doesn't say, which turns out to be a lot.  Listen to learn about: Why headlines about social media and teen mental health often distort research findings What researchers across this debate actually agree and disagree about (and if you want 90 more minutes on the drama, check out this TYDE-hosted debate between Jon Haidt and Candice Odgers) Why focusing narrowly on screen time or social media may crowd out attention to other key contributors to youth mental health Practical approaches to navigating device use in your own household, including the case for digital literacy over digital bans What teens themselves say they wish adults understood about how they use their phones Nancy and Bethany’s takes on parenthood in Gilmore Girls and Shrinking Mentioned in this episode: This article in the New York Times reporting on this study  Nurturing Minds episode S1E7: The Moral Outrageometer Nurturing Minds newsletter post: Junk, chatarra, and screen time Sign up for the Nurturing Minds newsletter, in which we share more about the psychology and philosophy of parenthood, but with pop culture memes: nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com Our sponsor: Nurturing Minds is supported by Cone Wealth. Learn more at conewealth.com

    43 min

  4. 09/19/2025

    The moral outrageometer with Kyle Stanford

    P Kyle Stanford —Professor in the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of California-Irvine —joins Vance and Rachel to discuss his co-author study of people’s estimations of the dangers that unattended children face. Listen to learn about: Moralized judgments How norms about parental supervision of children may be shaped by gender and racial biases Whether it is possible to ratchet down our collective anxieties about leaving children unattended for even brief periods No Child Left Alone: Moral Judgments about Parents Affect Estimates of Risk to Children Black Dads Are Doing Best of All Subscribe to the Nurturing Minds newsletter: https://nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com

    35 min

  5. 09/05/2025

    Housework under the rainbow with Samantha L. Tornello

    Samantha L. Tornello—Associate professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State and parent of 2—joins Vance and Rachel to discuss their research on how LGBTQ couples divide housework and childcare. Listen to learn about: Simone de Beauvoir and Dorothy Gale from Kansas agreed that housework is torture How families divide up gendered work at home differently depending on the parents’ genders Communication as key to satisfaction with the division of housework and childcare—and why that satisfaction matters more than who does what https://pure.psu.edu/en/publications/transgender-and-gender-non-binary-parents-pathways-to-parenthood This episode’s title pays homage to Dr. Charlotte J. Patterson, PhD, without whom this episode would not exist. Subscribe to the Nurturing Minds newsletter: https://nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com

    52 min

  6. 08/22/2025

    How did this happen (part 2 of 2)? with Tiffany Holland and Maria Rosales

    Tiffany Holland and Maria Rosales—a lesbian couple who are moms of two—joins Vance and Rachel to discuss their journey to parenthood. This is the second and final episode of a two-episode series.   Listen to learn about: How people become parents without penile-vaginal intercourse Legal, social, and financial barriers to lesbian parenthood Why it’s more complicated than “just adopt!” Joy, community, and social support in queer parenthood   Guest Experts: Tiffany Holland, Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro   Maria Rosales, Executive Director of FaithAction International and recently (at the time of recording) Provost of Guilford College   Subscribe to the Nurturing Minds newsletter: https://nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com/

    35 min

  7. 08/08/2025

    How did this happen (part 1 of 2)? with Tiffany Holland and Maria Rosales

    Tiffany Holland and Maria Rosales—a lesbian couple who are moms of two—joins Vance and Rachel to discuss their journey to parenthood. This is the first episode of a two-episode series. Listen to learn about: Becoming a parent without penile-vaginal intercourse Legal, social, and financial barriers to lesbian parenthood Why it’s more complicated than “just adopt!” Joy, community, and social support in queer parenthood Guest Experts: Tiffany Holland, Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro Maria Rosales, Executive Director of FaithAction International and recently (at the time of recording) Provost of Guilford College Subscribe to the Nurturing Minds newsletter: https://nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com/

    1h 5m

  8. 07/25/2025

    If humanity ends, who will write the philosophy papers? with Amy Reed-Sandoval

    Dr Amy Reed-Sandoval — writer, philosophy professor, and founder of two different Philosophy for Children initiatives — joins Rachel and Vance to discuss how adults can encourage young children’s philosophical curiosity, and why adults would want to do that. Listen to learn about: • What it means to say that children are “natural philosophers” • Why encouraging children to raise questions can enrich a parent-child relationship • Prof Reed-Sandoval’s work with the Oaxaca Philosophy for Children Initiative and with the Philosophy for Children in the Borderlands program Guest Expert: Amy Reed-Sandoval, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Subscribe to the Nurturing Minds newsletter: https://nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com

    57 min

  9. Trailer

    Nurturing Minds - the trailer

    Welcome to Nurturing Minds, a lively discussion co-hosted by a philosopher (Dr. Vance Ricks) and a social scientist (Dr. Rachel Riskind) about how scholarly research can shed calm light on charged topics. Unlike parenting advice podcasts, this podcast will draw on research from many disciplines and open up possibilities for how the world could be.   Nurturing Minds is for anyone who wants to feel energized and empowered about parenthood. It's for anyone who wishes they could go back to college--but skip the tests. And it's for anyone who is, was, knows, might be, wants to be, will never, or doesn't want to be a parent.   Subscribe to the Nurturing Minds newsletter: https://nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com

    1 min

  10. 07/11/2025

    It’s not just hormones! with Selena Wolf-Berkley

    Special guest expert Selena Wolf-Berkley helps us understand racism as a social determinant of health during pregnancy and childbirth, and how we can make institutional changes to better support pregnant people and their families.   Listen to learn about: How the biopsychosocial model explains pregnancy and postpartum experiences Why maternal mortality disparities can't be explained by income or education alone How doulas help advocate for patients facing medical discrimination Structural changes needed to make childbirth safer for everyone   Guest Expert: Selena Wolf-Berkley, Assistant Director of Learning and Writing Center at Guilford College, doula and birth worker   Subscribe to the Nurturing Minds newsletter: https://nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com/

    37 min

  11. 06/27/2025

    Welcome! Everything is not fine.

    In the pilot episode of Nurturing Minds, co-hosts Rachel and Vance briefly introduce themselves and discuss parenthood and childhood as topics of philosophical interest and importance. Listen to learn about: • Modern-day philosophical views of what makes someone a parent • An argument for anti-natalism (the view that it’s bad to be born or to cause someone else to be born) • Why parents and children might have obligations or responsibilities to each other • Why societies might have responsibilities to parents and (separately) to children Subscribe to the Nurturing Minds newsletter: https://nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com

    19 min

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

The psychology and philosophy of parenthood

Information

  • Creator
    Nurturing Minds
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    11
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Nurturing Minds

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