Guest 1: Carl Pickhardt, author of The Future of Your Only Child.

Topic: How to guide your child to a happy, successful life.

Issues: The pros and cons of being an only child; different types of only children; how parents can combat oversensitivity in their only child and familiarize them with normal conflicts that arise in daily life; ways parents can stop themselves from transferring their won worries to their only child.

Guest 2: Carl Honore, author of Under Pressure

Topic: Rescuing our children from the culture of hyper-parenting.

Issues: What happens when the impulse to give our children the best of everything runs rampant; why managing every detail of our children’s lives is backfiring; what the research shows about how overmanaged children are not learning basic life skills and are staying overdependent on their parents.

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05/18/08

Guest 1: Mark Stevens, author of Luisa's Nature.

Topic: Looking at nature and the world through a child’s eyes.

Issues: Why nature is so important to children and why they don’t get enough of it.

Guest 2: Pamela Paul, author of Parenting, Inc..

Topic: An inside investigation of the multi-billion-dollar baby business that pushes high-priced products at unsuspecting parents.

Issues: How marketers make parents feel more anxious by promising to make their children taller, smarter, and more beautiful; which expensive products and services aren’t worthwhile, and which are.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (23.8MB)

05/11/08

Guest 1: Sharon O’Donnell, author of House of Testosterone.

Topic: Raising One mom’s survival in a household of males.

Issues: Is it tougher to raise boys than girls? The unique issues mothers face when raising boys; the frustrations moms of boys face; finding time for self in a household of males.

Guest 2: Frances Richey, author of The Warrior.

Topic: A mother’s story of a son at war.

Issues: How her political opinion of the war (the author was against it) shaped her relationship with her son; the experiences of waiting at home while an only child goes off to war; painful farewells; the difficulty communicating with a soldier who comes home hardened by combat.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (23.8MB)

05/04/08

Guest 1: Johana Marie McShane, author of Why She Feels Fat.
Topic: Understanding your loved one’s eating disorder and how you can help.

Issues: Understanding why what seems to family and friends as bizarre, irrational behavior actually makes sense to the person with the disorder; evaluating therapy vs hospitalization; the gender breakdown of eating and body-image disorders.

Guest 2: David Rye, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Financial Aid for College.
Topic: Getting the money you need for the school you want.

Issues: Overcoming college tuition sticker shock; the difference between loans, grants, scholarships, and work-study programs; how to find little-known scholarships; federal and state grants.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (23.8MB)