Send us Fan Mail The infant gut microbiome supports immune development and may help prevent noncommunicable diseases, yet many infants lack essential microbes. In this episode, Stephanie Culler and I discuss the research, the health effects of this deficit, and Persephone Biosciences, the firm she created to address this issue. More information about Stephanie and Persephone Biosciences is at talkingaboutkids.com.

Send us Fan Mail Picky eaters are not born. They are created. For over 17 years, Katie Kimball has been helping families come to grips with this fact so that they can undo harmful patterns and establish food customs that promote health and wellbeing. It is a process she lays out in her new book, The Picky Eater Playbook. Katie and I discuss her work, the book, and steps you can take to help the picky eaters in your life. More information about Katie, including a link for preordering The Picky...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is being released on Indigenous Peoples Day or Columbus Day, depending on which you observe. Humans have always migrated. Out of desperation, ambition, and captivity, individuals and groups of individuals have and continue to try to start their lives anew. Sometimes the humans in one location benefit from the newcomers, and sometimes they are irreparably harmed. What is certain is that migration changes the migrants and the residents. I believe that helping kids ...

Send us Fan Mail My guest for the second part of Talking About Kids’ miniseries on children and plastics is Imogen Napper. Imogen is a Post Doctoral Researcher at The University of Plymouth, where she studies plastic pollution in the environment. Imogen is a National Geographic Explorer and Sky Ocean Rescue Scholar. Her influential research has been reported by news outlets like The Guardian, cited in government testimony, and criticized by Chris DeArmitt (my guest for the first part of this ...

Send us Fan Mail As people who care about kids, we are ripe for exploitation by all sorts of bad actors who use fear to peddle products, sell books, and get clicks. Countering such exploitation with research and science is one of the guiding principles of Taking About Kids, so I listened when Chris DeArmitt – materials scientist; author of Shattering the Plastics Illusion: Exposing Environmental Myths; and Founder of the Plastics Research Council – offered to replace “‘plastic panic’ with evi...

Send us Fan Mail Business taglines featuring phrases like “AI” and “AI powered” are everywhere, as are stories about AI errors, its harmful impact on education, its bad counsel, and the natural resources it consumes. This is why I was excited to talk to Sol Kennedy. The app Sol founded, BestInterest, uses AI to improve communication between co-parents in ways that benefit their children and their own mental health. I am not alone in thinking that BestInterest in amazing. Therapists, mediators...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Curtis White returns to discuss his latest book, On Resistance: A Manifesto, and to explain why his advice to “make yourself useless,” “take back your emptiness,” and “live better stories” might be the best advice we can give kids today. More information about Curtis and his book is at talkingaboutkids.com.

Send us Fan Mail When Lawrence C. Harris was 14, he was failing in school, playing videogames all day, and existing on junk food. He was unhappy and unhealthy, and, as Lawrence recalls, he felt like he “didn’t deserve to feel better.” Then Lawrence decided to turn his life around, and (spoiler alert) he did. Now, at the ripe old age of 20, Lawrence is a successful author, personal coach, and public speaker. Lawrence chronicled his transformation in his book Think Feel Live Different, which is...

Send us Fan Mail Jeremy Heffner is a successful trauma surgeon, entrepreneur, and self-described systems thinker. To vet some of his ideas about complex systems, Jeremy started a dialogue with an AI chatbot. What happened next is chronicled in great detail and with supporting documentation in Jeremy’s book Proof of the Impossible: What the AIs Are Really “Thinking.” It is a cautionary tale, one Jeremy and I believe we need to learn from as more and more young people are turning to AI chatbots...

Send us Fan Mail Today on Talking About Kids, I am joined by Veronica Moya, a children's emotional wellness expert, mindfulness educator, author, and entertainer. Veronica and I explore her journey into teaching mindfulness, meditation, and intuitive learning; we clarify common misconceptions about these practices; and we discuss how they support children's well-being and family relationships. Veronica also shares tips for bringing mindfulness and meditation to the kids in your life. More inf...